Barcelona, Spain

Most people come to Barcelona for Gaudí. I spent most of my time in Barceloneta instead. It's the old fishermen's quarter squeezed between the port and the sea, where laundry hangs over narrow streets a block from the beach and the corner shops still sell more ice cream than souvenirs.

I spent two days in Barcelona. Mornings started on the beach at sunrise, when the sand is raked flat, the lifeguard towers are still off duty and the only people out are dog walkers and paddleboarders. Afternoons I walked into the Gothic Quarter, where the streets narrow down to stone alleys, and evenings ended looking over the yachts in Port Vell as the W Hotel caught the last of the light.

What's in the gallery

Barceloneta, mostly: the beach, the boardwalk, the Salvament towers and the neighborhood behind them, with its balconies, graffiti-covered shutters and a woman hanging out her sheets like she has every morning for years. Then the Gothic Quarter and old town: the cathedral, pigeons in a back alley, a fruit shop window reflecting the street outside. And the harbor, from the Palau de Mar to the cable car tower over the palms.

Woman riding a red bike-share bicycle across a palm-lined plaza beneath the Torre de Sant Sebastià cable car tower
Woman sitting on a balcony above a shuttered supermarket on Carrer de Meer, the facade covered in drink and ice cream
Smiling older man in a white cap and navy tracksuit holding a red phone at the top of concrete steps in Barceloneta, a modern tower against the blue sky
Woman hanging a blue patterned sheet from a small iron balcony on an orange apartment building in Barcelona
Closed Playa First beach shop with a graffiti-covered shutter and a Barceloneta Beach poster on a yellow stucco wall
Man walking a fluffy white dog along the boardwalk at sunrise, paddleboarders carrying boards across the sand behind them
Jogger in a red shirt running across the sand while a man throws a ball for two dogs at the water's edge on a Barcelona beach
People on a street corner beneath the vintage La Lionesa shop signs and graffiti-covered shutters, a man carrying cardboard boxes past parked scooters
Woman Nordic walking beneath geometric shade sails on a seafront plaza, the Mediterranean on the horizon
Tourists gathered in the plaza in front of the Gothic spires of Barcelona Cathedral under a bright blue sky
Silhouetted man on the phone leaning over a railing on a concrete platform while the sun bursts through a cable railing below
Cyclist in a red t-shirt riding past a graffiti-covered wooden door and a fruit shop window on a stone-paved street
Looking up a narrow street at wrought-iron balconies overflowing with plants, string lights crossing overhead
Man with a backpack walking down a narrow stone alley in Barcelona toward a flock of pigeons
Yellow and white Salvament lifeguard tower number 02 on the sand at sunrise, seagulls flying overhead
Young seagull on a blue-tiled wall overlooking the superyachts of the Port Vell marina, the W Hotel and cable car tower glowing at golden hour
Sunset bursting through tropical leaves on a rooftop terrace, apartment buildings silhouetted against a golden sky
Juvenile seagull leaning over the edge of a wooden deck to drink from a blue-tiled pool
Oranges, melons and bananas in a fruit shop window, with pedestrians and old town balconies reflected in the glass
Cyclist on a red bike-share bicycle passing between two tall palm trees in front of Club Natació Barcelona
The brick Palau de Mar warehouse with red window shutters along the Port Vell waterfront, bicycles parked in the foreground
Salvament lifeguard tower number 02 on Barceloneta beach, the sail-shaped W Barcelona hotel rising behind it
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