The second that we touched down in Barcelona the air was filled with sweet smells and everything in the city was colorful and bright. Artwork seemed to be on every surface and everywhere you walked there were what seemed like hundreds of different kinds of fruit. Before I came to Spain I had always loved fruit, but I never thought that it could taste so amazing or be so colorful. Raw vegan paradise, Once we got off of the plane after being in Paris for five days, all of the fresh air, color and delicious produce was a nice change of pace. We immediately sought out somewhere to sit down and have a glass of Spanish wine and some snacks before we were set to check into our air bnb. It was not hard at all to find restaurants of all different kinds everywhere we went and most spots had naturally vegan options or specifically curated things for veg heads. A refreshing switch up.
Local organic market 
Tapas 
Local bakery 
One of the many family run restaurants in Gracia
iN THE neighborhood
After grabbing some tapas (midday snack) and wine we headed over to go and crash out at our air bnb. We ended up staying in a small neighborhood right outside the center of Barcelona known as Gracia, highly recommend staying here. The guy who hosted us, Jordi, was so unbelievably good to us and even sends us Christmas cards during holiday season. A very home-y vibe with lots of amazing food, kind people, night life, and a short walk to the bustling parts of the city and to the ocean. They have a cute little market with tons of amazing produce and the first kombucha I had seen in weeks, I almost cried to be honest. For lunch time I typically would eat peaches, which I never really enjoyed back home and kombucha from this tiny market. The market also had more types of olives than I had ever seen and self serve wine barrels. Outside of the amazing food (because I could go on for ages), it was wonderful to be around so many families that would hang out and chat with us in the plaza, there was beautiful murals all around, and an awesome night life.
Downtown Gracia 
Rainbow palette 
Interesting art all over 
My favorite mural 🙂
Boozy bays and gothic strolls
Outside of the awesome food, about a 20 min walk from the Gracia district was Playa de la Barcelona, a very beautiful beach that met with the Balaeric Sea. Getting to play in wave filled water and be in the intense sunshine was incredible. As well as they would serve you drinks on the beach. On the walk to the beach, through the heart of Barcelona you’re surrounded by organic vegan eateries as well as Gothic infrastructure. If you’re around this area I highly recommend checking out lulu, their menu isn’t all plant based, but they have awesome drinks both alcoholic and non. Whenever we walk by to the beach I would stop for a smoothie of an herbal shot.
Strollin’ 
Gothic Cathedral 
Lulu 
Beautiful block 
Drinks by the sea 
nananana 
me and mama on the beach
House of cubism
On our last day is Barcelona we went to the Picasso museum. The line was super long as you might expect. Luckily my family let me run to get a smoothie while they waited in line. As soon as I grabbed my deliciously green smoothie I hustled back and caught them as they were walking in. Once you enter the museum, it is very open and to my delight there were plants everywhere in and around the building. I was particularly excited to be here to see works in person that started the style of cubism in the art world. A style that I had been around and replicated for years in art classes. As well as getting to see his more personal sketches which never made it into american art history books. It seemed like he loved drawing distorted reality as much as he loved creating mirror images of reality itself. If you like art this is definitely a place to spend hours taking in his many different diverse ways that he saw the world.
Gold member smoothie 
Nu femeni 
Anatomical sketch 
Cubism of two young girls 
realism painting of flowers
En conclusiĂłn
In conclusion the food here was absolutely amazing. I didn’t hit any exclusively vegan places, but I know there were a lot of them around and i’m excited to go back and be able to try them out. The vegan food that I did have was mostly naturally vegan such as amazing produce and different foods ranging from amazing smoothies to stir fry’s to homemade pasta dishes cooked by my family with the best local ingredients. The food ad the atmosphere here was like nothing iv’e ever experienced and outside of Iceland, Spain has been my favorite country iv’e ever been to. The food was amazing, the atmosphere of lovely people and surroundings is surpassed by none and being a walk away from a massive body of water with plants of all kinds and lots of sunlight was very therapeutic to the mind and soul. Overall if you’re looking for a place with wholesome food, wholesome people and wholesome places I highly recommend going to Barcelona, I know I can’t wait for the day that I am able to go back.
I miss you all so much and can’t wait until we can all be traveling and trying new things together once again.
Love & Light,
Gemma
knottynomadic.com 