The Catalan capital has traveled through the worst recession in Spain’s ultramodern history with grace and charm that seems cemented into the veritable pavements. Lying between the spangling Mediterranean to the east and the Collserola Mountains to the west, residers in smart Barcelona enjoy the megacity’s spectacular cookery, incomparable style, and contemporary culture time-round.
What’s it known for?
Ever since the 1992 Summer Olympics revealed the megacity in its post-Franco glory, Barcelona has moved from strength to strength, getting one of the world’s most visited metropolises for its architectural icons and culinary and artistic bona fides. And indeed though Spain’s current profitable straits mean some residers are having to find creative ways to get by – similar as entering help via BarcelonActua, a “ favor bank”– the tapas and copas ( blend) bars are packed nightly after the lackadaisical Mediterranean sun gilds the thoroughfares with molten light.
Barcelona is the soul of Catalonia and an ultramodern, world-class destination. Its grand 19th-century arterials speckled with Art Nouveau structures, including Antoni Gaudi’s La Pedrera, run straight as arrows, pointing to the heart of the Ciutat Vella (Old Town) and the narrow, involved thoroughfares of the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter), which hides fine forecourts and Moorish eight-pointed cradles. The megacity has successfully saved its major structures and thoroughfares, bolstered its artistic institutions similar to the Picasso Museum and MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art), developed a comprehensive public transportation system, and converted its shorefront.
Eating well isn’t hard in a megacity that’s home to one of the stylish cookers in the world, former El Bulli master Ferran Adria, who in 2011 opened Tickets, a tapas bar in the Sant Antoni neighborhood, and is also home to institutions including the century-old, 14- seat Bar Pinotxo in La Boqueria request.
And the suckers of the Barça football club don’t need telling, but the club is presently the stylish in the world, due in no small part to Lionel Messi, their star player. Barcelona’s strong sporting heritage and history as an Olympic host megacity is using its shot was to host the 2022 Winter Olympics but China snatched it.
Where do you want to live?
The Ciutat Vella, which includes the neighborhoods and pedestrianized thoroughfares of El Raval and Born-Ribera, are veritably popular with youthful couples andex-pats. Still, it’s also precious and numerous people look in areas just outside the major center, similar to the Sant Antoni neighborhood in the Eixample quarter and Poble Sec in the Sants-Montjuïc quarter. Both of these are filled with lively cafes and bars and are close to the large Parc de Montjuic. “ Eixample is one of the most popular sections,” said David Franks, deals agent for Lucas Fox estate agents. “ It appeals to all groups, while the Old Town appeals to couples between the periods 25 and 40.”
Further out from the center, the Zona Alta area is popular with families, and Diagonal Mar, a beachfront neighborhood, is popular with Russian and Scandinavian buyers.
Side trips
Barcelonés have country miles of Mediterranean strands at their doorstep, not only similar megacity strands as Barceloneta but sand resorts like Sitges (which has 17 strands itself), just a 45- nanosecond train lift south of the megacity. Northeast of Barcelona, the beautiful small megacity of Girona is about an hour and a half down by train, while the sand municipalities of Calella de Palafrugell, Tamariu, and Begur are about 130 km drive north along the Costa Brava.
A little farther north the whitewashed city of Cadaques, home to Salvador Dali’s house and plant, clings to the escarpments of the Cap de Creus peninsula, reached by a hair-raising drive over the steep hills. During the downtime months, people head to ski resorts similar to La Molina in the Pyrenees Mountains, a three-hour train lift north from Barcelona.
The Adieu high-speed train reaches Madrid in just two-and-a-half hours and Valencia is about three hours down. The Barcelona-El Prat Airport is close to the megacity center and has breakouts to indigenous metropolises, European centrals, and transnational destinations. Breakouts to London are about two hours and New York is eight-and-a-half hours.
Practical Word
Spain’s profitable straits can be directly linked to the casing smash, bubble, and bust of the last decade, and the frugality has been contracting since 1997. Property prices have fallen as much as 40 since 2007, but Barcelona’s vibrant tourism has helped it fare better than other regions. “ The casing request is performing better then than in numerous littoral areas,” explained Alex Vaughan, director of Lucas Fox. “ The lower prices and advanced reimbursement yields are attracting further and further buyers drawn by the rental eventuality.” Vaughan points to new developments similar to the Port Vell superyacht marina and the proposed plan to grant occupancy to non-EU property buyers that will encourage foreign investors to enter the request.
A two-bedroom tenement near the popular Passeig del Born, the main drag of the Born quarter, rents for around euros a month, while prices for an analogous property start around 700 euros in the rest of the Old Town. Rents are lower in Eixample Left than in Eixample Right and start at around euros a month for a two-bed flat. For buyers, an analogous 80sqm to 120sqm property in central Barcelona will bring anywhere from 300000 to 600000 euros.
