Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Barcelona: Your Ultimate Guide on What to Do and Where to Eat in the Capital of Catalonia

Episode Date: September 15, 2018

Barcelona has eight UNESCO sites, beaches, mountains, a beautiful historic center, tons of restaurants and boutiques, and art everywhere you look. In this episode, Polish expat Paulina Grzeszczyk, of Devour tours, shares her insider tips on the best this city has to offer. We’ll discuss where to find the best tapas, spectacular sunsets, shopping, museums, and more. Visit postcardacademy.co for photos and links.   I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel. Ready to travel? Sign up for my newsletter and get your free guide to cheap airfare.    Thank you so much for listening to this show. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.   This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet? Postcard Academy listeners can get a FREE audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via audibletrial.com/postcard   This podcast is also brought to you by World Nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance? Get a cost estimate from World Nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.co/insurance  Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy and thank you so much for subscribing to this show. I'm your host, Sarah Mikital, and today we will be talking all about Barcelona with my guest, Paulina Gujarjosteck, from Devour Tours. Polina is a Polish expat who has lived in Spain for the last seven years, and in this episode, we talk about why she has made the capital of Catalonia her home. We'll also explain how Catalonia differs from the rest of Spain and why many people here actually want to form their own country. The Catalan city of Barcelona has eight UNESCO sites, beaches, mountains, a beautiful historic center, tons of restaurants, boutiques, there's art everywhere you look. There's something for everyone, which is why Barcelona is the third most visited city in all of Europe. There's actually been a backlash against the number of tourists, and so we will talk about

why that is and what we can do to be responsible visitors to this city. Of course, we will talk about all the places you should eat, the foods you should try, where you should go out at night. I will share the names of all these places, many of them in Catalan, on postcardacademy.com, so don't worry about writing anything down. This episode is brought to you by Audible. Right now, I am reading slash listening to Fascism, A Warning by Medellin Albright, who's an immigrant to the U.S., also former Secretary of State and U.S. ambassador to the U.N., and, in my opinion, an American hero.

After spending a lot of the summer amongst old war sites in Bosnia, Germany, Poland, Italy, I often find myself wondering how a few men can cause so much damage to this world. Fascism, a warning, offers a good examination of this question. It's available as an audiobook on Audible, and if you are not a member yet,

you can be a free audiobook and a 30-day pretrial. If you sign up via audible trial.com slash postcard. This episode is also brought to you by world nomads where I go to get my travel insurance. If you're looking for travel insurance, head on over to postcardacademy.co slash insurance, and there you can find a handy calculator to get a cost estimate. Now into my conversation with Polina. Welcome, Polina. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you for inviting me. So you are a Polish expat living in Barcelona. Where did you grow up? I grew up in southern eastern east Poland, like three hours from Krakow.

Small town, small town. How did you end up in Barcelona? So after my university, I studied in Poland and I decided like to, okay, I need a new experience, new language, new people. And I actually choose Spain to, because I, well, imagine like Poland is quite cold country, right? So I want something totally different and I really like the Spanish language. So I thought that this will be a good option. So I did a volunteer project close to Barcelona, not exactly in Barcelona, but like 60 kilometers from here. And that was supposed to be only nine months.

And it's been more than seven years already. Oh, wow. Here. Okay. Yes. What was the volunteer project? So I started actually special education. so I actually work with special neat kids. That was the volunteer project. Are you still doing that kind of work now? Yes, yes. Part time, part time. I really like to work with these kids and I learn a lot.

So, yeah, I still not in the same project, but I have different stuff to do in Barcelona. Very nice. So did you visit Spain before moving there for that volunteer project? Never, never. No. Never. You just had the idea that it was a nice sunny place that you wanted to spend some time in.

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And actually, there was a big surprise when I get to get to the place because, well, I used to be there in a very small Catalan town. And like even the Catalan people say that this is really, really Catalan town. You know what I mean? Yes. Actually, for people who aren't that familiar with Catalon.

What is Catalonia? And how does it relate to the rest of Spain? Okay. So in Spain, we have 17 different regions. No, they're like states in United States. So every region is very different from another, with different history, different background, culture, languages sometimes too. So Catalonia is one of the regions, one of the states with the capital city of Barcelona. But they're quite different in that they are fighting for their individual.

In fact, I think this week was Independence Day for that region. So what's the historical significance behind that day and their desire for independence? Yes. So the day is September 11. So when I say this actually to people from States, we have different meaning for that day. So September 11 was the last day of the war of succession of Spain in 18th century, 17th, 14. That was the fall of Barcelona. So that was the day.

Actually, Catalan people say that that was the last day of the independence. In most of the history, Catalonia was always a part of something bigger, like Crown of Oregon or something, but still had much more independence autonomy. And on the September 11th, everything finished. And there was the, they lost all the Catalan institutions and their. independence, lows, so everything changed. And yeah, so this is like 300 years over that they are fighting for their independence, as they say. So right now, the language of that region is not Spanish. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, it's Catalan. Catan language. So, Catalan language actually is more similar to French or to Italian than really to Spanish. You can imagine,

like they were they are really fighting for for their for their differences too no like catalan language their traditions because they have really beautiful traditions because for like 40 years or almost 40 years everything was forbidden so that's when franco the dictator was in charge of that region and he forbid okay exactly everything what was like traditional in catalonia or in past country was prohibited no and people they were actually killed because of speaking Catalan you know and it's it's quite sad and this is a language no this is actually very important thing to to mention it's not a dialect of Spanish it's it's language different no so they are really like fighting for the traditions

fighting for the regions for the for the language and for the region too and yeah now is the the question of the independence right so there is many reasons that they want to be independent So the historical one, economical one, cultural one. Could you break that down a little bit? I find that so interesting. So both economic and culturally, why do they want to separate? So economically, Catalonia is one of the richest region of Spain.

