As I was enjoying lunch, a glass of wine, and a good book, my mind began to wander. “I feel like I’ve been here before.” I set down my book and pulled out my phone to look at our family “Been There Done That” Google Maps list. And I had been there. Not in that restaurant, but in that location. I knew it! That caused me to start browsing — finding other places that have changed in the time we’ve been here. There were some places I had been to as three different restaurants.
The city is organic and always changing. You might walk by a closed door a dozen times without giving it any thought, only to walk by and see a brilliant new restaurant or shop reaching far back into the space behind each building as if it has always been there. Or a favorite place that closes, only to be replaced by another favorite just a few weeks later. Or sometimes you don’t even notice an absence until something new pops up.
One block, four sides, photographed as it changes — the darkened prints are Els Perduts, the ones that are gone.
Barcelona has its own compass: the sides of every block face not north and south but the sea and the mountain — Mar and Muntanya — and the two rivers that bracket the city, Llobregat and Besòs. Each section below is one face of our block. Pass over a darkened print to bring it back.
MarThe sea side
BesòsThe right side
MuntanyaThe mountain side
LlobregatThe left side
