Travelogue 6: Barcelona, Girona and Malta, 2026

I spent an incredible month in Barcelona, a city I had visited before but left wanting to know better. After a month, I think I still have the same desire to continue exploring it. There are many Barcelonas: its districts are so different that one can emerge from a metro station feeling as though one has reached a completely different city.

Eixample

I will begin with the area where I spent those weeks, Eixample (l’Eixample), an enormous part of the city. I stayed specifically near the Sagrada Família, only a few meters away in fact. Development began here in the second half of the nineteenth century to accommodate the city’s need for expansion. A thousand historical and political disputes between Spain and Catalonia had prevented Barcelona from expanding before that period; I will not go into them here. It is enough to know that the city consisted of what is now its historic center—Barri Gòtic, El Born, Barceloneta and El Raval—and was enlarged by building Eixample. Another dispute concerned its planning. Barcelona held a design competition and selected a winner, but Madrid decided to impose its own designer. In the end, Ildefons Cerdà was responsible for the plan, and although Barcelonans at the time bitterly resented it, in retrospect the result was excellent.

Barcelona’s design—specifically, that of Eixample—is among the most beautiful and practical in the world. Ildefons Cerdà was unquestionably a genius. He considered everything in creating an extremely practical, attractive and beneficial plan for the city’s inhabitants. He laid out the grid seen so often in aerial photographs of Barcelona and added diagonal streets crossing it to connect important points. That grid took account of everything, from the blocks’ orientation relative to the sun’s path—ensuring that all received equal sunlight throughout the day—to the precise dimensions of each block, the width of the streets and a maximum building height equal to that width so every street would receive sunlight. Groups of several blocks included pedestrian streets, many of which still exist. The blocks were given chamfered corners instead of right angles, anticipating that private “locomotives” would surely exist in the future and that this design would allow traffic to circulate better. Curiously, the shape makes walking through Eixample easier when zigzagging between blocks than when following a straight route.

Various interests naturally altered the original plan, but despite those changes Barcelona now possesses one of the world’s best urban layouts. The general design was even respected in newer expansions, such as Poblenou’s redevelopment for the 1992 Olympic Games.

Because later expansions have often followed the Eixample grid, almost all Barcelona can seem to be Eixample. Strictly speaking, however, six neighborhoods belong to it: La Dreta de l’Eixample, L’Antiga Esquerra de l’Eixample, La Nova Esquerra de l’Eixample, El Fort Pienc, Sant Antoni and Sagrada Família, where I lived.

Historic center

Barri Gòtic and El Born

These are unquestionably the city’s most picturesque neighborhoods, composed of hundreds of lanes that seem to follow organic rather than urban-planning patterns. They are full of tourists, yes, but also full of residents. One can spend an afternoon outside any café or bar watching locals greet every neighbor who passes. Nydia and I explored the two districts tirelessly, almost with the frantic mission of leaving no street unwalked. El Born is probably my favorite.

Barceloneta

Formerly a fishing neighborhood, Barceloneta was extensively remodeled for the 1992 Olympics, yet retains its working-class spirit, with washing perpetually hanging from the balconies of its buildings. Unlike the neighborhood, the beach is extremely touristy, with numerous terrace bars where one can spend the afternoon drinking an ice-cold beer—naturally, Moritz 7 or Estrella Damm.

El Raval

Barcelona’s rough neighborhood, the one everybody fears and advises you not to visit. We explored it on three occasions without incident. A criminal presence is noticeable. Without wishing to offend anybody, entering it feels almost like venturing into central São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro—but much lighter. Anyone afraid of El Raval has never entered Tepito in Mexico City.

Montjuïc

This mountain in the middle of Barcelona serves as a kind of boundary. On one side lies practically everything one normally sees and visits; on the other, a large industrial, port and partly residential area known as Zona Franca.

One theory holds that “Montjuïc” comes from medieval Catalan and means “Mountain of the Jews,” because a Jewish cemetery stood there. Anyone interested in medieval Barcelona and the lives of its Jewish population can read Ildefonso Falcones’s novel Cathedral of the Sea. I read it several years ago and found it fascinating.

The mountain contains an enormous number of attractions and activities. Nydia and I visited several times to see different places and eventually crossed the whole thing. It is vast. Among the sites we visited were Castell de Montjuïc, Palau Nacional, Fundació Joan Miró, Font Màgica de Montjuïc, Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc, Jardins de Joan Brossa, Palau Sant Jordi and the Montjuïc Communications Tower designed by Santiago Calatrava Valls.

Cementiri de Montjuïc deserves special mention; it is probably the most interesting cemetery I have visited. Three aspects make it remarkable. First, it contains tombs and mausoleums built during the Catalan Modernisme period, turning it into a jewel box of architecture. Second, because it lies on the mountain, it is arranged not on flat ground but across terraces along the hillside, so exploring it requires climbing staircases. Finally, it is enormous. We spent a good two hours there without seeing everything and became lost; it is a genuine labyrinth.

