Nou Can Codina is one of my favourite bars for a beer and a bite.
It’s a favourite with the family too. We have a pet name for the place — No Can Do.
“Shall we do No Can Do?” someone might say. “Yes — let’s do No Can Do.”
And so it goes.
Then…
Not so very long ago Can Codina, one of the oldest surviving bars in Gràcia, was a humble, everyday sort of place, serving up run-of-the-mill cheap snacks and meals. It was ok for an occasional coffee or plato combinado when out doing errands. It was a dreary but honest neighbourhood bar which closed its doors roundabout 9pm every night except Sundays, when it wasn’t open at all.
Now…
After a scrub-up, a splash of paint, new lighting scheme, amazing menu, and an injection of energy and imagination the place is buzzing most evenings until 11 — and gone midnight on Saturdays.
Gentrified? No, not at all…the food and drink offered here is sensibly priced and well within the range of us ordinary folk.
Because it is now a popular joint plan to spend 10 or 15 minutes at the bar waiting for a table on a Friday or Saturday night.
The Food
Simple everyday treats are transformed into tasty, memorable delights. The patates braves (3,90€) here are very good indeed — among the very best braves in the city. And so too are the croquetas and morcilla (black pudding/blood sausage).
Whoever they have working the kitchen they need to tie down with a payrise and a golden handcuffs agreement — otherwise he or she is going to walk, and stamp their goodness on a rival establishment.
The croquetas here are fantastic — full of flavour — probably among the best in the city, and very reasonably priced at 1€. The standard options are: cocido (meat, potato and chickpea mash), merluza y gambes (hake and prawn/shrimp) and bolets (mushroom). However, check out the specials board as they often offer two or three special croquetas such as sípia (cuttlefish) and a wonderfully tasty apple with goat cheese (poma i formatge de cabra) for 1,40€.
The morcilla here is also well worth trying. Moist and packed with flavour — served with a smear of parsley and garlic oil and lightly toasted bread (2,60€).
Graffiti stencil portrait of Fidel Castro on Carrer Verdi, Gràcia.
One of the many wonderful things about exploring Barcelona is happening across curious portraits of well-known, and not so well-known, people in unexpected places.
Here’s a graffiti portrait of Fidel Castro in Vila de Gràcia.
And a link to a graffiti portrait of Fidel’s comrade-in-arms, Enesto ‘Che’ Guevara HERE.
Enjoy discovering graffiti in Barcelona
One of the many wonderful things about exploring Barcelona is happening across curious sculptures in unexpected places.
Here is a sculpture by Xavier Medina Campeny, a representation of La Colometa (the Pigeon Girl), or Natalia, the main protagonist of Mercè Rodoreda’s novel, In Diamond Square (previously published as In the Time of the Doves).
This powerful, human-sized sculpture is situated in Plaça del Diamant, Vila de Gràcia.
Here’s a detail of the pigeons:
Here’s a photo showing something of the context taken from the terraza outside Café Diamant:
LINKS:
Here’s my write-up at Spotted by Locals: HERE.
Enjoy discovering sculpture in Barcelona.
One of the many wonderful things about exploring Barcelona is happening across curious portraits of well-known, and not so well-known, people in unexpected places.
Here’s another graffiti portrait of Amy Winehouse which appeared in Vila de Gràcia on Carrer Mozart during the Festes de Gràcia in August, 2015.
For more graffiti featuring Amy Winehouse go HERE, HERE and HERE.
Enjoy discovering graffiti portraits in Barcelona
One of the many wonderful things about exploring Barcelona is happening across curious portraits of well-known, and not so well-known, people in unexpected places.
Here’s a graffiti portrait of Robin Williams in Gràcia.
It went up on the wall the very next day after his death was announced — a year ago today.
Enjoy discovering graffiti portraits in Barcelona
 Zarajos as served at Morryssom
One of my favourite tapas dishes is Zarajo, braided sheep’s intestines wrapped around a vine branch and usually broiled, though often grilled, sometimes smoked, served hot with a wedge of lemon.
Very tasty.
Zarajo are not common in Barcelona, the dish originated in Cuenca, the city in Castilla La Mancha.
Zarajo go well with a beer, though I recommend you try them with a glass of rough, strong red wine.
Two places which I know serve zarajo are:
- Morryssom’s, one of my favourite lunch restaurants and tapas places.
- Bar L’Amistat, Carrer de Torrijos, 13, in Gràcia. IMPORTANT: L’Amistat as was is now CLOSED. It’s still called, Bar L’Amistat, but is now just another would-be trendy bar and they do not serve zarajo.
Zarajo as served at Bar l’Amistat, Grà cia.
Bon profit!
 Zarajo as served at Bar L’Amistat
Enjoy!
The streets of Barcelona comprise a battlefield which has hosted, and continues to host, skirmishes and more enduring clashes between armed police and local people.
The streets of Barcelona have seen fierce battles over issues such as workers’ rights, the pernicious, all-pervasive influence of the Church, education, Republicanism, a Stalinist coup, representative democracy, independence, workers’ self-management, property speculation, squatters’ rights, forced evictions and revolution.
The city’s layout has been largely informed by the tactical manoeuvre needs of the army. For example, Via Laietana, was in part created to allow cavalry units to disperse hostile crowds forming outside the inner city walls. Avinguda Diagonal was created, in part, to enable rapid access to the heart of the city by troops based in barracks in Pedralbes. Parc Ciutadella was once the site of an enormous miltary citadel. The castle on Montjuïc, was only handed to the city in 2008; until 1963 it was a prison run by the military to incarcerate and sometimes execute, dissidents.
1976: Los Grises in Els Jardinets
One of the many wonderful things about exploring Barcelona is happening across curious sculptures in unexpected places.
Location:
In Vila de Gràcia, on Travessia de Sant Antoni, midway between Carrer d’Astúries and Carrer del Montseny, you’ll find the little square, Plaça d’Anna Frank and a sculpture of Anne Frank. She reclines on a canopy affixed to the Centre Artesà Tradicionarius — a cultural centre dedicated to the production and promotion of Catalan music and dance.
The scuplture is by the Catalan artist, Sara Pons Arnal.
An inscription inside the book reads:
“While even the names of her executioners are gone, she lives on. But may the long shadow, and the river of blood and tears and mud and mourning that snuffed out so much beauty, never return, the symbol of which was a young girl in bloom.”
Enjoy discovering sculpture in Barcelona
One of the many wonderful things about exploring Barcelona is happening across curious portraits of well-known, and not so well-known, people in unexpected places.
Here’s a graffiti stencil portrait of Amy Winehouse on Carrer Francisco Giner in Vila de Gràcia, Barcelona, July, 2013
For more graffiti featuring Amy Winehouse go HERE, HERE and HERE
