Live simply, travel lightly, love passionately & don't forget to breathe

Before Mr. Bond and I decided that we want to stay in Barcelona for 10 days, our friend said “Are you crazy? 10 days is too much time for Barcelona, all you need is 2-3 days! oh and make sure you use one of those cool tour buses that take you to all must see places!”

Thanks Ron!

Obviously, he has no idea what he’s talking about! You simply cannot see the real Barcelona with its local secrets and surrounding beauty in only 3 days!

I wasn’t even able to do that! But was lucky enough to dance with it for those beautiful, unforgettable 10 days…

Mr. Bond and I rented an apartment in the most mysterious area – Barrio Gótico de Barcelona.

I loved the energy of this location. It’s authentic and very intimate. You feel as if you live like a local. That’s how Mr. Bond and I decided to taste this city…

We decided to throw away most of the “must-do’s and must see’s”.

Thankfully, we’re not the “Bucket List” types! To me, bucket lists represent chains. Boringly structured and incredibly predictable chains.

I always let my soul run free of lists and schedules. Mr. Bond and I bathed in Catalonia’s poetry, one cobblestone at a time.

Gotico is full of mind-blowing street art, little restaurants by the cathedrals and surprises.

my favorite place

No, I did not stand in the never-ending line full of khaki / beige wearing crowd, to see Picasso, (even though I lived right next to it) but instead, savored great food at his favorite restaurant in Barcelona..

4 Cats…

4 cats

No, I didn’t go inside Sagrada Familia (yeah, imagine that!) …

I refuse to pay to see unfinished art!

But I did get incredibly drunk, on more than one occasion, on Daiquiri(s) – favorite drink of Ernest Hemingway, at his favorite place to get wasted at in all of Barcelona –

Boada’s…

I think he would have been very proud of me for tackling Daiquiri. Would have loved to be able to get in a fight with his marvelously genius mind at Boada’s. The moment you walk in the door, you’re transported back in time of booze, jazz and Hemingway.

No, me and Mr. Bond didn’t go into one of the Gaudi houses at Park Güell… However, while all the tourists were running around the park like maniacs, trying to check another “oh, my god” place off of their life lists, we relaxed outside, on a bench. We bathed in the warmth of the sun rays, while listening to a lovely local musician nearby. I kept thinking “wonder how many people can hear him..”

love locks

time will not wait

Barcelona Artist

We also decided to hike up to the top of the nearby mountain for fantastic sunset and view of Barcelona.

I also wonder how many people in that line at Picasso knew, that they were standing two steps from THE BEST TAPAS IN BARCELONA and possibly in all of Catalonia!

Ladies & Gents,

Welcome to TAPEO…

Mr. Bond and I have tried almost everything on that menu. We couldn’t get enough of the place. For breakfast and dinner this was our place. Talk about orgasm! I’m going to go ahead and say it; This was THE BEST food I have ever tried! This sentence is coming from someone who’s lived in 8 countries and traveled close to 30. Every bite left me wet. (yes, I just said that)

Every single dish is a work of Art.

We became friends with the chef/owner. The whole staff of Tapeo were like family. On our last night, they presented us with a bottle of Cava. It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to our Tapeo family… Mr. Bond’s and my own eyes were teary…

Someone should send owners of Riad Baraka to Tapeo, to learn about the art of hospitality.

Mr. Bond and I with Tapeo Team.

Here’s a question for all those bucket list peeps, that bore the hell out of me –

How many of you have “Go to Barcelona and see LIVE sex show with your significant other” ? Huh? Ummm.. I’m gonna go with 0 … ok, so it’s 1 now.. someone in the comments have asked me to change that number ) (please let me know if you have that on your “bucket list” so I can change that number…) And no, this is not a strip performance or a Cabaret. I’ve been to those with Mr. Bond and alone.

This sex-shop / bar / strip club, has live sex show in their huge, closed, round booth and you get to be the audience. We wanted to go into the booth to watch together, but you are only able to go alone. So he took 2 euros and went inside. After a couple of minutes (2 euros only gets you a couple of minutes) while I was looking at all the merchandise in the sex shop and trying to not be a victim of some crazy dude with his pants undone, Mr. Bond was back.

It was my turn. I went inside and heard a very loud “Chica?!!!!” they were all very surprised to see a woman there. I, on the other hand, wasn’t amused. The lady in the booth expected a man and was faking it. (don’t you just hate that) They also have a live “menu” on TV – it said “two girls” coming up.. great!