We produce lots of money and we give them to the Spanish government in Madrid. but we don't take back so much money, though? Is this money from tourism? Yes, it's a big thing here. But also like Barcelona, for example, it's a big city that is a home of many, many companies from many different countries that are designing companies or, I don't know, lots of this stuff. So this is also the money comes from this.

And then culturally? Culture, yeah. What are the traditions that? they're, yeah, how are they different and what do they want to hang on to? So, yeah, like language, no, totally different. And the traditions, traditions like the things that they celebrate on the festivities, like Castelleres, the human towers, or like Correfoc, that is a really nice tradition with connected with the fire.

The music is different. The food is different. Denses, traditional dances. So there is really, really lots of traditions. You can imagine like Spain to compare to states, it's quite small country, right? But every region is very, very different. I wouldn't say like there is something like Spanish culture, because every region is so, so different than the other.

Very interesting. So what are you doing there in addition to working with kids with special needs? I believe you were also giving tours. Yeah, I'm a food tour guide working for The Vower. The Vour is a company established in Madrid and we have tours in several different cities in Spain. And we actually, we take our guests and we go to the bars, to the restaurants, showing their, the Catalan or Spanish culture through food and dreams in port. Amazing. I can't wait to talk to you more about that. So you

That's fun, yeah So you're Polish So that means that you can live and work in Spain Because you're a member of the European Union Yeah, yeah, correct, correct Could you give us a visual snapshot of Barcelona Where is it geographically? And like what would the postcard look like?

Okay, so Barcelona is a port city So has a part of the Mediterranean Sea But it's like So it's on the northern east part of Spain, yeah. We are very close to the border with France. And so we have the sea from the one side and we have the Pyrenees mountains from the other side. So actually it's a pretty good place to live here because we have everything here. I think it's the third most visited city in Europe these days. Over the last year or so, there's been many stories of backlashes

against tourists. Venice is a big city like that, but Barcelona is to, what is the, what is the problem with tourism in Barcelona? And I guess what can we do to be better tourists when we go there? Tourists is starting from this. It's really important in Barcelona. We actually, lots, lots of people live from the tourism here, right? The problem is that this is really massive tourism. And actually, I think like the government cannot manage it well, you know. It's not the problem of the number of tourists, although there is lots of tourists. Like last year, you can imagine, in Barcelona there is less than 2 million inhabitants. And last year there was more than 20 million visitors in Barcelona.

So that's a lot. So the problem is the things like Airbnb and not... not arranging it well by the government, the Airbnb, for example, no, because I really, I really like Airbnb, I use Airbnb, but it's cool when you can, for example, you have a flat and you have a spare room or you're going out for two weeks, you leave your flat for two weeks and you rent it for somebody from another country, no, or from another place. But there's some people that they're buying whole buildings, rich people, very rich people, know, they are buying whole buildings and they're renting the flats for the tourists.

Now, the prices, of course, they're much higher. So actually, we cannot, like people who are living here, we cannot effort to live, like, in the center, for example. So a little bit like, well, the gentrification, no, that is happening in every big city now all around the world, I think. Yeah. I love Airbnb, too. But I can see what you're saying about, like in the classic sense, it was about rent. somebody's room or maybe renting an apartment from a private family rather than having like a big corporation come and buy up everything and then pretty much act as a hotel.

So I guess Barcelona was sort of just struggling with creating a plan for responsible towards them. Exactly. Exactly. They are doing something like there are some new laws, so all the Airbnbs, they have to be registered. So actually this is a good thing. If you're looking for Airbnb in Barcelona, look if they have the number of the registry number, no?

Okay. So you should support actually the local industry, no? So go to the local shops, go to the local bakeries or coffee shops, no, the ones that they're fighting a lot here to survive. You know, we have Starbucks in Barcelona and we have KFC rights. Which is cool. Okay, that's cool. But there is so many beautiful places in Barcelona, you know, that they exist like more than 100 years. Let's say I've never been to Barcelona and I'm coming to visit you for a long weekend. What would you say are our must-sees? Okay, so for sure, Sagrada Familia. For sure. This crazy church, the architect was Anthony Gaudi. He was a He was a great architect of the modernist art.

And actually, Barcelona is full of the modernist art. But now the most famous one is Gaudi. He got this crazy, crazy ideas, but beautiful ideas. Always inspired by the nature, by astronomy, everything, like counted and makes sense, full of symbolism, full of legends. And at the end of his life, he became like very Catholic men. So he started to construct this Sagrada Familia, the great church. That's it's like never-ending story when they're filming it because it's actually they started

a long time ago. And they're still working on it. Exactly. So they're actually planning to finish it on 2026 on the 100 anniversary of Anthony Gaudi. But let's see. You never know. Can you explain his art a little bit more because, yeah, Barcelona is pretty famous for Gaudi. So what is his style exactly?

