Black and white daily life shots

Alone among the crowd

Best friends!

Quiet sunny morning

Wondering what to do....hard times lately...

Along  Barceloneta beach, relaxing

Joey, el Dylan del puerto! Great musician performing mainly songs by Dylan and Cohen, He is an icon in Barcelona, everybody knows him....and children appreciate his music too!

Nice little girl inside Buenas Migas Café in the Gothic neighbourhood

Pilar Rodriguez....nice old lady who used to be a famous Opera singer....I stopped and talked to her a few times. She is very sweet and a bit "in the clouds" now...but still has a pleasant voice despite time gone by....She usually performs in the street, behind Barcelona Cathedral...well,... not the glamour of old days....but she enjoys it and people love her.... her nickname is Ave Maria, by her favourite performance by Shubert. I told her my grandmother met Puccini in her youth....and she was "encantada" to hear this....and we had a long chat that morning...

And this is Ben, my patient photography teacher who lives and works in Barcelona (I suppose he moved from England attracted  by spanish beautiful weather!!)

Another thing which I really like of Barcelona...is that whenever the weather is fine it only takes a 15 minutes walk from the center to get to Barceloneta beach where you can relax and smell the sea....and in wintertime this is just fantastic...

Little thirsty dog!

Just a shot of the mysterious Raval neighbourhood, the multiethnic community quarter ..not the safest part of the town but really fascinating though...

Me, photo by Ben!

Colourful life

Colours and life in Barcelona streets.....what most fascinates me in this town. And yet I come from Rome, full of history, art, beauty...but what I find here in Barcelona has a totally different taste from what I see and feel in my hometown....The way people live here, their philosophy of life, their open minded approach to people they meet and talk to, the way they "use" the day, their lightheartedness view of the world, the way they show their inner cheerfulness and positive way to look at things..."de verdad....me encanta"! .... I don't know whether this is something belonging to Barcelona people in particular,  or to spanish people in general...but what I do know for sure is that I could spend the rest of my life here....

Sunshine today (well.....nearly everyday in Barcelona!)....Time to play some music in the streets!

Getting ready for Easter at La Boqueria market

Delivery lorry at La Boqueria market...of course cheerful and colourful!

Police at work in their yellow and blue uniforms ... matching their motorbykes!

Cup of coffee in the sun, Plaza del Pi (just round the corner where I live)

At the port, where people go jogging, chatting, taking the sun, listening to street music

La Boqueria market, getting ready for lunch time

A bit of ancient Rome taste... remains of August temple at Barrio Gotico

I saw a lot of people on wheelchairs in the streets. They can enjoy the city too as all the streets are flat and equipped for them. Bykes, skateboards, roller skates....and wheelchairs...encounter no difficulty in moving around this unbelievable town, built thinking of people, bearing in mind their needs

Just sitting at La Rambla watching people passing by

Nice guy with his best friend!

Taking their time to relax and make a small talk in the sun

Colours on walls too! Some blue...

...and some red!

A group of students and myself. They were collecting interviews about their town....got me to answer a few questions about Barcelona...and of course got one of the most enthusiast foreigners in the street!!

El Raval district

Sunny today. Let's see what's on the other side of La Rambla....infact I live in the Gothic district, a totally different world from the one just across the road, the Raval neighbourhood, where very diverse immigrant community live at present. It is certainly not the safest or the cleanest area in Barcelona, but it does have a special personality and a character of its own.

It is fascinating to just walk in the narrow streets and watch people of different ethnicities passing by...like this beautiful girl

...and this nice lady with her byke

People .... the most fascinating subject in Barcelona for me. What I like the most is taking pictures of them...

A tapas bar and a "sacred" image (a Jesus with E.Presley's face!)

Dress as you like!

But of course....not everybody likes people taking photos of them...like these men sitting in the sun just in the middle of the street!!

One of the typical little balconies of old buildings of this part of the town

Santa Eulalia festival

The Saint Eulalia festival in Barcelona is one of the biggest festivals for children in the year and is full of spectacles like giants, dancing, street performing, drums playing in the streets, family-friendly activities. The whole town participates in this important event, people follow the parades in the streets, dancing or just walking among the giants representing all the quarters of the town. The legend of Santa Eulalia tells about a 13 year old girl who stood up to the roman emperor Diocletian's rule and refused to give up her Christian beliefs, and as a result of her rebellion she was tortured in 13 different ways. Now she is considered the virgin child patron saint of battered children and women and the co-patron saint of Barcelona along with la Mare de Deu la Mercé

 A very nice couple involved in the oganization of the parade who explained to me all about Santa Eulalia festival.....and.....

 ... to let me keep a memory of this day...they made me wear "the head" of one of the giants to have a souvenir picture of myself taken by them!!! That was fun!