Other neighborhoods

On different occasions I explored Poblenou, Sant Martí, Glòries, Les Corts, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and Vila de Gràcia. Each had its own character, and all were pleasant. My favorite of these other neighborhoods was Pedralbes.

Architecture

I am fanatical about Catalan Modernisme. If I had to choose a favorite architectural style, it might be this one—even above Beaux-Arts, and anyone who knows me knows how mad I am about French academicism. Barcelona’s architecture is simply incredible.

I have seen almost everything by Antoni Gaudí that can be visited in Barcelona and its surroundings. I love the buildings of Lluís Domènech i Montaner—Palau de la Música and Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau—and those of Josep Puig i Cadafalch—Casa de les Punxes and Casa Amatller. Every building by this holy trinity of Catalan architecture could be studied for hours.

Even without knowing architects’ names or seeking out the most famous works, one can simply walk around Rambla de Catalunya or Passeig de Gràcia and marvel at the city’s architectural wealth. It drives one wild.

Transportation

I traveled throughout the city by metro, perhaps the best system I have used in Europe in terms of connectivity, cleanliness, train frequency, station infrastructure—every station has multiple entrances, escalators and elevators—and price. We easily made at least two journeys a day.

Sadly, Barcelona’s public bicycle system is reserved for residents and has no visitor option like the systems in Mexico City, Paris or Santiago.

Running

I greatly enjoyed running in the city. I always followed the same route, with variations depending on the distance I wanted, but broadly it went from Sagrada Família to Diagonal, along the whole of Diagonal to Poblenou, through it on Rambla del Poblenou to Mar Bella beach, then along the waterfront to Port Olímpic. From there I could continue to Barceloneta or Sant Sebastià, before returning toward Carrer de la Marina and following it all the way back to Sagrada Família.

Two brief trips outside the city

Girona

Girona is a small city of just over 100,000 inhabitants. Its historic center retains the layout and character of the medieval period and is very beautiful: little streets full of people and solitary lanes lined by stone buildings that seem to have stood for centuries. Its cathedral combines Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque elements, perfectly expressing the passage of time. Small restaurants with terraces abound, each making one want to spend an entire afternoon there. The River Onyar crosses the city and is somewhat reminiscent of Florence’s Arno.

Colònia Güell

Colònia Güell is an industrial settlement on Barcelona’s outskirts, very close to Santa Coloma de Cervelló. It was developed in the late nineteenth century by the industrialist Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi. Essentially, it is a complex of houses and basic services surrounding Güell’s large textile mill, allowing him to employ workers from the countryside while keeping them away from the city’s trade-union movements. Güell was one of Gaudí’s greatest patrons and asked him to develop the settlement. Gaudí agreed only to build the church, leaving his collaborators and apprentices to design the houses and other buildings. What remains is a small town that forms one of the most beautiful and best-preserved ensembles of Catalan Modernisme. We took a guided tour, which was excellent because we learned a great deal about the site’s history and how life continued there after the mill closed.

A brief trip outside the country: Malta

While in Barcelona, we took the opportunity to visit Malta. It is not nearby, but direct flights depart from Barcelona and it is one of those destinations difficult to fit into a journey. It is a tiny archipelago near Sicily. The entire country has a population of little more than half a million. Valletta, the capital, where we stayed, has barely more than 5,000 inhabitants, although its urban area, encompassing other cities, contains most of the country’s population.

Besides Valletta, we visited Birgu, Cospicua and Senglea. Although they are cities, it feels strange to call them that because they are more like neighborhoods. I am sure that together their area and population are very similar to Colonia Roma in Mexico City.

Malta is difficult to describe because it is one of those places words cannot do justice: ancient, exotic, picturesque, caught in time. Limestone buildings hundreds of years old, continually battered by the salt of the Mediterranean. Its characteristic colored balconies have to be seen. Endless staircases through lanes, sometimes deserted and sometimes filled with small cafés and bars. As we walked, I imagined Caravaggio treading those same streets around four hundred years ago. Indeed, an important purpose of the trip was to visit St John’s Co-Cathedral and see two paintings by Caravaggio, bringing the number of works by one of my favorite artists that I have viewed in person to thirty-two.

I do not know what more to say about Malta. I loved it, and it is an extraordinary place that can be understood only by visiting.

Conclusions

That month in Barcelona was wonderful. I adore the city, where every walk reveals treasures and surprises. I am very fond of Catalan, which I have been learning simply for pleasure—a mixture of Spanish and French with a pinch of Italian. I hope to return soon, even if only for a few days, because I do not think I will ever tire of exploring it.