And how did he get all of these commissions to sort of develop the city in his style? So this is the modernism art, no? The modernist saw lots of new ideas. So Galdi was always, always inspired by the nature. When he was a kid, he was actually observing a lot, no? So lots of natural forms, floral motifs, everything connected with the nature. He got sponsored by wealthy families from Barcelona, the aristocracy, that they wanted to have their own building or palace.

And they were hiring Gaudi, one of the architects from that time, to make a project, right? So there is lots of houses of Gaudi that they are very famous and they're beautiful and really worth to see like Casa Batio, Casa Mila, Casa Vicent. Now there are all the houses of the rich people that they were designed by Gaudi.

Can you tour those now? Yes, yeah, yeah. You can get inside and beautiful, beautiful interiors, really. He was also designing the furniture. The characteristic thing of him also, he didn't use like the corners.

Now everything is like flowing, very natural. Is it very colorful? Not always, not always, but many, many of the houses or of his art is really colorful. Like Casa Batio is really colorful. Then the La Pedreira, Casamila, it's really gray from the outside. But then you go to the Parguel and this is also like must-to-see for me in Barcelona. Paraguel is one of the of the parks in Barcelona, like hidden to the mountain.

And that was actually a very nice project that Mr. Gwell had. So he wanted to construct some of the gardens for the rich people and the houses for them. And it's really worth to see beautiful views, lots of art, lots of symbolism there. Are there hidden gems that you want to tell me about? For sure, I would go to the bunkers, because this is like the best spots for the views to Barcelona. They're more in the mountains. They're actually the bunkers from the civil war in Barcelona. But the spot is beautiful to see the sunset.

To meet with your friends, to go with your company from traveling. And to have, for example, some beers or some wine or some stacks with the greatest, the greatest views to Barcelona. So they have some cafes up at the bunkers or you bring your own? No, no, no. This is really hidden place. Okay. Like not so, well, lots of people go there because it is the best, the best place to go for the views in Barcelona.

But no, no cafeteria, no restaurant there. So yeah, you should take your own food. And how do you get there? You can get there by bus. My bus is the best option because it's quite up. So bus is the best option. You can get by metro and then taking the bus or taxi. What are some of our other mustseys?

The Monjouique. Monchouique is a whole mountain, like a hill on the one side of Barcelona. And there is lots and lots of things to do. There is the Museum of the National Art of Catalonia, Mnac, beautiful building up the hill with the magic fountains. So these are the fountains in front of the Museum of the National Art of Catalonia, Mnac. Okay. Like a beautiful palace. Some days, depending on the season.

but some days they organize like the performance of the of the fountain so they put the colors and the fountains they change following the music also and the colors okay so it's quite nice event lots of people they're going there to see it and that's nice that's nice a little water show yeah yeah exactly exactly and then of course the i must see the old town the old town the gothic neighborhood, this is the oldest part of the city, constructed, imagine, 2000 years ago by the Romans. Wow. And you can still see some of the ruins from that time, and it's pretty impressive, yeah. And then the Bourne neighborhood, that is the medieval neighborhood.

Beautiful, beautiful medieval architecture from that time. And just get lost in these neighborhoods. So in the medieval historical neighborhood, Are there any specific attractions that we should make sure we see? In the medieval one, there is a church that is really nice to see. I love it. It's called Santa Maria del Mar, so it's Saint-Marie of the Sea. For me, this is one of the two churches that actually you should see.

Because it's very characteristic for the Catalan Gothic style. So really, really simple. No, there is not so many decorations. but lots of arches and lots of columns, but it's very bare inside. There is so many decorations inside. When you go to like medieval church, usually you will meet and you will be overloaded with the decorations,

the golden decorations, the, the fat angels, you know, from the barrack time. But this one doesn't have all of them because that was all burnt. And during the civil war and the dictatorship of Franco, we had a lot of anarchists. in Barcelona. So they set a fire in the church and they, so the fire burned all the decorations that last 11 days. But right. But thanks to this actually, I think we can admire more the pure architecture, all the contrast between gray walls and the colorful stained glasses, windows. It's something impressive. From the, from the church, there is Rambla del Bourne, like Passage del Bourne.

So this is also a nice place to hang out. What is Las Ramblas? Hmm. Las Ramblas, this is the most famous street, I think, in Barcelona. That is connecting the port of Barcelona with Plaza Catalonia, so the central part of Barcelona, I would say. And actually that was the in the past, in the Middle Times, that was the canal for the black waters outside the walls of Barcelona, okay?

But now this is like the main and the most touristic streets in Barcelona. So yeah, you can pass by. So it sounds like you're not a big fan. And I've heard that locals don't spend a lot of time there or on Barcelona's beaches. So where are the locals hanging out instead? Okay. So I would say like almost every neighborhood has its own Rambla, let's say. Yeah, let's call it like this.

So for example, instead of Las Ramblas, the main Las Ramblas, I would go to Passage del Bourne. I would go to Rambla de Pauvelinot, no, the main streets, but in different neighborhoods. So for sure, I would go to or La Rambla del Raval even. It's much nicer for me. Yeah, for sure, don't eat on Las Ramblas, please. Okay. Can you tell us more about those neighborhoods? So, Bourne neighborhood is really nice to walk around.

