Having spent last week in sunny Barcelona, I’m now slightly overwhelmed (maybe even depressed) when checking out the amount of sunny material while getting on with that rather dull version of life in London. The photos are a bit of a taster of fancy places to hang out in the city that blew my mind on absolutely every level. Admittedly, that wasn’t all too hard thanks to the of the lack of research and expectations from my end. Instead, I let the experimental surfer- and skateboarder-spirit do all the work.
The Mercat de la Boqueria is perfect for a bit of late morning hunting for inspiration. Colourful candies are arranged spectacularly and the way meat or fish is presented can only be described as very off-beat, I’ll spare you the photos. You’ll find the best best best (!) burger at Kiosko at the Marquès de L’Argentera. The place is a mix of a large living room and an American diner. Add a beautiful burger with local Catalan cheese to that picture and you’ll be one happy traveller.
Now we come to the long list of hipsteresque cafés that my friend handed to me. There is Cosmo, which quickly became my favorite, its walls are covered in eccentric and unique art works, tables are decorated with dried flowers and somehow my journal was nearly filled by the end of that visit. So you could say it’s quite an inspiring environment. There’s Babelia, a mixture of a second-hand book store and a tearoom (needless to say I was hooked), Lukumas in the coolest neighbourhood called Gracia with homemade donuts and a bit of Scandinavian-style furniture. No, not Ikea, the good stuff.
And then there are all the ice cream places, the tapas restaurants and the juice bars that are equally great and add to that spring feeling that we seem to miss out on in the rest of Europe…
