Barcelona, Catalunia, Spain
The Review
I tell you I could go for some good pasta and local Spanish wine right now! Barcelona is a wonderfully diverting city, but it can be hard to stay there long on a budget.
Somehow we found out about Tucco, probably from the good reviews on Tripadvisor, and got lost but eventually found our way there. It is an Italian restaurant on a side street near the George Orwell Plaza.
Go for anything on the menu. It isn’t a rock bottom budget place, but it is fantastic food for the price. You can choose either beer or wine to accompany your meal. I’m inexperienced and a bit choosy, but both were impressive.
The Story
Much more impressive to us than the food was the waitress who pulled strings on our behalf.
We were in Barcelona during summer while Europeans were out traveling and on vacation. The hostels had filled up quickly, leaving only some of the more expensive choices.
The waitress was kind and friendly so we asked her if she knew, as a local, of any places we should look into to stay.
At first she didn’t know of anything specific, but came back to us with her plan. She offered to ask her friend’s brother to lend us his apartment.
Abel was the friend’s brother. When Abel received the message from our waitress, he generously accepted to let a few strangers camp out at his new place.
Abel was not living in the apartment yet as it hadn’t much furniture. The water and electricity, however, were on and working. We had bought blow-up mattresses, pictured below, in Paris so we had everything we needed.
Abel was affable and energetic, helping to carry our things while happily and patiently guiding us along to his apartment. He was about my age and planning to fix up the apartment with his brother and eventually rent part of it out.
The location was prime and perfect. We were on the top floor, so while the stairs gave us our daily exercise, it also afforded two balconies worth of top notch views.
We paid him to stay three nights there before catching a bus southward to Malaga. We enjoyed immensely our short experience, feeling as though we actually lived in the city.
Abel came by, as he said he would, with some of his friends to check on how we were doing one night.
After our time in Barcelona was up, and after placing Abel’s money on the desk, we headed out in the wee hours of the morning. We slowly walked through the sleeping streets (for the one whole hour that Barcelona sleeps) toward the Arc de Triomf near the bus station.
Major thanks to Abel and Tucco’s waitress! They created some of the highlights of our time in Barcelona.
Now, go eat that good food for me, and if you are in need of a place to stay, ask the waitress. Abel might have some space to rent. 😉
