{"id":2574,"date":"2015-09-09T02:17:20","date_gmt":"2015-09-09T00:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/?p=2574"},"modified":"2020-08-06T11:16:11","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T09:16:11","slug":"diagonal-avenue-barcelona-walk-on-wild-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/diagonal-avenue-barcelona-walk-on-wild-side","title":{"rendered":"Avinguda Diagonal – Diagonal Avenue Barcelona… Take a Walk on the Wild Side"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Sun<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On this last weekend of August in Barcelona\u2026 today, a unique sun is my ally, my best spotlight\u2026 a great part of Diagonal Avenue Barcelona, or to use its Catalan name Avinguda Diagonal Barcelona, is closed to traffic, so I get my phone and a pair of sneakers and invite you to join me in the adventure of finding unique buildings, hidden places and relaxing corners.<\/strong>\u00a0 So sew your shadow to my feet Peter, and up we go \u201csecond to the right and straight on till morning\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"palm<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"large<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"classic<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Let’s start our journey at Pla\u00e7a Francesc Maci\u00e0<\/strong><\/em>.  I follow the characteristic pavement pattern, onto this urban catwalk.<\/strong>  The design of the paving sett is determined by the general concept being deployed in the Diagonal project.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have to be careful not to miss a thing\u2026 sleek modern buildings next to old classics and Gaudi\u2019s<\/strong><\/em> trademarks, make for beautiful patchwork.  The awesome Casa Sayrach<\/strong> <\/em>(Avinguda Diagonal corner with Enric Granados), stands so elegant, as one of the last buildings of Barcelona modernism. Curved shapes characterize its fa\u00e7ade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"the<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Barcelona<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Back to the avenue, amongst luxury shops and nice caf\u00e9s and restaurants<\/strong>, I get to the terrace, of Jos\u00e9 Luis<\/strong><\/em>, a classic in Barcelona, the restaurant with posssibly the best \u201ctortilla de patata\u201d in town<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(UPDATE 2020<\/strong>: Jose Luis has now ceded this space to the famous Tapa\u00e7 24 by Carles Abell\u00e1n<\/em><\/strong>, who has added this venue to serve the Barcelona district of Sant Gervasi-Galvany, here in Diagonal-Tuset. By the way the tortilla de patata<\/em> is just as good \ud83d\ude42 and don’t forget to try the “Bikini”<\/em><\/strong>).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next to it, \u201cAjo Blanco\u201d<\/strong><\/em> (Carrer de Tuset), the other side of the coin, a cool new designer restaurant.  Diagonal-Tuset-Granados\u2026 the most interesting edge, an explosion of architecture \u2026 La Casa Mas de Miquel, La Casa Sayrach<\/strong><\/em>, and the stunning Metro 3 building<\/strong><\/em>, where the Habitat<\/em> store (designer furniture) is located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"terraces<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"building<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Metro<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"electric<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Now I run into the \u201cBarcelona Equestrian circle”<\/strong><\/em> (C\u00edrculo Ecuestre de Barcelona, on Diagonal corner with Balmes) – SPOTTED:<\/strong>\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard that you can belong to this select club for a small fee of 12,000 euros, plus the endorsement of four partners and, of course, you must pass a test prior to admission.\u00a0 Then the doors of the Barcelona Equestrian Circle will never be closed to you.\u00a0 You can get together with the economic and social elite of Barcelona<\/strong>, enjoy an exquisite coffee or a drink until the wee hours of the morning\u2026 but yes, YOU HAVE to wear a tie [at least of you\u2019re a gentleman]. The Circle completely renovated the interior in 1992, including a full gym, a rooftop pool & caf\u00e9 and 16 rooms for members and guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The club is hosted in the palace “Casa Perez Samanillo”<\/strong><\/em> built in 1910, and what catches the eye is one of the most striking elements of the building, a huge oval window overlooking Diagonal<\/strong>\u2026 locals call it the \u201cfishbowl of Barcelona\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"there<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"buildings<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"while<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Barcelona<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This is amazing!!! No traffic and I\u2019m walking in the middle of the street!!!<\/strong>  I\u2019m arriving at Pilma<\/strong><\/em>, one of my favourites deco shops. Not far in distance, now I can see the obelisk marking the cross between Diagonal and Passeig the Gr\u00e0cia.  To my right, the building of the Barcelona Provincial Council<\/strong><\/em>, advising the beginning of another great promenade, the boulevard of Rambla de Catalunya.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"crossing<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Barcelona<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A little further along are the Jardins del Palau Robert<\/strong><\/em> and in front of it, on the other side of the avenue, between two glass monsters, the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce<\/strong><\/em> and Deutsche Bank<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(UPDATE 2020:<\/strong> in the last quarter of 2020 the exclusive Mandarin Oriental Residences will open their doors in Barcelona in this same building that for many years, was the headquarters of Deutsche Bank… the new Zeitgeist “from bank to luxury residences…”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respectively, the Pompeya Church<\/strong><\/em>, a jewel of Neo Gothic contemplates the passage of time, unperturbed by its big neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"the<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Palau<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"An<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Those deck chairs are so inviting\u2026<\/strong> I\u2019m done, hope you found it so appealing that you are eager to get your ass away from La Rambla, and discover an attractive brand new world! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"living<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"the<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Plaza<\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On this last weekend of August in Barcelona\u2026 today, a unique sun is my ally, my best spotlight\u2026 a great part of Diagonal Avenue Barcelona, or to use its Catalan name Avinguda Diagonal Barcelona, is closed to traffic, so I get my phone and a pair of sneakers and invite you to join me in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[176,8,5,262],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pDV9Q-Fw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2574"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5252,"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574\/revisions\/5252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bizflats.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}