It's the medieval one. This is the medieval neighborhood. And it's full of the small shops, small boutique, some restaurants, bars. Really, really cool neighborhood to hang around, to get lost in the labyrinth of the streets. That is pretty cool. Another neighborhood is Gracia, the Racia neighborhood that, you know, like 100 years ago, it was still a village. So still has this very specific.

atmosphere, no, not from like big city. It's actually pretty beautiful in Barcelona that even if it's a big city, cosmopolitan city, huge. But if you go to one another neighborhood, you can feel like in a small town, you know, so like Gracia neighborhood or San Andréu neighborhood. Or if you want to go, I don't know, to bars or to for tapas, for example, go to San Antonio or Poblesek. you will always get to gothic quarter or to the board neighborhood, no, because this is the old city.

Is that where we should stay if we're staying in Barcelona? No. Okay. No, I don't think so. Yeah, it's pretty convenient because it's quite close to everything, though. But I think you should stay, yeah, or in Pobleseck or in San Antonio. The neighborhoods that they are farther a little bit from the center, but you can really get the feeling from the city. you know, and seeing, seeing to like normal people living there, you know,

and going for the coffee in the morning, for the breakfast, breakfast or going to the market. Where do you go when you're in the mood for some culture? Yeah, I love theater. The thing sometimes here is that the spectacles are in Catalan. And although I can speak in Catalan, I can communicate in Catalan, but sometimes it's difficult to get the culture, you know, the high culture in Catalan language.

But there is, for example, the Teatro in Gracia Neufu, that is really nice and have the spectacles also in Spanish or in English sometimes too. What I really really like here is like the alternative culture, I would say. Now, there is lots of like association, cultural association. So they're like the group of people that they decided, okay, let's open our artistic space. and they organize lots of things, no? Do you have some favorite ones? I have one that is my favorite that is in the center that is called Rai, R-A-I.

And they organize lots, lots of things. Some concerts, theater, also, circus. They have a bar to, with their food, they sell the food that they make. No, it's pretty nice. And then, well, you can also go to the music. There are lots, lots of great museums, galleries, art galleries, contemporary art galleries. What are some other museums that you haven't mentioned yet that you think would be nice to go to? Magba, the museum of the contemporary art that is in Raval neighborhood.

So very close to the center to. And they always change the expositions and they're always very interesting. There is also another one that is called Kasha Forum. So this is also a very interesting museum. They always change the expositions to, they invite some artists from different countries too. So it's really nice. And if you want to see some local art,

like I would go to Juamiro Gallery in the Mongeauik. So for the museums, are there any nights that they're usually open late or that they're free or any special events that happen often? So, Mondays, they're always closed, that's the thing. So never go to the museum on Monday. It will be closed. First Sunday, usually first Sunday, it's open.

It's open and free. All the official museums and galleries. Okay. First Sunday of the month. And then every Sunday from 3 p.m. And it will count like the Museum of National Guard of Catalonia, the Museum of Picasso, the museum of Joanne Miro. But in the famous museums prepare for the queues.

Okay. Always buy the tickets online. In this way, you will always keep the line. Okay. And what about the beaches? So are Barcelona's beaches man-made? Yes. Yes, they were made for the Olympic Games in 1992.

There were Vitis before, you know, until that time. But there weren't places like to go for Sunday to get some sunbath, no, or to relax? They were much more dirty. There were the fishermen living, working, and there was lots of factories also. But in 1992, everything has changed and they made the beaches. So, yeah, the sand is from Sahara Desert, the palm trees there are from Egypt. Wow. Yeah.

Is that where you go to the beach? Are you a beachgoer? If I don't have time, I go to Barcelona. If I don't have time, or if I'm very close to the center. But if I have, for example, a few hours or whole day, I would go out of Barcelona for sure. So there is, for example, a town that is very close to Barcelona. It's called Badalona. And you can get metro to get there, even.

And it's totally different. totally different experience. Not so many people, long beaches, much calmer, but still you can have very nice walk along the beach because there is like a very nice avenue that go along the beach.

Very nice, really accessible by metro. So that could be an option, Badalona. Or if you want to go farther like Mongat, Matarot, Garraf. There is lots, lots of lots of places, but then you have to get the train.

Okay, let's talk about food, since that's what you do for a detour. I would love to get your insight. So how does Catalan food differ from Spanish food? Catalan food is based on the ingredients, that there are good ingredients, and this is the base of the food, you know, the quality of the ingredients. And then simplicity, I would say, no, there is lots of food that they are connected. We have the sea and the mountains. So we have kind of food that is called like marie muntana, so the sea and the mountains.

So we got some food from the sea and some food from the mountains. Like for example, meat bowls with cattlefish that you would think, hmm, would it taste good though? But yeah, it is delicious, you know. So yeah, lots of simple foods, sausages. We have something like the fork, fork breakfast and where's the forkya. So this is like the second breakfast that you would have, would be something heavier and something that you would eat with the fork and your knife. You know, so like sausage with beans.

Beans are very important in our cuisine here. I am fascinated by second breakfast culturally. What are they having for first breakfast and like at what time and when would they have second breakfast? So for the first breakfast, something very light. Like you go to work, you pass by any bar and you grab your shot of coffee with croissant or with toes or things, something very light, no? And then of course, after this, you need a second breakfast. So the second breakfast should be something, something heavier that gives you energy until lunch. Lunch is our main meal.

So what time is second breakfast? Second breakfast is around 10. So people get to work and then they take a little break for a second breakfast. Yes, there are still some companies that they give some, like half an hour break for the second breakfast. Okay. Yeah. This is all making sense to me now why Spanish people eat lunch so late because they're having another meal in between breakfast. Yeah.

