Breaking Bad T-Shirts in Gracia Quarter, Barcelona

Few series have been as revolutionary as Breaking Bad, few plots have given us such huge adrenaline shots. Mr. Heisenberg or Walter White, here in this t-shirt I found displayed at a small shop in Verdi street, Gracia quarter, Barcelona, emulates some sort of Raskolnikov that debates himself between between crime and punishment, driving his family to the verge of chaos while trying to save them from financial problems. Slinging meth in Alburquerque, New Mexico, this model father diagnosed with cancer, this renown chemist, sets himself into a vertiginous journey towards the destruction of the most basic principles of humanity going from complete ingenuity to a full implication in crime that reminds me of James Cagney in the famous movie, White Heat, when he yells "Made it ma, top of the world!". I never was fond of TV series, but Breaking Bad really has left a very good impression inside me. I would gladly pay the 20 euros they charge for this breaking T-Shirt! It's a shame they decided to finish the saga with the fifth season. I want more of Los Pollos Hermanos, Walt, Pinkman and Hank. I want more of a series where the good guy is more like you and me, a mixture of good and evil, a real person.

Multiethnic Street Mural at El Raval, Barcelona

On one of the alleys that ends up in La Rambla del Raval, there is this beautiful mural showing the multiethnic diversity that characterizes this neighborhood in the old part of Barcelona city. Unfortunately, it is hard to know who created this art. I hope the author reads this post and gives their name. It is not strange that artistic manifestations reflect reality: El Raval quarter represents 3% of Barcelona's population. There are almost 45,000 people per square kilometer in this area, a figure that clearly doubles the 16,000 people per square kilometer for the whole city. More than half of the inhabitants in El Raval are immigrants. In 2012, there was an 18% increase in the number of immigrants in Barcelona, while there was a 49% increase for El Raval alone. Many nationalities are represented in this part of town, but the most significant in terms of members are Pakistan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Morocco.

The Broken Bell of Sant Miquel del Fai

Sant Miquel del Fai has been featured in this blog in the past. I recommend you follow the previous link for more information about this natural park. In fact the bell was included in yet another post titled Sant Miquel del Fai Church. I really love this broken bell standing still, enduring the passing of time, right in front of a church built under a cave, in a place that seems to have held acts of pagan cult a long, long time ago and that later became l'Església de Sant Miquel (the church of Sant Miquel) around the 10th century. There is nothing like the charm of an ancient object such as this beautiful bell to blow your mind and embark you on a voyage towards a time of faith, self sacrifice and devotion when monks decided to seclude themselves in the most incredible places to carry the word of their god.

Update: Sant Miquel del Fai, up to now (2017) a private estate,  has been bought by local Barcelona authorities by 1.3 M eur and remains close now. It will be opened to the public in 2018. Entrance will be free.