Don’t think I ever held on so tightly to 2 Euros before in my life… However, to my and Mr. Bonds disappointment, the “two girls” never showed up…

Our days were filled with streets, hills and alleys of Barcelona. Our nights were colored with orgasmic food, 2 euro Champagne at local bars, heartbreaking opera, at the near by authentic mansion and salsa dancing. Although, Mr. Bond is not a dancer, we still went to a great local club, so I could lose myself in the crowd and music. What I loved in that club, is that, old danced with young, some women with other women, overweight with skinny… it didn’t matter to them.. at that moment they were sharing their souls and passion for music & dance.

Dance is a world with no rules and it is open for everyone, without judgement.

Mr. Bond and I took trains to see the beauty of Montserrat and Sitges…

Have to confess; Sitges has stolen my heart…

I already own an apartment in Moscow, but if I ever decide to buy again, it will be Sitges!

It’s like living in the French Riviera, with whole Europe only a train ticket away…

and it has nude beach (can’t go wrong with that!)

I ❤ Sitges

Monstserrat

Monsterrat

Mr. Bond is a member of Jonathan Club, (JC) here in Los Angeles. I’m a huge fan of the downtown location – the architecture is incredible and transports you back in time. In Barcelona lives a sister club of JC. Since Mr. Bond is a member of JC we were allowed inside. It’s a members only place.

Ladies and Gents,

Welcome to one of the most exclusive clubs in the world – Circulo Ecuestre.

It was like being inside a museum. But I was allowed to sip champagne and sit on the antique furniture. On our next visit to Barcelona, we’ll make sure to stay here for a few days and soak up it’s magnificence.

We were in Barcelona in October 2012. Right in time for the Real Madrid vs Barcelona in El Clasico. Mr. Bond was very exited to be going to the game. No, I didn’t go…

Instead of going to the match, I took a train to a small town near Barcelona – Rubi.

To see… wait for it…

Alex and his friends! It was so great to see Alex in his hometown and cheer for Barcelona at the local bar with all the locals! It was a once in a lifetime experience for me. This match was not just about soccer! It was about freedom for Catalonia! I had goosebumps! Everyone was in that bar!

Young, old, drunk, sober, angry, happy, you name it, they were there! I felt blessed to be able to share this experience with the local people of Rubi and my Catalan friends, Alex and Manu.

Manu & Alex

dissapointed …

Meantime, in the Camp Nou, Mr. Bond was up close and personal with El Clasico…

“First, it is aptly named and gave me the best spectator experience I’ve ever had at a sporting event – even better than being on the field during the 1994 World Cup final.  The Camp Nou stadium was alive with the palpable, invigorating energy of 90,000+ fans,  99.98%  of whom are pro-Barca–never have I seen a crowd so overwhelmingly behind its hometown heroes.  I understand that’s normal in Barcelona; however it seemed there was something special in the air on this night and turns out there was…  A red or yellow card at each seat allowed us all to create a stadium-sized Catalan flag in support of Catalan independence– I had goose bumps while holding up my red card as the crowd sang the Catalan anthem.

The sublime soccer skill on display kept everyone nervously on the edge of their seat the entire 90 mins, for at any moment, disaster or joy could strike and there are no replays on big-screens here.  If you miss a bit of magic, you’ve missed it.  Fortunately, I saw all the goals in this 2-2 Clasico including Messi’s mind- and time-bending free kick directly in front of my behind-the-goal vantage point.

     Seeing these world-class athletes in person gave me such a greater appreciation for both their talent and my good fortune to be able to witness their grace, speed & power in such a world-class venue rather than watching on TV.  I’ll always remember that and the inspiring patriotism on display.  Thank you FC Barcelona and your amazing supporters – the Cules!” ~ Mr. Bond

Back in Rubi, we were all getting incredibly drunk on Cava and great company! Some other friends of Alex joined us and we all went to the nearby Champagne place. We laughed a lot…

Alex said “Hey, that’s great, maybe next time Barca wins when we watch next match together!”

He said that, because the first time we watched Real vs Barca, in Uganda, Real won. This night it was a draw.

~

After my return to Barcelona, I had a surprise waiting for me at our place in Gotico…

Mr. Bond made a pathway of candles all the way to the roof of our apartment…

We shared champagne and a chocolate croissant…

How can I not keep falling for him? …

One night it was raining pretty hard, with thunder and lightning…

Mr. Bond invited me for a run…

to the roof…

naked.

Sorry guys, no pictures of the rain…

~

At the airport, I was incredibly nervous… Mr. Bond was returning back to LA and I was about to board a plane to a place, that I left behind 9 years ago, and haven’t been back until now…

Moscow.

I felt hot tears running down my cheeks.. He hugged me and whispered in my ear…

“We’ll always have BARCELONA“

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