Yeah. So I think lunchtime is usually around two, is it? Yeah, exactly. exactly around two now we have this siesta time also still sometimes so it's three hours break in in your working hours

in Barcelona not so so much but if you go to like small Catalan towns you will see it that there is nobody on the street between one and four okay so they go to work and then they break for siesta and have lunch go home and then they go back to work after that

exactly and then we finish around 8, 9, right? So that is why also one of the reasons why we have dinner so late. And be prepared for this. Like dinner, we have around 9. 9.10 is the normal hour. So if you want to go to the restaurants

and have dinner here, be prepared for this, no? Well, this is a tourist city also. So you can find some restaurants, places that they are open before 8, even but not all of them not all of them so make sure make sure what time they open the kitchen right so yeah if you want to embrace the real local lifestyle you have to eat at dinner at like 10 or 11 oh yes yes with all the atmosphere yeah yeah yes totally totally but you know our main meal is

lunch no so the dinners they're not so so heavy either you can yeah oh yes let's go back to talking about um so what foods do we have to try well in Barcelona and if you can give some vegetarian options as well that would be great vegetarian options in Spain I know it's hard oh okay I know I know so for vegetarians we have something like Escalivada Escalivada is the roasted vegetables but they're beautiful roasted pepper and the oberstein the eggplant and some onion on bread, coca bread we call this like play bread they're really great and then something that usually we we have here is

the bread with tomato pan con tomato so it's because we don't use butter here no for bread so we we actually wrap the tomato on bread I was some extra virgin olive oil for not knit and some salt and that's delicious so I've spent time in Madrid and San Sebastian and I pretty much survived so I'm vegetarian and I pretty much survived on tortilla, which is like pretada and then potatoes bravas. Is that popular in Barcelona or is that more popular in other ears? No, here they're popular. Imagine like Barcelona is the city that there is so many, so many different cultures.

And actually in the 50s, there was this big immigration from different parts of Spain, from the south of Spain, from the north, Galicia, Basque Country, Andalusia. So they brought lots of culture here, no? And the foods. My culture I meet food too. So yeah, tortilla de patata you will always find, always, always. And you can have it for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, wherever. Patatas bravas, always.

And then we have the Pimietos del Padron, the peppers, small green peppers. Okay. That they're actually from Galicia, but we also have them here. Some vegetarian. Great. So in the 50s, I guess, was industry booming then, and that's why so many people were coming to Barcelona. Exactly, exactly.

Lots of factories here, lots of textile factories. So people they were looking for work and for money here. But thanks to this, fortunately, we actually can get food from every part of that. You know, actually, you know, in Spain, the tapas are very popular, right? And you think like if you eat in Spain, you will get tapas. And tapas, they are more from the south of Spain, right? Traditionally, we don't, in Catalonia, we don't do tapas in this way. But as we have so many people from different parts, they're very, very popular here. Cool thing is to go to some bars, though, like choose two or three

and try some tapas from every bar and some drink from every bar. So instead of a pub crawl, it would be like a tapas crawl where you're going from one. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, totally, totally. And it's always fun, you know. It's also like you can try different styles of tapas. What are different tapas that people should try? And also, what are a few tapas bars that we should definitely go to? I think the most typical tapas from Barcelona, that is even from Barcelona, so from the beach neighborhood. That is called La Bomba. And actually, I will tell you the story about this stuff because it's really interesting. and I think it makes more sense when you have it. So I told you about the anarchists,

that we had in Barcelona during the Civil War, that they set the fire in the church, right? So actually they were hiding a lot in Barcelona, because that was the separate part of the city. And they were setting a lot of throwing a lot of bombs, no? So one lady from one of the bars in Barcelona, she decided, I will make my own bombs. So la bamba, la bamba is the smashed potato that is a rounded shade.

No? It actually looks like bumba, like bomp. And it's filled with the meat and the spicy sauce. So it explodes with the flavor. Wow. And it's served with the two sauces, alioli and the garlic and olive oil sauce and the tomato sauce. And it's deep fried. Wow.

That sounds intense. Oh, it's beautiful. Beautiful. Really nice. Actually, yeah, it's really, really good. If you go to Barcelona, especially, you should have it. You should have it. What else?

What else should we try? So lots of the seafood here, too. No, like the chipirones, the lots of muscles, caracoles, the snails. Is that something you would see at a tapas bar or more at a seafood restaurant? Yeah, yeah, yeah, at the tapas bar. Because like tapas bars, they're also with the seafood. You know, in Barcelona, it's like, a tapas bar. Like if you, depending on what kind of food you want, you will go to one another neighborhood even.

So if you want seafood, you will go to Barcelona. If you want more traditional Catalan food and this, for example, breakfast, the second breakfast, the fork breakfast, you will go to Gracia neighborhood, which is much more Catalan. Okay. And then in the center, there is a whole cuisine that is mixing the traditional Catalan cuisine with the modern cuisine. And for example, the influences from Asia. There is a pretty good place in the center. My favorite place for tapas, but you can have beautiful dinner there, and it's my favorite place for dinner. It's called Bar Del Plas.

And it's actually on the same street as Museum of Picasso, so it's really easy to find. Bar del Plas. Where should we go if we want traditional Catalan food? Traditional Catalan food, go to Gracia neighborhood, for sure. There is few restaurants that they serve really Catalan food, like lots of the sausages, the Eskeshaada. Eskeshada is a really nice food for the summer too, because it's a salted codfish, but cold one with some vegetables, tomato, onion. So there's two restaurants in Gracia.

