Ten years have passed since my last visit to Spain. At that time I was a student on a very low budget, enjoyed wondering the streets of Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valencia and San Sebastián, living mainly on tapas and cañas, listening to rumba and, overall admiring the Spanish way of life and trying to “blend in”. In the following years, I made a few great Spanish friends (Hola!), developed a high appreciation for their beautiful wines, ate a bunch of imported Spanish jamón and chorrizo, practiced my paella making, listened to their few alternative bands, on ocassions smoked Ducados. The time came to visit again…

So, we gave ourselves a treat and went on a holiday to Barcelona and a “small fishing village” of Santa Pola, south of Alicante, to visit a dear friend of mine. Powered by years of dreams and a much stronger budget than the first time, we explored Barcelona the way ten years ago I promised myself I would do. We ate on average 5 times a day (not counting smaller “refreshment” tapas ), drank some nice wines, wondered around the city, looked for Manu Chao, took it easy and enjoyed the atmosphere. Again, admired the Spanish (OK, Catalan) way of life.

Over the next few days I will write a few posts related to this trip. In the meantime, you can take a look at some of the Barcelona photos in my public gallery.