Sunday, July 12, 2015

Barcelona: Thoughts on choosing where to stay

Our place in Barcelona had a disco ball and a dance floor.  It was described on AirBnB as a ‘Loft.”  The kids loved it and grudgingly I did too.

Photo Jun 30 7 49 19 PM

AirBnB, if you don’t know, is a way to rent apartments from people who have space to rent.  It used to be a cheap way to have more space as a family, plus a kitchen.  But it is a lot more expensive as they have added more fees, to the point that we may go back to staying in hotels.

Photo Jun 30 8 23 19 PM

 I say grudgingly because this is what it looked like out front.  We got there early, so we had a while to wonder if we had the right place.  City apartments on AirBnB rarely have parking, so Troy dropped us off in the street with our luggage and left.  The mirrored glass upstairs was our flat.  We had a whole slice of the building all the way to the back.  That orange sign has a painter’s pallet and says, “Open Space, Artist Studio.”  I don’t know how it works, but I suppose you can go there to paint.

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 What a dump.

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 But then we got inside.  The old doors add wonderful character.

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 Troy is reading in the lovely modern kitchen.  We didn’t actually cook here, as there was an Ethiopian restaurant 5 blocks away.  We weren’t going to pass that up.

Photo Jun 30 7 46 47 PM

There was definitely a college crash pad feel to the place.  The beds were on the floor or on packing pallets.

Photo Jun 30 7 43 57 PM

Our host (the guy who rents the place out and lists it on AirBnB) was a 28-ish Russian guy.  There was a connecting door to the next building over:  this old brick one.  He said that was where he would be.  At night there were twinkling multicolored lights leaking out of the shutters and what appeared to be another dance floor.  There was music, and one group came in whooping and hollering.  Then they started singing.  I mean choir practice with a piano and a do-re-mi warm-up.  It was a lovely thing to fall asleep to, and how would you ever get something so unique at the Hilton?

 

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