Baluard Bakery in Barceloneta...

Today I was struck by the thought that I haven't covered my absolute favourite shop in Barcelona yet. Very remiss of me as it is the shop that I go into every day almost without fail. It's our local bakery, Baluard, and I can happily say that it's the best bakery I've ever been to.

The owner, Anna Bellsolà, comes from a family of bakers from Girona, and brought her considerable skills to Barceloneta about four years ago. The shop is deceptively small from the outside, hiding a huge baking production behind the scenes, where they work through the night to make sure that there's enough fresh bread and goodies for the ravenous hordes who descend each day. People here eat bread with pretty much every meal so they need to stock up regularly. 

The best thing about the bread they bake, apart from the amazing taste, is the fact that it's made using 100% natural flours, some organic, and prepared with yeast in a traditional way. The loaves are rolled out one by one and placed on a linen cloth directly on the floor of the kiln, rather than on a tray, to ensure an even crust. This process carries on throughout  the day, so whenever you go in, you're ensured that there'll be something coming fresh from the oven. The smells that come from here, as you can imagine, are divine.There are 20 varieties of loaves available and we've worked our way through them all; I will say my favourite is probably the Pa de Cereals which is packed with delicious seeds and grains, but still really light with an amazing crunchy crust. 

There are scrumptious cakes available too. We try to limit those to weekend treats but sometimes we do succumb during the week. The trick is not to look to your left when you're in the bakery as once you spot those magdalenas, pastries and cheesecakes displayed so beautifully, you're done for. I can't believe my luck having this bakery so nearby, I know some people travel from other parts of town to shop here.I'm not so sure my waistline will thank me but I'll just have to make sure I keep up the long beach and mountain walks to make up for it.

Juego De La Liebre en Barcelona

Spring has sprung here in Barcelona. We may still have a bit of rain ahead, but this weekend has been full of sun, bird song and blossom on the trees. His Nibs is away in London at the moment, which has been a shame as we probably would have made the most of this weekend by planning a trip up to the mountains outside the city or maybe somewhere along the coast. As it it, I've been left to my own devices so I've entertained myself by, guess what, going shopping. (I know, what a surprise.)

First port of call each day has been to the Rosa Canina ice cream shop for a scoop of their delicious organic ice cream. Rosa Canina is actually a Berlin based company, but they have a branch right here in the main square in Barceloneta. It's actually right across from our flat which means I have no chance of resisting the temptation. I'm doomed! It's absolutely delicious and the flavours are really natural, not at all like some of the more synthetic ice creams on offer all over this city. 

The market event After Tea Barcelona was on today, I've previously blogged about it here. I think the venue they used previously has shut down so they held today's event in a function room at the Husa Oriente hotel on La Rambla. I popped in really quickly as I also had another vintage hunt planned, but my eye was instantly drawn to the stall run by Frederik Garcia. His screen printed white t-shirts are right up my street with their animal headed silhouetted characters in black. He also has an online shop if you're not in Barcelona, which you can check out by clicking on his name above. I bought a paper print of his hare figure which you can see in the picture above, I'm going to frame it later. I picked the hare as it is the season for him (I'm more of a fan of  the pagan march hare than his fluffy Easter rabbit Christian counterpart). Sadly hare coursing is as popular in this country as it is in my birth country, Ireland, so I want to show some love for our long eared friend. 

My final stop today was to a vintage shop that is only actually open this and next weekend. It's called the Grand Mercadillo over in Raval and is being organised by a couple of guys who run an art workshop and work in the theatre here in Barcelona. It's more of a clearance sale of items they've collected through the years and is worth a visit if you're in the city next weekend as it really is a little treasure trove of all kinds of goodies. I immediately gravitated to a traditional tuxedo jacket which had a Barcelona tailor's label in it, but sadly it didn't fit. Sometimes it's a real pain being curvy as it was beautifully cut but didn't sit right on me. Such a shame as it was a really well made jacket. All was not lost however as I did manage to nab the handmade cotton nightie in the photo above. It doesn't look like much on the hanger but the stitching is really well done and the lace at the top is in perfect condition. I'm going to cinch it in with a belt and wear it as a summer dress. They weren't sure of the age of it as it's been handmade and had no label, but I think it may have been made as a costume item as it's in such good condition with no stains or signs of wear. 