One is Kalbotter, and the other one is Yardefoque. all of the names they are in Catalan so okay I will try to find these and link to them and then for example one closer to the center in the Barcelona there is Covea fumada there is also a really nice really nice place for lunch for example are there any good food markets that we could check out oh yes and for sure you should this is like this is one of the must-to-see in Barcelona uh Spanish market Spanish food market Because this is like the window to really get to know the culture, you know, from here. So in Barcelona we have 39 markets.

The most famous one is La Bokeria, that is only as Rambles. But you can already imagine what it's beautiful. It's really beautiful place, great food, but it's very, very touristic too. Also, if you want to actually visit the Bokeria, go at 8 in the morning. But if you don't have time at 8 in the morning, I would. And I really would go to other markets, like St. Catherine Market, a Mercado de Santa Catarina in the Bourne neighborhood. This is the one with the colorful rooftop.

Okay. Or there is another very nice market that they just got it renovated after nine years of renovation. Can you imagine? Nine years of renovation. They take their time over there. Yes. Yes. But during the renovation, they actually found the Roman Road.

So they had to stop. They were doing excavations. Exactly, exactly. But it's really worth to see. What was the name of that one? This is the market of San Antonio. So you will always find the seafood, the part of the seafood that will be closed always on Mondays. Yeah, because the Fisher Mandate don't work on Sundays.

Okay. The markets in general, all the markets, they will be closed on Sundays too. Okay. Sunday and Monday? Monday only the part of fish. Okay. Yes, but actually it's my favorite part of the market, so it would be nice to see. So they're also selling produce and cheeses and breads and that type of thing? Everything, everything you can find in the market.

And the dry fruits, the vegetables, eggs, special stalls for eggs, for example. You know, it's really crazy. And you can see in this markets, in this very local markets, you can still see like, I don't know, elderly women. They're coming there every day to buy their food, you know. And it's very much more like social place than just place for shopping. So go to the market, breathe, smell, enjoy the atmosphere. You can have a coffee always in the market because there is always a bar. And actually this is a good option for lunch or for dinner if you don't have time.

If you don't have any idea where to go for lunch, a restaurant in the market is always a good option. because they always have the fresh products from the market. And the quality of the products is really high in the markets, you know, it's because they're really taking care of this. And the stalls usually in the markets, they separate businesses, that they run for generations. And you make the relation also with the vendors. Okay.

So it's beautiful, beautiful experience to go to the market, really. One of the tips, if you want to visit the city, market is not a gallery, you know. So actually, it would be nice if you, if you buy something in the market, right? Tip to be a good tourist. Pick something up. Exactly, exactly. You mentioned that all the markets have cafes.

How do people usually drink their coffee in Barcelona? So we have like three types of drinking, three styles of drinking coffee. So we have a cafe solo. This is the first one would be. So this is like the espresso, Italian espresso, a shot of coffee, right? Then we have cafe cortado, that is a shot of coffee. with a little bit of milk. And then we have Cafécon Leche, so it's coffee with milk.

There is actually more milk than coffee. Okay. So depending how charged you want the coffee, you'll get one or another. And there is another, actually, way of drinking coffee. It's called Carrajillo. So the Carajillo, you can usually see like elderly men having the Carajillo. So Carahillo is a shot of coffee with some cognac or some whiskey inside, right? Oh, nice winter.

drink. Wait. Oh, with an extra kick from the morning. Is there a certain time of day where people meet for coffee or for like a happy hour? Yeah, an hour for coffee. It's any time. We have another hour that is called Laura de vermouth. This is the vermouth hour. Have you heard about it? The vermouth hour. Tell me. This is very cultural thing. So the vermouth. Vermont is not martini. Yes, and it's not this drink when you use to mix some cocktails. This is a white wine, which is fortified. They add some caramel and there is different ingredients like spices, plants, orange skin, wood, walnuts, whatever, no.

So this is very, very specific drink, very sweet. So before lunch or before dinner, we have this Laura de vermouth hour. So this is the time when we meet with our friends, with family, and we are having our glass of vermouth. Or vermouth or beer or something else, but it's called Laura de vermont. That sounds lovely. It is. This is my favorite. This is my favorite drink from here, really. Where do you like to go out in the evening? But for food?

No, just not for food. Like, if you have guests visiting, like, where would you take them out for a night out? Okay. So I would start with the dinner, that's for sure. Okay. This is actually, I want to say this because, you know, food is a thing here. Okay. Yes.

But like going out, oh, there's lots of things to do. Well, if you want to go to the disco, there is always some places to dance, no? And with different kind of music, too. I really like some places that they're, quite cold places, like Ratsmatas in Pobledo or Apollo in Poblesek. They are like places for, or for concerts or for two dance. Yeah, but that's like typical, typical discotheque. Not like we have, if you prefer like typical discotheque, like Pacha opium,

there is lots of them along the sea in the Barcelona. So we can always go there. Okay. But if you want more alternative music or different music, because every day they actually organize something different kind of music, these are also good places to go to Apollo. That's what else. And what time should we show up? Oh. So at midnight, it will be empty.

So still, still empty. So, yeah, starting at midnight, 1.1.m., you can go to disco, to dance. And so what are we doing in between dinner and dancing? No, no, no, no, like you imagine you're having your dinner at 10 in the evening, right? So you're actually perfectly finishing, or 9, 10, you're perfectly finishing just before. Okay. So we're finishing dinner and then we'll go dance. Yes.

