The Magical Barcelona
Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona is the capital and largest city of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighboring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan. (Sited from wikipedia.)
I did a little comparison from the data on Wikipedia. Barcelona is the most densely populated urban area among Atlanta, Shanghai and New York. Shanghai and New York are similar in terms of urban density, but outside of the city limit, Shanghai still has the high density while New York has much less. Looking at Atlanta, our urban area does not have the density to sustain a vibrant urban function such as commerce, art and culture, mostly, human interaction. Instead, urban sprawl (691 people / square mile) is rampant.
Although, the data shows the high density of Barcelona, my personal experience in the city gives a different report. New York is exciting and lively and it truly represents the notion of melting pot, while Shanghai’s vibrant skyline updates daily, and tree lined streets in French concession I once called home. Barcelona has the perfect blend of fast and slow, old and new, and everything in between.
It was September 2013. My architectural design business was in the third year of operation in Shanghai. Things were looking up and that was the year I traveled a lot. My head architect Guillermo B. was from Barcelona. He was the reason I targeted the city for my vacation. Back in the States, we hardly hear news from Spain. Barcelona in my mind was for its art and architecture from the history book. Boy, I was about to get a hand full of those.
My trip to Barcelona took the transfer in Moscow. I got to see all the familiar American brands in the capital of the former Soviet Union.
I landed in Barcelona el Prat Airport in the afternoon. It was sunny and bright. I fell in love with the city at first sight.
A handsome young man checked me in the Hotel Onix Rambla. I bought a two-day pass for the hop-on-hop-off bus tour at the front desk. It turned out to be my best purchase in the whole trip.
I was right booking the hotel. It was right off Plaça de Catalunya which breaks the famous Rambla street into two distinct characteristic La Rambla and Rambla de Catalunya. The former is a pedestrian street lined with souvenir vendors on both sides, the later a mixed-use boulevard lined with restaurants in the center. La Rambla is very much crowded. Eating along either end of the Rambla was to avoided, warned by my head architect.
Rambla de Catalunya 
La Rambla street profile
I forgot to mention I wasn’t there alone. I was meeting my girl friend from childhood in Barcelona. She flow in from her business trip in Paris. She ran Elle magazine’s brand authorization in Shanghai. She divorced earlier in the year. We were two middle aged women trying to have sometime for ourselves.
We cleaned, made us presentable and stepped on the Rambla. I was imminently taken by the street scene. The restaurants spilling from their store front in the building onto the center of the pedestrian walkway with beautiful people drinking and dining were intriguing. We had tapas right there.
Next post: Barcelona Hop-on-hop-off Bus Tour is the Best Way to See it All
