Barcelona for The Night Owls: a Friday-to-Monday weekend
Trencadís, sea light, and streets that argue in Catalan.
The city after dark. Days start at noon, the real plan starts at nine: a concert, a cocktail bar with a door policy, a club worth the queue, and breakfast on the way home.
Friday: Bunkers and the basement
- Bunkers del Carmel
Sunset from the anti-aircraft battery of 1937 with the whole city below, a beer from the man with the cool-box; the night starts here.
- Bar Mut
Dinner at ten at a bar of wine and small plates in the Eixample, which fills with the opera crowd after eleven.
- Jamboree
Jam sessions in the 1960 basement club on Plaça Reial, then it turns into a club at one; the Monday jam is the cheap one.
Saturday: Apolo
- Federal Café
Brunch at one in Sant Antoni, eggs and a flat white, the only meal before dinner so take the whole plate.
- Platja de la Barceloneta
A late afternoon on the sand and a drink at a chiringuito, which is what the daylight is for.
- Sala Apolo
A 1940s ballroom turned the city's best live room; the gig ends at midnight and Nitsa, the club downstairs, is just starting.
Sunday: Tablao, then a kitchen-sized dancefloor
- Bar Calders
A Sunday vermouth and a plate at the Parlament corner, where the previous night is being discussed at every table.
- Tablao Cordobés
The early flamenco show in the Moorish-styled cellar on the Rambla, an hour, strong; dinner is separate and better elsewhere.
- Moog
A tiny techno box off the Rambla open every night of the week, a dancefloor the size of a kitchen and better for it.
Monday: Chocolate on the way home
- Granja Dulcinea
Hot chocolate and melindros at the 1941 granja on Petritxol, breakfast for the walk home or the first thing after it.
- Mercat de Santa Caterina
One sight, horizontal: the rippling ceramic roof, then a seat inside for a coffee and the day's only decision.
- Cal Pep
The counter at Cal Pep for whatever Pep sends out, clams and tortilla, before the Aerobus; opens at one, queue at quarter to.