the world

Barcelona: Parc del Clot

Marina Mexploring46 Comments

My heart is very ready for spring, but the weather is still showing us its black-an-white movie. The winter didn’t think of stepping back and promises a cold week ahead with temperatures down to -15 Celsius (at night). No spring signs so far. I notice that my eyes are hungry for green so I browse Pinterest for tropical themes. My body shifts again, wanting less of heavy winter food and craving for fresh vegetables, so I need to make more green smoothies now. If you are in the same boat of green cravings, let me take you on a walk through one of the parks of Barcelona.

the windows to summer

It is located in my favorite neighborhood of Clot, which I showed here some weeks ago. The name of it is logically Parc del Clot. Some time ago there was a factory in its place. The garden planners made a sweet nod to the history and kept some walls and the chimney. I find their solution lovely because the wall windows play well with the light. There is also an old hall preserved with arches which create great atmosphere in this space. I admire when the architects manage to unite the old and the new, the man-made and the nature – and the result feels natural and effortless. Some may disagree, but I love the factory reminiscences in this park.

Click on an image to view it in the gallery.

the old hall
pine apple
palm ornaments
light and air
water spot
into the green

I love the lines that were created in this park – the straight lines of bridges and the round ones of the arches. And how the lush Mediterranean nature seems to live in harmony with them.

the bridge
the old chimney
a block and high grass
waiting
walk in the sun
the old walls

The park is full of life – there are plants and parrots in the trees making a lot of noise and building their nests. There are people on the evenings and weekends – playing basketball, football, going on rollerblades. There are kids on the playground, and the old people walking with dogs. I took photos on a quiet Tuesday afternoon  when there were no people. But if you come to Parc del Clot on Sunday, you will see players on the field even in winter (because winter is usually mild there), you will see youngsters hanging out together. And what I love about this place – I never feel alone here. I see people holding together and it fills my heart. In Norway Sundays are usually very solitary days, with shops closed and people sticking to their families and events, and if you don’t happen to have a family, you can feel lonely. I did many times before I created my circle of friends, and later – my little family. But somehow when I am walking alone in Barcelona and see so much life, I never feel lonely. If you want to check that for yourself, come to Parc del Clot 😉

the empty field with the view of Torre Aqbar
more lines
graphics and greens
let’s play with shadows
through the wall
when the sun is hiding, the tones get lovely

If you wondered what the little tower with the clock is, it is Ayuntamiento de Sant Marti, that is the town hall of the city part called Sant Marti that includes Clot and some others. It is situated just behind the park. The square around Ayuntamiento features houses in the colonial style – which instantly transports me to Cuba (I don’t know why, I’ve never been to Cuba). These are the facades of Barcelona that I love the most and can look at for hours. Aren’t they lovely, those houses?

Ayuntamiento de Sant Marti
the Cuban feeling
details of the facade
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
my love forever – the windows
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
green life of balconies

These images were taken in early October but they feel like summer – green and sunny. The green is life. This is why I love Barcelona: it is full of life. What is special about the climate here in Norway it is the season change and the joy with which we welcome the spring. I hope to welcome it soon and I wish you a life with just as much color as you need 🙂

Anyone else here, hungry for the spring? What do you do to make it feel closer?

46 thoughts on “Barcelona: Parc del Clot”

  1. Oo! Love the shot of those tall grasses. I must admit I’m enjoying winter in my new location. I’m not used to snowfall, so I’m not missing spring…yet! 🙂

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    • Those tall grasses make you forget you are in the city, right? 🙂
      So great that you are enjoying winter. The novelty makes us often happier than anything else 😊 I like the snow but I am so ready for a change, and those Spanish winters make me dreamy 🙂

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  2. Dreamy greens, love it! 🙂 I could so well imagine myself there.
    Here, buying fruit is always a disappointment. Expensive and either raw or gone bad. A waste of money really, since you have to throw them away without eating. So I miss fruit so so so much! Fresh fruit! Being able to eat something fresh, healthy and also having options, variety – that is something that doesn’t exist over here. It’s the small things that matter!

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    • You remind me of a funny list I read on a blog many years ago. It listed all the complaints of Russians in Norway. It ended with extra-point: “and Ukrainians complain about the tomatoes” 😆
      Tell me about it! I grew up in a country where everything had taste and color and the greens here make me wanna cry (not anymore. But still 😉). Some fruit are ok, like apples and oranges. But that feeling of picking a tomato from the branch… and buying fruit on the market from som old lady… I really miss it. Oh, don’t let me get started 😭😭😆😆

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      • Oh ooh 😯 when you grow up with such juicy snacks… it must be heartbreaking to see the Nordic fruit selection.
        I also remember that we ate seasonal food cuz tomatoes in winter were expensive. But when the first fresh vegetables arrived and fruit, you could count: herbs in April, cherries in June. Here it is all the same, winter and summer alike. With extra strawberries in summer. It’s good to have a choice, but it’s a bit sad to see the same (shit) throughout the year.

