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Submitted by: Sibel Arzulu

First coming here, friends of mine that have been to Barcelona told me you won’t coming back home!

When I first arrived in the city I didnt see anything special and couldnt make out what all the fuss was about. I had been once before for a friends birthday, where I stayed for a weekend on Las Ramblas. It was a party weekend so we only went out at night, stayed in all day recovering. After settling into my apartment which was in an ideal location just off Passieg de Grcia, I put on my walking boots and had a nosey around my new neighbourhood. I remember going through Grcia, which was the neighbourhood above me and wandering through all the windy streets and stumbling across the wonderful boutiques. When I entered the main shopping street of Passieg de Grcia with the high fashion shops such as Valentino, Hermes, D&G, Chanel, I thought I was in heaven and hell at the same time. Partly because I had my favourite designers around the corner and partly becuase I knew this would make be broke!

The city has so many things to do and to explore that the best way I found them was to get totally lost. My sense of direction always manages to land me on a familiar street, but by doing this I would find so many unexplored little treasures. If you look at my past blogs you will see that I have fitted in as much as possible. I have covered the museums, art galleries, cathedrals, Park guell, Montserratt, Montjuic, National Palace, Tibidabo and even driven along the Catalan coast to the French border, while enjoying the amazing night life that Barcelona has to offer.

Barcelona has a very wide range of different trends and hubs. You have the ladies, draped in their designer clothes, with their fur coats and Louis Vuitton bags, roaming around and having their afternoon lunch on Passeig de Grcia. But I think its fair enough to say that every girl in Barcelona holds in her possession a Louis Vuitton bag, whether they are real or not is another story!

The youth of Barcelona, compared to England is a very diverse and different mix. For my first month I used the metro while still finding my bearings. This gave me a chance to see the diverse mix of styles and trends that the youth of Barcelona have caught on to. I came across some, strutting their brightly coloured trainers, with matching funky head phone sets, the bohemian lot with their dreads, mohawks and tattoos, the skaters (who are usually around the Arc de Triomf), showing off their tricks and the local following with their trendy, knee-high leather boots. Even though Barcelona is known to be a cosmopolitan city it also has a very laid back approach, which is so easy to get caught up in. The excellent value lunch time three course ‘menu del dia’ with a bottle of wine certainly does not help!…especially when you have a huge work load to get back to! And even though you know you should just stick with a salad…. the food is so good, that when you’re sat down starring at the menu, the other tempting choices are worth that tiring struggle you have to go through when back to the office. Unfortunately no fiesta time for me. My father is mediterranean so when it came to eating out Barcelona really made me feel at home. Great hospitality, great food, great wine and a great atmosphere. Theres no doubt that the Spanish love their food and enjoy life to the fullest… viva la vida!

I said before that Barcelona has a cosmopolitan, laid back approach. With the history, shopping, culture and beautiful surroundings, it is so very hard not to fall in love with this city….. whether you have drank from the fountain on las Ramblas or not! After spending 2 months in Barcelona I have made it my aim to come back here to spend my golden years. Barcelona has defiantly captured my heart and I’m sure it will yours.

About the Author: Sibel is a graduate in Finance & Accounting from the University of Buckingham, England. During her internship as a Digital Marketing Assistant at Barcelonaflats she has gained a great insight in the Spanish lifestyle and the unique experience of living in the Catalan capital. Having read her articles you surely want to explore Barcelona yourself. The perfect apartment for your own Barcelona experience you can easily find via her company

barcelonaflats.co.uk

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