Celebrating Birthdays In Barcelona
Last Saturday I participated in the third birthday celebration since I arrived. I feel honored to have been invited to these celebrations. All these birthdays occurred around dinner time, which here is about 9:30 - 10 pm. Two of them were celebrated in restaurants, including at my friend Jordi's restaurant, Taverna Maria Bonita, in Castelldefels, a beach town just south of Barcelona. The last one I went to was just last Saturday and was celebrated at the home of the birthday boy. For that event, everyone brought a dish, and each one was homemade and delicious!!
My birthday is coming up in late June so I was curious about how one goes about celebrating one's birthday here. Well, when it's your birthday, you invite your friends to gather and if it's at a restaurant, you pick up some of the cost for the celebratory meal. That's very different than in the U.S. where the person who is celebrating his or her birthday is treated to the birthday meal. From my three years living in Spain in the late 70's, I already knew this, and for my 60th birthday, which I celebrated last September, I covered the expenses for the birthday dinner at 1881 Restaurant, at Barcelona's port.
Now as a retired person, I knew I couldn't afford to do that this time for my 61st birthday. I learned that for the two birthday celebrations that took place in restaurants, the birthday person paid for the dessert and Cava (Catalan Champagne). So my birthday will also be celebrated at Taverna Maria Bonita at the end of the month. Invites will be going out shortly. This time it will only be for locals (and their geographically distant partners). The other exciting part to this birthday celebration is Chris will have arrived just a few days before and will be here for my birthday!!
The Neighborhood (Sant Antoni)
In about five weeks, I will go to settlement and will soon be moving into my flat in the neighborhood of Sant
Antoni, which is in the center of the city. Over the last couple of weeks, Jordi, who also lives in my neighborhood, has been introducing me to some of the shopkeepers in the neighborhood. I met the gay barber (hair stylist), the women who work at the bread shop, the wine store cellar owner, and a number of shopkeepers in the fresh market, including the butcher, the fruit and vegetable owner, the fish shopkeeper, and the cheese shop owner. This is such a treat!! First, to live in a neighborhood where each shop specializes in a particular set of products is so much more personal, the food products tend to be fresher and higher quality, and there is the potential of developing a rapport with some of these
shopkeepers, all of which makes shopping more enjoyable. Then, to have Jordi take the time to introduce me to these folks is so special and helps to breaks the ice. I love the idea of being able to walk out of my building and within a 5 block radius I have pretty much everything that I need, from the market for my groceries, to the hardware store, from the bed store to the electric appliance store, from the local bar/cafe to the nicer restaurants, It's all here!! Yes, there will be times when I will need to travel a little more to find certain products, but for the most part, it's all within walking distance from my home. I know I will very much enjoy this European lifestyle.
May Day Hike
May 1 is a holiday here and the hiking group took advantage of that to do a 13-14 kilometer hike from the beach town of Sitges to the beach town of El Garraf. It was a beautiful Spring day. As this was my fourth hike since arriving, it was nice to see that I already knew the majority of the guys who were hiking and could concentrate on learning the names of the few that I didn't know. Although we started and ended at the beach, most of our hike was inland, since there are large stretches in between where there is no beach and only rocky low cliffs. What's great about these hikes are the opportunities to talk and get to know the people who you are hiking next to, learning about them as well as the language and the culture here. Below are some photos from this hike.
Last Saturday I participated in the third birthday celebration since I arrived. I feel honored to have been invited to these celebrations. All these birthdays occurred around dinner time, which here is about 9:30 - 10 pm. Two of them were celebrated in restaurants, including at my friend Jordi's restaurant, Taverna Maria Bonita, in Castelldefels, a beach town just south of Barcelona. The last one I went to was just last Saturday and was celebrated at the home of the birthday boy. For that event, everyone brought a dish, and each one was homemade and delicious!!My birthday is coming up in late June so I was curious about how one goes about celebrating one's birthday here. Well, when it's your birthday, you invite your friends to gather and if it's at a restaurant, you pick up some of the cost for the celebratory meal. That's very different than in the U.S. where the person who is celebrating his or her birthday is treated to the birthday meal. From my three years living in Spain in the late 70's, I already knew this, and for my 60th birthday, which I celebrated last September, I covered the expenses for the birthday dinner at 1881 Restaurant, at Barcelona's port.Now as a retired person, I knew I couldn't afford to do that this time for my 61st birthday. I learned that for the two birthday celebrations that took place in restaurants, the birthday person paid for the dessert and Cava (Catalan Champagne). So my birthday will also be celebrated at Taverna Maria Bonita at the end of the month. Invites will be going out shortly. This time it will only be for locals (and their geographically distant partners). The other exciting part to this birthday celebration is Chris will have arrived just a few days before and will be here for my birthday!!The Neighborhood (Sant Antoni)
In about five weeks, I will go to settlement and will soon be moving into my flat in the neighborhood of Sant
shopkeepers, all of which makes shopping more enjoyable. Then, to have Jordi take the time to introduce me to these folks is so special and helps to breaks the ice. I love the idea of being able to walk out of my building and within a 5 block radius I have pretty much everything that I need, from the market for my groceries, to the hardware store, from the bed store to the electric appliance store, from the local bar/cafe to the nicer restaurants, It's all here!! Yes, there will be times when I will need to travel a little more to find certain products, but for the most part, it's all within walking distance from my home. I know I will very much enjoy this European lifestyle.
May Day Hike
May 1 is a holiday here and the hiking group took advantage of that to do a 13-14 kilometer hike from the beach town of Sitges to the beach town of El Garraf. It was a beautiful Spring day. As this was my fourth hike since arriving, it was nice to see that I already knew the majority of the guys who were hiking and could concentrate on learning the names of the few that I didn't know. Although we started and ended at the beach, most of our hike was inland, since there are large stretches in between where there is no beach and only rocky low cliffs. What's great about these hikes are the opportunities to talk and get to know the people who you are hiking next to, learning about them as well as the language and the culture here. Below are some photos from this hike. 