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      • Here, the strawberries are a crazy 8 eur per 250g in the summer, and if I complain about the price, people look at me funny and say why don’t I just pick them in my own backyard, surely I have property by the lakes and a cottage… aaargh. No, I don’t, no backyard, no property, no boats, no berries, no nothing 😀 Another thing here is that every meal and especially every salad always has tomatoes and cucumber. Never any variation, they are staples. I’m so incredibly bored of them. It’s like nothing else exists. Even an expensive salad at a chic restaurant where you’d except some creativity and fresh ideas… when it arrives… tomato and cucumber. Great!
        Hehee, miss Grumpy here…. 😀

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      • Well well, dear Snow, it sounds like the proper time to start buying a cottage by the lake and picking your own strawberries :))) Really, do people pick them themselves? Norway has a huge production of strawberries, still not cheap, but I think it is cheap foreign labor that does the picking here.
        Ahaha, that salad rant is so amusing! I never thought of it, now I will be mindful of the salads here. But what can you put in a salad here? Nothing else exists 🙂 Though once I ate a spinach salad in a French restaurant here and it was delicious, no tomatoes and cucumbers, and they managed to do it really yammy.

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      • A lover of chocolate, I need to try that one. Norwegians boast of the best chocolate, Freia, but I still wait to call it the best… hehe.
        My favorites are salmon (of course), makerel and herrings, I love fish more than meat and this is the right place for it. Norwegian strawberries are good too. And Jarlsberg cheese, so good! And brown cheese from time to time (with jam and bread, wiii).

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      • Brown cheese?
        I think you can probably get Fazer in Norway, at the airport at the very least!
        Oh, I like salmon too! There’s a cafe chain here (local) which does a nice baked potato + salmon + creme fraiche dish, I’d say it’s one of my favorite dished for lunch when I’m working 🙂 The salmon is usually Norwegian by the way!

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      • Oh, don’t you know our famous brown cheese? norwegians take it with them on their trips. a taste of home… 🙂 It is a goat milk cheese, with a slight taste of caramel. Google “brunost” for images 🙂
        I love that any salmon in the world goes under the name “Norwegian”. In Malaga I saw a pizza “Noruega”. why? bc topped with salmon. Who puts salmon on pizza is another question (Italians would be offended :)))

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      • Oh, too bad for the Baltic sea. I have heard that the salmon here is so heavily farmed that it is no better. My friend eats only eco salmon.
        Hehe, it is a cheese but it has a special taste, not toffee, but not far)) Actually I am not hooked. I eat it from time to time and I appreciate more than in the beginning. And surely I will miss it if I move! Like a true Norwegian 😆

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      • I read some comments here and there, more on your and Snow’s blog than on others, because you’re chatty in a way I can relate to. Mind you, I don’t chat with living people at all during the day, except amore when he comes home and sometimes my parents on Skype. I’m a recluse. 😀 You are almost the only two people who can tempt me out of my seclusion. 😉

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      • Oh, really? I would not say (I take for granted that Slovenians are chatty like usual Ukrainians, even more those living in Italy, haha). That it is my honor to have this ability to temp you into chatting 🙂
        Btw, I watched “where to invade next?” last night. Loved it. And your little Slovenia got featured, and it looked so lovely. Even Norway looked lovely as they filmed in summer, haha.

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      • Oh, great, I’m glad you saw it! Of course, it’s always relative what to focus on, the good or the bad, when you present a country.

        In Italy they were protesting over his choice of the Italian well-off couple, while there are many more who struggle daily.

        I believe Slovenia was presented well. The president is still the same, recently re-elected. They call him Barbie Girl. 😀 Nuff said.

        I had every chance to get my university degree for free in the course of my regular studies, alas I started my first company then and lost motivation. When I tried to return years later, I would need to pay so much to finish (I only had the final thesis and three exams left) that I was discouraged.

        I was in awe of all Scandinavian examples but the most memorable I found those pencil-manufacturing Germans. Oh, idyll! 😀 😀

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      • I like that Michael Moore commented on this point: “of course, there are problems in each country, but I am here to pick flowers” 🙂 It was a flower-picking indeed. I wish we could all do this: take with us the best, not focusing too much on the negative sides.
        I was smiling ironically at the Scandinavian images bc they all looked idyllic in the sunlight, but I wonder how it would look like if they came to film in December 🙂

        My special memory is the food in the French school, of course! It made me sigh and swallow :))) here we have half an hour lunch at work and schools, and people love their lunchbox, that is: bread with salami or cheese. No warm food until the dinner at 5pm. maybe, a slice of cucumber on the top. This is one of the saddest songs every immigrant is singing here :))) sometimes they say: why is Swedish school doing better? Cuz they have warm lunch at schools. These are some of the problems of the richest country in the North, haha.

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  3. A most excellent pineapple! 😮 And the Cuban feeling is not wrong… I sometimes have it too in Rome.

    Ohh, I feel so bad for your lack of fresh fruit and veggies. 😦 And I’m just about to post the most colourful Swiss chard ever!

    Here for both you and Snow, a quick salad mix that works wonders: raw spinach, nuts, parmigiano and fresh champignons (I’m sure you have them there too, they are everywhere).

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