I've actually got a couple of more shops from this weekend to tell you about, but I think this post is long enough for now. I also got my hands on a book about tailoring techniques which I'm going to give away to one of you so keep your eyes peeled for that. Thanks for reading and as always, any (nice and clean!) comments or suggestions you have would be really appreciated. Hasta luego!

The Rain it Raineth....

Believe it or not, the sun doesn’t always shine in Barcelona. When it rains, it really pours, and yesterday was a complete wash out as it never seemed to stop bucketing down. This scuppered my plans to go out to hunt down new shops for this blog, but it did mean that I remembered that there are two shops right here in Barceloneta that are absolute life savers on a day like yesterday.

I really didn’t feel like doing my weekly shopping but the cupboards were pretty bare. Our local favourite deli / take away La Casita had to come to the rescue, as it has a couple of times, to be honest. (I haven’t really got the hang of being a domestic goddess yet, clearly.) I wish I could link to La Casita but it's nowhere to be found on the internet. I guess this means you're really getting local information here. If you do come to Bareloneta, head for C / Atlantida, by the side of the market, and you'll find it. There isn’t a menu at La Casita, you select from a choice of dishes they’ve prepared that day. There’s usually a meat, chicken and vegetarian option with a selection of vegetables. Last night we had some excellent botifarra with fried potatoes and green beans and chicken in a creamy sauce with raisins and some red and green peppers, and all for the princely sum of 5.80 euros. I would have taken a picture but we were too hungry to wait to eat it. They also make amazing pizzas, with a small but good quality range of toppings.  A lot of people pop in there on Sunday to grab pizzas which they take to the beach for a picnic, usually accompanied by cans of Estrella purchased from one of the many guys selling them for a euro, who can be found peddling beers all over the city.

However, we didn’t have to wash our meal down with fizzy lager, as we have the most wonderful wine shop about 2 minutes away from the flat. It’s called Vinoteca Voramar and has a massive selection of wine, cava, champagne and even a few bottled beers.  We bought a bottle of a xarello and chardonnay blend.  I don’t usually like chardonnay but it was an 80% xarello and 20% chardonnay blend from the Penedes wine region. I can remember all of that, but I can’t remember the name of the wine itself. Typical of me and of course the bottle has already gone in the recycling bin. I do remember that it was delicious and only 4.80 euros.

We finished off the evening by watching Pedro Almodóvar's ‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’ (Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?) which is one of his earlier films starring Carmen Maura, one of my favourite actresses. I love Almodóvar's films and even though I still need the English subtitles, I’m starting to understand a lot more of the dialogue without them.  So, even though it was horrible outside, I had a really enjoyable time and probably saved some money too.

The weather today was bright and sunny and the trees are starting to bud now, so it really does feel like winter is over.  Check out His Nibs blog for pictures of what we got up to today.

Ladies Day

After all the vintage hunting I’ve been doing lately, I thought it might make a nice change to check out one of the many boutiques in Barcelona. There are so many shops all over this city, but if you want to cover quite a few in a short space of time then you can’t do better than heading slightly north to Gracia. It’s a really lovely part of town to visit, as it has a kind of village-y charm, and there are so many shops you can’t go wrong.

I went up there today to check out one particular place, named Lady Loquita (well, two places really as there are two branches of the shop in Gracia). The Lady Loquita shops are both really pretty and well laid out with the clothes gathered on rails in colour blocks and lots of nicely displayed jewellery and accessories dotted around too. His Nibs enjoyed the area with a sofa and magazines, a really good idea that I think should be provided in every store.  I especially liked the décor in the second branch on Travessera de Gracia, the wallpaper in particular is fabulous. I was tempted to try to take a photo of it, but it’s always tricky in a shop as they tend to suspect you of being a competitor on the prowl. I just about managed to take some blurry pics of the shop fronts. Luckily they have photos on their site here so you’ll be able to see what I mean. 

The designs and brands featured in the store are very girly, to be honest probably too much so for me, although I did spy some cute dresses that I could picture myself in come summer. It would also be worth shopping there for those occasions when you may want to look demure, maybe if you’re meeting the in-laws for the first time. I struggle to ever imagine myself carrying off demure, but some of you may be able to. My favourite items were the jewellery from Polcan Designs, lots of gemstones and silver, which is pretty much what I wear all the time. You can find all the brands they carry on their website, some of them, like Yumi, you may already know but it’s good to see that many of them are locally based. They also have their own collection, Tiralahilacha. The prices are reasonable too, ranging from a couple of euros for postcards and hairclips to 20 to 100 euros for clothes. It's definitely worth checking them out, as there's a lot on offer in both stores.