Okay. Great suggestions. If I wanted to buy something to remember Barcelona, is there a typical product that you would recommend? I'm fun of the useful souvenirs. You know, so I would bring, for example, porron, which is a vase, vase to drink wine, like communal vase. But there is like lots of fun connected with drinking this because you drink from the distance and you pass it from one person to another. So this is actually pretty fun thing. This is a tradition, especially in the cottage, that was like the welcoming vase.

if you go to the house of somebody in the cottage, they will welcome you with the vase of, it's called boron with some wine. So everyone's just passing around. Exactly, exactly. But it's a communal vase, so it shouldn't get to your mouth. And it's even harder in this way. Ah, okay, so you're just sort of like tipping it back? Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Yeah, yeah. Ah. What do you mean by cottage? Somebody's like summer house or something or weekend? Yeah, exactly. Exactly, exactly. Okay. And these are actually, if you mention this, there are this specific places.

We call them Macias. So there are the cottage houses. And now many of them, they are, they transfer into the restaurants. So actually, these are the places, I would say the city when you can get really traditional Catalan food. Oh, very nice. Yeah, yeah. And in the nature, no, in the mountains. So it's really nice.

If we can take a few more minutes, I would love to just do a quick lightning round of your favorite places in Barcelona. Yeah. What's your favorite bakery? So there is one that is in the center, in the Barcelona neighborhood that is called Baluart on the Baluart Street. So it's really traditional place that they're baking their bread and the best, the best pastry. I used to live very close. And every day, imagine every day I was checking if they have their cheese. cheesecake with rosberries that is mind-blowing really beautiful how about coffee shop the coffee shop the coffee shop there is

nice I really like to to visit it's really really tiny really small but very close in the center very close to the main square of Barcelona with the city hall it's called bon mercart in Catalan of course bon mercart so actually they rose their own coffee and they help also somewhere In the jungle. So it's pretty nice place. Arangetangetang's in the jungle. What? Yes.

So you buy your coffee and some of the money that you buy from the coffee, they pass for saving orangutans. Ah, this is okay. Very nice. Very nice. But moreover, they have really good coffee there. How do you take your coffee? I sit.

we sit usually. You know, like Catana people, they like to sit. If you go to Andalusia and to the south of Spain, you will see that people are standing, no, and they actually have to use their elbows to make their space, no? But here we really like to sit and to enjoy. Do you drink the Cortado? I drink Cortado, exactly.

This is my coffee. Where do you go for lunch? So for lunch, I would go to, for, I really like the place, the Cova Famada. Covaumada is the place in the, in the Barcelona. Neta neighborhood with traditional traditional food, really small place, but really, really cool place too. What do you usually order there?

Some of the traditional Catalan food. You can have the Fidewa, for example, because, like, you know, many people, when they come to Barcelona, the first thing that it comes to their mind to eat is paella. Paella, it's not traditional from Barcelona. It's more from Valencia, which is below Catalonia. Here we have, because rice grows there. Easy. But here we have the Fidewa.

So the Fidewa is Catalan version of paella. So this is from very chilly noodles. It's a very, very tiny noodles. And it can be, well, it's always, always with the seafood. And it's made on the paella, so a special pan with two handles. Okay. How about a dinner spot? For dinner, for dinner, I would go, for example, to Bardelplea or to platiera in the Poblese.

Barcelona is really open place, no? so really open for everyone and for every culture and lots of immigrants for many, many different countries. So actually, if you go to Barcelona, you can have the Catalan food, but also you can have food from any other country and they are pretty good. And this is never anything list for places to go. In the Bourne neighbourhood also there is the restaurant Plaza or in the Barcelona neighborhood we will always find the seafood there, right?

So there is Can Ramon. This is the very old restaurant or Kalpapi, for example. Or Kan Maho, with the views to just see. There's so many. How about wine or cocktail bar? If you want to go for wine, I would go to Bodega. And Bodega actually is our traditional way to do tapas. Bodega is a winery shop here in Catalonia.

So this is a place where traditionally people would go with the empty bottles and they would get filled these bottles with the wine directly from the barrels. Okay. So there is still some of the traditional, traditional bodegas in the city. And the one that I really love is the Bodega Maestrasgo. It's in poor neighborhood too. So you can actually you can still get the wine from the burial. And this is pretty crazy because the price like two euros.

for one liter of wine. Wow. And it's not, okay, it will be not fancy wine, but it will be like good table wine. Okay. But, and then they have lots, thousands of wines from the bottle. And you can buy a bottle of wine or you can get some wines for glasses. And this is very old place, a third generation running business. So beautiful, beautiful place.

I'm definitely going there. That sounds amazing. Do you have any favorite designer markets or any other sort of artisan shops that you would recommend? For artisan shops, you can go to Bourne neighborhood and it's full of them. It's like it's full, full of them. So you get lost in the labyrinth of the streets and you'll for sure find some of the very nice design shops. I like one that this is really, really nice. and it's also connected with the contemporary art.

It was opened by two people from Galicia, another part of Spain. It's called Tui Muizen, that it actually means in like two rats, in the Bourne neighbourhood. But in the Bourne, really, we walk through the streets and you will find lots,

lots of artisan shops and designer shops. And many galleries, art galleries, with the contemporary art, with the street art too. Oh, street art in Barcelona. It's amazing too. Very cool. Yeah.

