As our apartment was just a metro stop or a indeed a short walk from Gracia we found ourselves visiting the area on a number of occasions. We first visited in the daytime during the festival week (August 15th - 22nd) and then during the night time when it really heated up.
Gracia is a series of grid patterned streets north of Placa Catalunya and Las Ramblas. It was once a separate town to Barcelona but today it seamlessly integrates into the city to the point where you cannot see how it was indeed once a separate entity. Whilst the streets are not as tight and constricted as Barcelona's old town around Barri Gotic, it nevertheless contains numerous tiny streets where driving a car is an exercise in forgetfulness. Parking, I imagine, is out of the question but of course the Barcelonians find themselves blessed with many underground car parks thereby saving the city from the hideous 'architecture' NCP's in the UK blight us with.
Nope – if you want to peg it around this area of the city then it's a good walk or a moped (of which there are hundreds zooming around the city) to take you from your doorstep to other area's of the city. I should also mention the bicycle facilities whilst I'm on the subject: the cycle lanes are good, perhaps not the best in the world but certainly much more advanced than back in Blighty. The city now offers a system whereby you can pay a subscription over the year in order to rent a bike from pretty much anywhere in the city and merely take it to a drop off point elsewhere in Barcelona. These were much in use and a fantastic idea, although the safety off proper cycling lanes help a lot.
During the day, the festival was either asleep or drunk in the corner somewhere with wet pants. I think we chose the wrong time to traverse the festival – perhaps the siesta was in full swing as most streets were very quiet and any 'refreshment area's' (outdoor bars) were fully closed. Still, some of the streets and squares were a little busier and we managed to view one odd sounding band (Spanish Folktronica?) their sound nestling perfectly into the searing heat. There are around twenty odd streets amongst the hundred or so in Gracia that choose to deck themselves out in all manner of decorations (all recycled by the way – see the attached picture). My personal favourite was the homage to Mexican wrestling/Nacho Libre. My youngest daughter, much a fan of Jack Blacks reasonably funny comedy wrestling flick, procured a fantastic mask for a handful of Euro's. That's this years New Year's Eve party fancy dress sorted then.
We returned the next evening and what a difference a few hours make. Gracia was absolutely heaving. Squares after squares, streets after streets were brimful of folk partying their own necks off , but of course in well behaved manner (there were many families amongst the party folk). Bars were doing swift business as were the local street merchants supplying the street drug of choice (Estrella Damm) for around the 1 - 1.50 Euro mark (great if the local bars had closed or were simply too busy to queue). Local bands were plying their trade in festival jazz whilst folk of all ages danced liked a latin version of Strictly Come Dancing. Bionic ice creams were purchased for the kids whilst a few more tins of Estrella went down very well. But kids tire rapidly after midnight, even in Barcelona, so the we just managed to catch the last metro back to our apartment where following a view of the Beijing Olympics in Spanish we all dreamed of vivid swirls of colour and the sounds of life loving energy.
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