I can see myself spending quite a bit more time in this part of town as I spied so many more places I want to check out. It’s also a great place to socialise in as it’s full of bars and restaurants and has some of the prettiest squares in Barcelona. I love where we live in Barceloneta but it’s great to know that we also have somewhere so nice to hang out in just a few metro stops away.

Let me know if you have any shops or areas in Barcelona that you'd like me to cover, I'm always open to suggestions. 

Vintage & Vespas Barcelona Style...

One of my funniest and fondest memories of London is of the early Sunday morning market that stretches down Brick Lane and Cheshire Street. There was a summer quite a few years back when we used to find ourselves walking through this market many more times than we intended. We had some friends who shared an amazing flat on Cheshire Street which was the scene of many an unscheduled party, all really good fun but the one drawback was that we would have to make our way home on Sunday morning in an unhealthy hung-over state and negotiate our way through the most random selection of stalls and produce that I’ve ever seen. There were some great things on sale, but if I tell you that I once saw someone selling sets of dentures (used!) from a suitcase you’ll get an idea of how bizarre it could sometimes be.


The whole area has changed a lot now, of course, and many of the things you’ll buy there will be much trendier and therefore far more expensive. I’ll always remember how unique and inspiring it was. To get a flavour of it please have a look at this blog from photographer Phil Maxwell which is full of poignant images from this area and beyond.

You can imagine that I was pretty intrigued when I saw that a vintage sale called Brick Lane BCN was being held today. The venue was a vintage Vespa hire shop called Via Vespa on c/ Princesa at the top of Born by the park. If you want to hire a Vespa when you’re here in BCN, you could do worse than check them out, they also run organised Vespa tours around the city, which look like a lot of fun. Sadly I don’t have a driving license, so I’ll just have to be content with admiring the vintage Vespas for their looks. 

When we arrived, I was a little bit confused, I’ll confess. There were only a few rails of stock (not sure if there had been more that had already been sold) and there didn’t seem to be anyone trying too hard to sell what there was. This may have been because there were more people outside smoking and drinking wine than there were inside looking at the bags and shoes. I may be being picky but I like a lot of things to rummage through and there really wasn’t any rummaging to be had. I thought that the prices may have been set a tad high; in this eBay driven age we can all find this stuff a lot cheaper if we really try.

I’m going to investigate the charity shop culture here in BCN over the coming weeks to see how it compares to the vintage scene.  I’ll let you know what I discover, as well as bringing you more information on boutiques, specialist shops and any quirky stores that I may find. Let me know if you have any recommendations for me to check out. Please feel free to say hello anyway, my comment box is feeling unloved. To find out what we did with the rest of our day you can read His Nibs blog.

Your Name's Not Down, You're Not Coming In...

First of all, I have to apologise for my failure to update this blog over the last week or so. (The last fortnight, I know. Ssshh!) One of the great things about blogging is that it can make you get out and about and find things to write about. Well, that was my thinking when I began this little blog of mine. Unfortunately I failed to account for the facts that not only do a lot of businesses here in BCN close to take their holiday in January, but it’s also one of the wettest months of the year here. So, excuses maybe, but it has meant I haven’t been able to explore and hunt down as many places as I’d have liked to in January.

However, I woke up today to glorious sun streaming in the windows and a noticeably warmer temperature too. I had heard that the tent that was used for the Barcelona World Race in Port Vell was hosting a fashion event over three days called 080 Barcelona Fashion (the 080 refers to the BCN postcode) so I thought I’d amble down there and try to find out a bit more. I probably should have done a bit of homework first, as when I got down there it appeared that the men on the door weren’t letting anyone in without a wristband. I skulked about for a while to see if there would be any opportunities to sneak in but no joy. I was left cursing my basic Spanish skills as they left me unable to try any blagging with the very polite but very firm doormen. Even more frustrating as today was the last day and there were events earlier in the day that were open to all. I’ll do better next year!