Well, Barcelona sounds like an amazing art today. It is. It really is. It really is. How about museum? What's your favorite museum? My favorite museum. I really like the museum of the contemporary art

because there is always something new. And I really like contemporary art. But if you want something more, classic and something like really from here there is the gallery of the joan miro that the gallery itself is really nice and the exposition and his art also is really good food or artisan market there's so many markets there is this market of encans that is in glorious it's an opener market but there is there are the flea markets on the for example the plaza the blank

Blankeria. This is every second Sunday a month. And there is the Palo Alto market that is really famous, lots of things happening there. But you have to pay the entrance. It's four euros. Actually, you can spend whole day there. And it's every first weekend of the month. How walkable is Barcelona? Do we need public transportation? If you don't go to the mountains, like more to the Parguel, as I, the one that I mentioned you, everything is in a walkable distance. So from the beach or from the center, from the Gothic to the Bourne neighborhood, to the beach, to the Champlain neighborhood with Passage de Gracia and the houses of Gaudi, even to Sagrada Familia, you can walk easily. And if we need to take public transport, I think there's something called the OLA Barcelona card.

Oh yeah, there's aola Barcelona that is pretty convenient. Also like Metro, even if you buy the ticket, like 10 ways tickets, it's called T10. So with one ticket, you can use, you can use metro, buses. And it's, so if you buy singular ticket, it will cost you more than two euros. If you buy 10 ways tickets, one ticket will cost you one euro. So it's easy. And Metro is amazing in Barcelona. You can get everywhere really easy to use because everything is well explained with colors.

Okay. Does it go from the airport? The metro, yes. There is a line. It was open not so much time ago. The nine line and it gets to the airport to the city. Nice and easy. Yes.

Yeah, it's really easy to move around Barcelona, really easy. And I think like a very good way to move around is use bicycle. Okay. I always go by bicycle. And do they have the rent? Okay. Sorry, that was exactly what I was going to ask. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Yeah, you can rent. There is many, many places that you can run the bicycle. I think in every part of the city, there is, you will find a place where to rent for hours or for days. Are there any cultural tips we should know about Barcelona? Catalonia or Catalan people before we visit. Yeah. So just be conscious about the Catalan, about Catalonia and the Catalan language.

So for example, if you go to very traditional Catalan place, just it would be nice to say Bondilla, for example, which is good morning in Catalan. Just, yeah, just be conscious about this and never say that Catalan is a dialect of Spanish. How do you say thank you in Catalan? Actually, it's quite confusing because, well, we see, Grasios, but it's something like Spanish, but also you can hear many times merci. Okay.

The French, yes. What is the tipping culture like? So it's not obligation to give to tip, but if you like the service, if you like the food, if you like anything, so you should tip, yes, because this is like the way to show, oh, I like it, right? And it's really nice. And also some of people or in the restaurants or the guides, they work or we work on tips to a little bit.

But it's not like in states. I would say it's like 10%. Finally, what would you say is the best part about living in Barcelona? You know, like the first thing that now comes to my mind is the word diversity. And I think it would be this. like Barcelona for centuries it was really open city you know that the city that has

the port and it was really important port during the ages and it's really open lots of opportunities here so if you come here just just be open and flow with the speed of living here you know because it's very different

it's much slower very nice I thought you were going to say the sunshine because that's what I usually hear from people out I could I can say this. Too obvious. Too obvious. I like your answer better. Well, this has been a really fun conversation. I have learned a lot about Barcelona and I cannot wait to visit this year. Let me know. Let me know. Yes, we should hang out. I would love to take one of your tours. Where can people find out more about you? So you can find me on the tours with Devour.

What is the Devour website and which tours do you usually do? website is devourtours.com. And ask for Pulina. Ask for Polina. You can ask for Paulina. So we have the Gracia Neighborhood Tour. We have the Taste and Tapas tours. Also it's in the morning, but also the evening ones, like the History Tour or the San Antonio

tour, which is more like tapas, like a local. Or the kids tour too. As I work with kids. Yes. As I work with kids also. So like I connected the two of my passions, you know. Barcelona is a really family-friendly city. Well, thank you for chatting with me.

And yes, if I end up in Barcelona this year, which I'm sure I will, I will look you up. No, really, really, really. You're welcome and would be beautiful to meet you. For a written Barcelona guide based on Polina's fantastic insider tips, head on over to postcardacademy.com. If you so desire, when you're there, you can also. sign up for the Postcard Academy newsletter, in which I will share travel essays, guides, and other useful travel info. If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to the Postcard Academy and tell a friend about it. This is the best way to grow the show. That's all for now. Thanks for

listening and have a beautiful week wherever you are. How do you pronounce your name? Yeah, it is really hard. Okay, so say it in full. Your name is Paulina. Greshchik. Paulina Greshdick. I'll practice that. Yeah, I think I've never met anybody who could pronounce you. I'll try it. So I'm actually of Polish heritage.

My last name is Micatel. Yeah, yeah, Nikutel. So in Poland you would say Mikutel. Okay, because here, like, nobody ever says Mikital. But now I get, maybe it's us who's saying it wrong. Maybe we should be saying Mikutel. I think so. Yeah, if it's Polish.

Polish, and it sounds like Polish. Yeah, it should be Mikutel. I will tell my parents that. I'll tell my parents that. Mikutel. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.