Ajuntament de Barcelona

Visca-Barcelona

Barcelona m'enamora
Ramķn Pellicer
Do you live where you want to live?
Yes, I am enchanted by my city.
Would you like to move? Why and where to?
No, I like where I live very much.
Do you spend time in your neighbourhood and with your neighbours? Do you have the shops you need nearby (baker's, grocer's, dry cleaner's)?
At the weekends. Yes, there is a baker's and a dry cleaner's, but not much more. A grocer's is needed.
As well as doing your daily shopping (if you do it) do you have places and services for all your needs?
Not right by my house, but if I go 400 metres I can find anything, as this takes me to the centre of Sarriā.
Do you stroll around your own neighbourhood for pleasure or do you go elsewhere?
I go for a stroll with my daughter around the neighbourhood, but I also like to do this in the city centre, as well as in Collserola.
Which are your favourite cinemas, theatres and clubs?
Normally we go to the Sarriā Multicines and to the Verdi cinemas in Grācia. Nowadays we rarely go to night clubs. As for the theatre, it always depends on what's on.
And which are your favourite restaurants, bars and cafés?
Restaurants: Ken, Yu, Vinya Rosa, Indochin, Mesopotamia, La Crātera, La Granja d'Atenes, Cocotte. The café Novell, where I have breakfast every morning, on the Ronda del General Mitre. Depending on the time, the Starbucks Coffee houses are often cosy. For example, the one in front of the Illa Diagonal, and the sandwiches from Central Cafč are delicious.
Is there any public area where you like to go, to sit and chat?
In summer on a good bench along the Carretera de les Aigües.
When you have to act as a guide for visitors, where do you take them?
Firstly I make them go up to Tibidabo or Montjuīc, so that they have a general panoramic view of the city. Then I try to do what they want. Barcelona has everything.
What is the most appropriate, funny or surprising adjective you have heard to describe Barcelona? Which one would you use?
Barcelona is cosmopolitan. Complete, it has everything; sea, mountain, good communications, art, urban landscapes, culture, history, design and some citizens who are conscientious and have a sense of solidarity.
Of where, between the sea and Tibidabo, do you have the most memories?
Carrer Pere IV, between Ālava and Pamplona, where I spent my childhood.
Which is the best place (a park, a café, a seat in the city) to have a romantic date, or to be able to whisper sweet nothings to a loved one?
What I said about a bench in the Carretera de les Aigües isn't bad, but in all cases, the owner of the ear you whisper into makes any place special.
What colours or smells, when you see or smell them anywhere in the world, remind you immediately of Barcelona?
The smell of the sea near the port.
When you have had to leave the city for a while, what have you missed most?
I lived and worked four years in Madrid, for the Telediario news programme for TVE. There's no sea there.
Which of the changes that have been made in the city recently are you happiest with?
Everything that recovers areas, zones in the city that were wasted: Vila Olímpica, the Forum, etc., the effort made to improve public transport, the tram on the Diagonal...
What don't you like, and what would you do to change it?
I don't like how they have solved the problem of transit on the Ronda Litoral on the centre, facing the sea. I would put it completely underground and gain a splendid walk in front of the sea, and I would encourage more commerce and services.
Add anything you would like to say, and that we haven't asked.
Considering the lack of building land in my city and the difficulties it has to grow, it seems a luxury to keep the cemetery of Montjuīc where it is. I would completely change that part of the mountain: We would win it for the cause!