🌿 “Tiles, Shadows, and Siesta: A Summer Walk Through Gràcia”

#summervacay Gràcia doesn’t perform. It lives. On a summer morning, I wandered in with no map—just instinct and the scent of roasted coffee guiding me. Narrow streets unfolded like well-worn pages: colourful tiles, old shutters, balconies tangled in jasmine. Locals were just beginning their day. A quiet buzz at Plaça de la Virreina, kids playing under the sycamores, dogs sleeping in sun patches. I grabbed a cortado from a sleepy corner café, sat on a stone bench, and just… watched. Nothing dramatic, just life, unfiltered. Every turn revealed something unexpected: mosaic benches, anarchist posters, a tiny bookstore with hand-written poetry taped to the window. The spirit here is creative, unapologetic—part Catalan tradition, part street art soul. I drifted through Plaça del Sol and Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia, where locals gathered like they had nowhere else to be—and liked it that way. A musician strummed flamenco. A little girl danced. Nobody stared. Gràcia in summer feels like a siesta stretched into a neighbourhood. Lunch was a simple pa amb tomàquet and a cold vermut, served without fuss. No crowds, no rush—just tiled floors, open doors, and a breeze that smelled faintly of olive trees and old stories.