Lost and Found: La Confiteria, Raval, Barcelona

 I lost all the pictures I took during my year in Barcelona. Many of them are here on the blog, of course, but the vast majority have vanished into space. So when I found a few Dropbox folders with work that I had sent to magazines and to my journalist colleague, I was so happy to "re-join" the folders and re-import to my computer. It was like finding a lost treasure. So much work and so many memories. 

 This place, La Confiteria, is one of my favourites in Barcelona. It feels so authentic. So rich, so full of secrets and stories and life destinies. It's dark and cozy. At night it's loud and bright. It's a refuge from the hardships of the city and the bad economy- a glass of cava is very very cheap here. 

 These bottles are so classicly Barcelona; they're for filling up the vermouth with fresh, sparkling soda. But they do so much better at being decoration. Beautiful. 

 Cozy, majestic and weird. Old things, polished windows, lights mirrored and reflected in the glass. 

 And the floor... of course, the floor. These tiles that are so typical for Barcelona. I've later learnt they also are very typical in the south of France and in Morocco and I've also seen them in Tel Aviv. From where do they originate? I don't know. But I do love them.