Barcelona: A Mini Solo Trip
Hello, Barcelona! This city is full of life: people bustling everywhere, hoards of traffic, miles of shopping, sidewalk cafes teeming with chatty young people, tourists rushing around, motorcycles speeding past, and the most artistic details peeking around every corner.
Thanks to my flight details at the end of another trip, I found myself with a couple of spare days in Barcelona at the end of another trip. And I was solo. So I did what I always do: I hit the ground running. My favorite way to get to know a city is to walk it.
I was definitely not alone. This city was crowded. Everywhere I went, people were rushing all around me. Rushing to see the sights, to find a park, to go shopping on Passeig de Gracia, to snag some tapas, to get to the beach, to catch a concert, to catch the metro. Barcelona has so much to offer, so much to taste, so much to see.
When in doubt, take yourself out for ice cream. I found my way to Jordi Roca’s ice cream shop, Rocambolesc, and I have to say that was the best soft serve vanilla ice cream I’ve ever eaten. It was so special to taste something created by the famed pastry chef whose story I had seen on Chef’s Table too. Solo travel is all about treating yourself, my friends!
My favorite thing about this city? I started to notice artistic details everywhere. The street lamps are so ornate. A highway underpass was covered in beautiful red arches. Creatively shaped benches line the waterfront. When you least expect it, an Antoni Gaudi creation peeks out around the next corner. Barcelona is steeped in artistic tradition.
The strangest thing happened in Barcelona… For the first time in my travels, I feel like I didn’t truly get to know the real heart of the place I was visiting. I got the feeling that the real Barcelona exists under its bustling surface. It was eluding me, teasing me with brilliant moments like this wine bar, L’Anima Del Vi. The time I spent at this little natural wine bar was so lovely. This sweet little wine bar is the oldest natural wine bar in Barcelona. The people running it were so kind, and they served the most interesting wines from all over the world & the best olives ever.
The bottom line? I absolutely loved my solo time wandering around this giant city, taking photographs, eating french fries, marveling at the architecture, drinking delicious wine, and generally feeling quite small in the sea of humanity and languages.
