Barcelona is an amazing City and has recently become one of my favourite city's to visit...
I travel and photograph as much as I can for pleasure but I’m also lucky my real job takes me abroad on a regular basis, and when possible I will add on an extra night or so giving me some camera play time. For the last 5 years in March I’ve been fortunate to have a work trip to Barcelona, and this year I arrived 1 day before the madness of work began, so I could have some quality camera time to shoot.
Barcelona is a city I adore, but it took me a long time to warm to it, but once I defrosted to Barcelona I really got it. For years I had the opportunity to visit and declined as it never really appealed, and then I had to visit for work and suddenly I realised I'd been missing something special.
One of the reasons I'd not visited before was that I’d only had eyes for Berlin. A few years ago in a bar in La Exaimple after several drinks the penny dropped what the differences was between Berlin and Barcelona. As I stood under some terrible lighting drinking a very bad cocktail it dawned on me. Barcelona will always win - the weather, the beach, the architecture and of course the genetics of the locals. But what Berlin has over Barcelona is the cool factor, and that’s why to me Barcelona will never quite be Berlin.
However, over time I’ve come to realise Barcelona is an amazing city. It’s incredibly beautiful and has absolutely everything. Beautifully stunning architecture from Las Rambles, the Gothic Quarter and La Exaimple - every street is stunning. It has a beach and the sea, it has great night life, tapas and sangria and of course it has the weather. What more could you want?
For this visit I arrived quite late in the evening and as I was intending to get up early and head to the beach for sunrise the following day I decided it would be a quiet night, so nothing more than a few sangrias in one of my favourite bars.
In the morning I got the Metro to Barceloneta which is the closest stop to the beach and walked through the early, quiet streets of this neighbourhood, one of most interesting parts of Barcelona.
One of my favourite areas of Barcelona to shoot is the beach at Barceloneta around the sculpture L'Estel Ferit (The Wounded Shooting Star) that is made up to four twisted cubes, stacked in a random style. Most people refer to this popular landmark as "the cubes", however, its symbolism is linked to the pre 1992 olympics of the Barceloneta district and is created by the German artist Rebecca Horn.
Just me, one other guy with a camera and lots of joggers enjoying the first sun-rays of the day. I spent a very happy few hours here taking snaps, and long exposures shots from 10 seconds to 6 minutes.
The amount of times I have photographed this area of Barcelona, and still its possible to get new images and fresh vibes....
BARCELONA TRAVEL TIPS
Breakfast | Best breakfast in town. No matter what time or day, they will be packed and you will likely have to queue, but believe my they are this busy for a reason. The menu is very creative and unique, full of healthy, nutritious food that is served as good size portions that will perfectly hit the spot, along with fantastic coffee. I can’t recommend it enough.
Dinner | Vinitus is my favourite Tapas restaurant in Barcelona, and is always packed with locals. They don't take bookings so turn up and get your name on the waiting list with the mindset that you could have an hour wait to enjoy some wine. Vinitus, Carrer Del Consell de Cent, 333, 08007 Barcelona, Spain +34 933 63 21 27