Gracia Neighborhood: The Town Inside The City

As the title suggests the Gràcia quarter in spite of being a consolidated part of Barcelona city still makes you feel as if you were visiting the neighboring town it used to be back in early XIX when Eixample was just a plan in Ildefonso Cerdà's mind and there was nothing between them and the city behind walls (notice in this Wikipedia image the original urbanistic plan depicting the old city below, the symmetric blocks of future Eixample and the Gracia ville up north). Not that this is an external municipality anymore and its ways are not by any chance provincial in the pejorative sense of the word but the fact that most of its streets are pedestrian friendly, the fact that there is an intense small business activity, the fact life is so "extroverted" here, with neighbors spending more time on the sidewalks, on the squares, on the bar terraces than at home, really creates a comfortable, homy atmosphere that permeates your every pore upon trespassing its boundaries no matter which direction you are coming from. I hope this everyday scene adds up to what I wanted to convey in today's post.

Running Kid at Parc del Laberint, Barcelona

Parc del Laberint (Maze Park) in Horta is a romantic garden at the slope of Barcelona hills. The park, a very idyllic spot and highly recommended to our visitors, has been featured in Barcelona Photoblog in the past although I plan to show two or three new pictures soon. On our way to the exit my daughter Sara and I spotted this kid running against the fence full of flower vines. I told her that there might be a good capture there as she was carrying the camera. She pointed and took a whole series. This in my opinion was the best. Hope you like it too. Of course, that would make her very happy.

The Kid and the Skateboard

Although I am not pretty satisfied with the result I liked the scene. A boy wearing a FC Barcelona soccer jersey rides on a skateboard which is almost his size inside Travessera de Gracia market. Nice new week everyone!