transportation

When we were planning for our move to Barcelona, we decided to pick a neighbourhood close to the middle of the city so that we could rely on public transport to get around, and of course our feet. The neighborhood or barrio that we live in is called Eixample, which means something like wide streets. On the street that we live, two lanes of cars can drive. This neighbourhood was one of the first neighborhood's built outside of the old town. The city planners wanted wider streets so that the light would shine into every apartment. This is true on our street, we also have some trees.

About 1 block from our apartment is the old town, where the streets are very narrow, some streets as narrow as 8 ft wide. One could easily through objects across the street into your neighbor's apartments. It feels so close that you could almost touch each other. Luckily not that many cars drive in this neighborhood, and there are often many people walking around.

Walking is a major pasttime for the citizens here. Every evening, many people are out walking the streets, checking out the shops and going out for coffee or a beer with friends before dinner at 9 or 10. Many of the shops close in the afternoon and open againg at about 4:30, and then close again around 10. Most of our family loves to wander through these narrow streets to see what we can find. Today we found a great bookstore, with a good English section, and a Chinese bazaar filled with gadgets and knickknacks.

When we need to go beyond our neighborhood, the subway line is one block away. We have become pretty subway savvy, but mainly we walk, there is so much to see within walking distance of our apartment.