Pulse of a city

Today we took a tram ride that gave us a nice view of Barcelona. On a bus tour I heard that many areas of the city have maximum height restrictions for buildings that are under 20 metres, with a floor zero at the bottom and then 5 floors above that are for residential apartments. So, overall the city does not have many tall buildings. This was made very obvious by the way La Sagrada Famíliai, architect Guadi’s famous church, sticks out in the skyline.

We have a guided tour of the church planned for tomorrow, followed by a walking tapas tour in the evening. But we have already done a lot of walking around the city and have had a good ‘taste and feel’ of city life here.

It’s fascinating to see how the city is designed for pedestrians. Many roads are single lane and one-way with wide walkways, rather than two-way with little room for a walkway since buildings were originally built on foundations too close for both modern cars and roomy sidewalks.

Outdoor eating spaces are everywhere, and if there is a gap in the buildings, there is a courtyard with tables and/or benches.

The city is made for people to be outside, which makes sense when there are only apartments in tight spaces as opposed to single dwelling homes with back yards. Where the design falters a little is that many of these homes were original laid out with nice courtyards which made sense when they were on a single floor, but now with 5-level apartments these spaces seem to be devoured by multilevel private and semiprivate balconies and terraces. So the public outdoor spaces become even more important.

Barcelona has a pulse of people living outside their homes. Coffee and pastry shops are seen everywhere, and what looks like a back alley is also a place with storefronts and restaurants. The city is designed for people first and cars afterwards. Mopeds line the walkways, and there is a blend of bikes and scooters both electric and not, as well as skateboards making their way around pedestrians. Even as I was walking and editing this post, a car and moped came down what I thought was a sidewalk, but was actually a one-way road with a street light at the end of it. But both vehicles were going very slow and accommodating, the pedestrians walking past in both directions.