As it was such a lovely day I thought I’d see if I could redeem anything useful from it by visiting one of the shops I've been planning to profile. Work commitments meant I only had an hour to get to one, gather some info and photos and get back to our flat/office. This wasn’t such a problem (or shouldn’t have been) as I had just the place in mind and knew I could walk there in 20 minutes.

The shop I had in mind, Cereria Subirà at Baixada Llibreteria 7, is a candle shop and is one of the oldest in Barcelona. The premises have actually been a shop since 1761. Anyone who knows me can confirm that I’m a history fanatic so I’ve been dying to get a chance to check it out properly. I’ve heard so much about the interior of this shop, I was really looking forward to getting inside and seeing it for myself. You can imagine how deflated I felt when I got there to be greeted by a shuttered doorway and no clue anywhere as to whether it was closed for lunch, the day or even longer. It was only 13.30 so a bit early for lunch (most close here between 14.00 and 16.00) and a few other people turned up and looked confused while I was standing there, so who knows?

I have found a good video of an interview with the owner Jordi Subirà, which will give you an idea of what I missed out on today. I’m determined to go back and see it for myself and buy a few scented candles (well, it would be rude not to) so I’ll write an update when I do that.

My day was a bit of a non-starter and I was feeling a bit sorry for myself and a total billy-no-mates when I couldn’t blag into the 080 Fashion event, but it’s hard to feel too frustrated when the sun is shining and I’m typing this listening to the niños playing and the birds singing in the square outside. It’s been warm enough to leave the balcony windows open today so all’s well that ends well. Thanks for reading and if anyone has any comments, please don’t be shy!

Fleas and Teas

One of the things that I used to love to do in London was to have a good rummage around the many markets, especially the new ones that have sprung up in places like Hackney Wick. I was hoping that there would be similar markets in Barcelona, and I've been delighted to find out that there are. 


This past weekend saw two events taking place, both within walking distance of our flat. (To be fair, a lot of things are within walking distance, Barcelona really is the smallest big town I know).


The first event on Saturday was called Flea Market Barcelona, and really reminded me of the car boot sale that used to be held in a school car park in Swiss Cottage. This one was in the grounds of what appeared to be a civic centre in the Eixample area and was set out in the inner hall and outside in a yard that also contained a climbing wall. There was a great mixture of second hand vintage fashion,  accessories, books and knick knacks. I did spy quite a few handbags that I would happily have bought, including one really nice brown leather satchel which was a bargain at 5 Euros, but I've been banned by His Nibs from adding to my handbag stash any further. To be fair, I would have bought it anyway but the clasp was broken which put me off, as I knew I'd never get around to fixing it. 


I also had the usual frustrating experience of spotting some real bargains but in the wrong size, which is the downside of vintage shopping, but of course, when you do find something you love and it fits, it feels like such a triumph! I'll definitely be back here when they hold the next one.

On Sunday we strolled over to Raval to a market that was being held indoors at the Guru Bar on Carrer Nou de la Rambla. The market is called After Tea BCN and is slightly different to Saturday's event, as the sellers were a mixture of vintage dealers and artisans who were selling their own products. The venue itself was slightly bizarre, it's a club / bar / restaurant by night which was probably once quite glam but is looking a little bit tired now. Maybe they're hosting events like this to raise some cash for a refurb? However, I like a bit of a faded glamour vibe and it actually worked quite well with the market laid out in it. 

There were a few stand out stalls for me which included fabulous hats and fascinators from Secretos de Alcoba, handmade jewelery from Quecosa Pecosa, amazing vintage clothing from Paris Vintage, jewelery made with vintage materials from MTuent and some really cute accessories and bags from Lafulanitadetal. You can find out more about each of these sellers by clicking on their names. 


A special mention should also go to Artama, who had a stall with a selection of items from their shop which sells stock from independent designers and craftspeople. I love buying items like this because you know that it's not mass produced and it feels like the person who made it has really put a lot of thought and care into it. 


So all in all, a very fun weekend for me, even though I didn't find that one special vintage item that I just had to have. I'm very happy with the discoveries I did make as I know a lot of them will also be really good for present shopping in the future. Hopefully some of you will find these useful too.


Look out for my 'Shop of The Week' feature which will be coming soon where I'll be picking a favorite shop of mine and telling you all about it. Please let me know if you have any favorite shops here and I'll try to feature them too.


Thanks for reading and any comments you have would be most welcome.