The First Apartment

I found the first apartment for our trip on Homeaway.  Up front, we all decided that our first choice in accomodations for every city would be apartments.  It's easy to do this in Barcelona.  There are tons of rentals available.  Prices are across the board, but it can definitely be done without spending too much.  Tony wanted to stay in a different neighborhood than where we are staying when we return to BCN to fly back home, so I researched neighborhoods and El Born seemed like clear favorite among like-minded travelers.  There weren't that many 1 bedrooms open during this time.  Since the ladies aren't here for this portion, we didn't need much space.

I chose a place that Tony said "looks like dump".  But it was under 100€ per night, and in a great neighborhood.  We took a taxi in from the airport and met Julia, the apartment owner, at the actual unit.  First observation: El Born is definitely a cool neighborhood.  And the building looks fairly hip. Maybe the pictures were deceiving.  We got buzzed in and had to haul our luggage to the 6th floor up a steep, narrow staircase.  And this is a European 6 floors, meaning American 7 floors! Ugh.  We won't have to feel bad about not exercising on this trip.

Julia spoke very little English.  She kept speaking to us in rapid Spanish, as if we knew what she was saying. So we just kept nodding our heads.  There was enough mutual understanding of the languages that we did a get a general idea of what we were each trying to say.

Tony and I both decided that "dump" wasn't a fair word.  "Bohemian" is a more accurate description of the place.  Small, with a bed on the ground, but also with a small kitchenette and a view out to the city.  Completely acceptable.  As I write this we are going to spend our third and last night here.  So I can honestly say we were happy with our little bohemian studio.  We'll post some pics later.

View from the apartment