Oh Barcelona, how I love thee. For the last two years I dreamt about moving to Barcelona, mastering Spanish, and dancing Salsa and Tango every night wrapped in the warm Mediterranean salty breeze. My week in the beautiful city by the sea was packed with delicious farm to table fruits and veggies, hikes to stunning views, biking, buzzing around on mopeds and of course some beach time. After a blast in London, I arrived at Manuel’s place Monday afternoon.
 

Couchsurfing.com had pulled through once again. Another fantastic local host! Luckily Manuel spoke a fair amount of English since my third grade Spanish skills are pretty pathetic. I’m working on it! Barcelona is incredibly international. In the tourist hubs it was easy to communicate, but staying with a local and gallivanting around town with his friends, I was forced to practice the language. I discovered very quickly how languages create borders and can make you feel isolated, alone, and frustrated. Especially when everything is stolen!
Manuel was there for me as a host, new friend and fitness buddy. Manuel is a hard core triathlete who lives to travel. He’s a kick butt personal trainer at the most swanky, high-end private gym in the city. He gave me excellent insight into the fitness community and economy. I will live in Spain at some point.

 

I landed knowing it might be more difficult to stay raw in such a rich carnivore culture, but found produce hunting a breeze. Here are my quick tips and highlights for stayed fit and almost 100% raw during any Spanish adventure.
Markets, markets and more farm fresh markets…
 
The Spanish know how to eat! Every neighborhood hosts it’s very own farmers market everyday. Some are nicer than others, but the largest most famous was La Boqueria off the main tourist drag, La Ramblas.  This massive market boasted the most glorious fruit selection I have ever drooled over.

 

Each stall prepped juices of several varieties for thirsty tourists to snag on the go. For 1.50 euro I had about 3 a day! Dragon fruit with a spoon? The perfect afternoon snack.
I had a ball visiting the packed stalls everyday. Raw nuts and seeds are my other diet staple, so I stocked up for the week and future flight to Berlin. Airplane food is so sad now days. Nothing alive to speak of.
If you’re going to eat eggs go for a farm fresh local clutch. Check out this cute display.
The Spanish love their meat and are world famous for their pork. I was beyond shocked to find a carniceria full of pig legs. Pick your cut! Though I haven’t touched pork in years I do appreciate that the Spanish don’t hide the reality of butchering and prepping meat. Unlike the U.S clean packs and friendly graphics, the Spanish show you reality.
People flock from all over the world for a taste of true tapas. I fell in love with Spanish slow eating mentality. They savor a variety of small dishes for a few hours while catching up with friends.
Almost every traditional dish had meat or dairy, so I made a lot of my own food and researched awesome vegan, vegetarian spots to explore. BioCenter was super close to La Boqueria and had the most nutrient dense all you can eat salad bar and vegan menu
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Juicy Jones was another juice bar spot super central to everything with a massive superfood juice list, salads and vegan tapas galore. Take a taste of what they had to offer.
Yum!
Now I discovered a few dance studios and companies, but found it hard to take class when I couldn’t understand the teacher. I biked the city instead using Barcelona’s killer rent a bike program. Any local or tourist can rent a bike from one of these handy stalls, located at every major intersection, for 2 euro per day. Fantastic! Why is this not happening in San Francisco or other U.S cities? Good question!
Cruising along the water front one day I ran into my favorite Spanish store for natural organic home goods and clothes…
It’s a rough life in Spain. Munch a dark leafy green salad…
pedal to Barcelonetta beach for a vital dose of Vitamin D…
and close the afternoon with a stroll through an art packed plaza…
or gasp at the unreal Gaudi architectural masterpieces scattered throughout the vast city…
La Segrada Familia literally takes your breath away!
Overall Barcelona was divine. Produce markets on every corner, friendly Spaniards who understand the importance live/work balance, beautiful terrain to explore and wonderful mass transit. The countdown on this timely subway rules!
While I could easily spend years lounging on Spanish islands, my passion for dance drove me to Berlin to explore the contemporary dance scene. A week without dance left me hungry for the ballet barre. Home away from home.

 

My Top Rawesome Fitness Tips for Barcelona: Do your research online and in person. Spain is still slightly behind the times in terms of online presence. Here are two of the most thorough directories for vegans and vegetarians:
www.sincarne.net
www.happycow.net Barcelona addition

 

Chat with the employees at restaurants and ask about other recommendations. I found a few awesome local spots that were nowhere to be found on the net. Also, check bulletin boards for events, workshops, etc.

 

Pilates and yoga are building momentum in Spain, but nothing can beat the mecca of mind/body movement lovers in San Francisco. I took an Ashtanga yoga class one afternoon in Spanish, but kept to my own practice since I couldn’t find many classes taught in English. This is exactly why virtual pilates is perfect for travel. I followed a few of my own pilates videos and used Yogianonimous.com for challenging yoga sequences.

When all else fails, bike and walk to get your heart pumping!

 

I also joined the Barcelona vegan/vegetarian Couchsurfing.com group to meet other veggie lovers and get the local inside scoop!

Have you been to Barcelona? Any veggie loving, fitness recommendations?

 

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