Arcticterntalk.org

The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

Archive for the tag “barcelona”

01 Feb 2013
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Reflections on Barcelona


Barcelona is known for many things, a cruise port, football team at Nou Camp, tapas, wine, sunshine and much more. That is all true. However whilst sitting on the upper floors in a hotel during a meeting it was sad to see groups of young people, mainly males, just sitting on benches and hanging round. Wasting time, nothing to do, nowhere to go, no money to spend. This was in an area only 200 yards from Las Ramblas. It real was striking that unemployment in the young is now 55% in Spain. It showed. That was my memory of Barcelona. Sad. Very sad. The impact has been acute for 16 to 24-year-olds, who saw the rate in the last quarter of 2012 surge to 55.13% from 52.34% in the previous three months.Official data showed that the jobless rate in the last three months of 2012 rose 1% to 26%, or 5.97 million people in the whole population.

No evidence of crime but strong evidence of a police presence. No one buying things in shops at all. A sad , sad, city at least in this part. ImageImagespain, unemployment, youth spain, barcelona, tapas, you camp, football, barcelona, squid, sunshine, espana, unemployment rate in spain

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04 Nov 2012
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Scott Perham – Musician


Last week was spent on a cruise boat Navigator of the Seas. A nice way to spend 6 days travelling, mostly at night from Rome to Barcelona. One of the singers deserves a mention, Scott Perham. Each night he had what can be described as a 4 hour residency in the bar on the boat that could most be likened to an English pub. So whilst sipping Amstel or Bud Light , we had plenty of opportunity to listen. This man can play well. He played mostly music in the genre of Eagles, country rock and the suchlike. One song caught my ear that I did not recognise, ” Against the Wind” sung originally by Bob Seger. Sadly spotify does not seem to know this song. But this guy is good. If he were local I would visit regularly. Just saying.

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25 May 2012
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The Food in Barcelona. Rotten octopus pasta.


There is  nothing wrong with Spanish food but what I have been served this week has been in general terms very poor. Let me rant through it. The hotel breakfasts at Diagonal Zero hotel were the same each day, and I don’t mean the same type of food but the same food exactly. What was not eaten was put back. Pineapple with black bits attached of dubious origin appeared each day. Eggs of various descriptions appeared and all uniformly ranging cool to cold in temperature.

Dinner night 1 – in the hotel bar an alleged Salmon Club Sandwich –  well ok, nothing major to complain about

Night 2 – Dinner in Barcelona FC. Set menu. first course smelled of rotten fish and I think was rotten fish ( octopus in ravioli with squid ink sauce) followed by uncooked  steak with vegetables so small that they may have been grown in Gullivers Kingdom . Lukewarm

Night 3 – Tapas. Ok ish. Everything fried. Fried cheese on a stick, fried this, fried that……..no vegetable. Lukewarm.

Night 4 – Harmless Burger and chips in hotel

Night 5 – Set menu in restaurant called Limbo. Strange assiette of starters , I assume a sort of Tapas, including deep fried asparagus. Main course of chicken bones in nondescript sauce, all Lukewarm

Maybe this goes down as good food there but for me I just cannot eat uncooked, lukewarm, horrid looking food. And thats why I have lost weight this week in Barcelona. What I would have given for a KFC

Squid Ink surrounds a lukewarm octopus in pasta. Believe me it smelled worse than it tasted.

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23 May 2012

Barcelona and Bar Obama


I have mixed views about Barcelona. Firstly it is a fantastic city but to see these fantastic bits does need a little bit of detective work. The weather has not been great at all since sunday, raining, thunder and windy at worst and grey and gloomy at best. Today however the sun shone. Due to work reasons my only excursion has been for dinner in the city last night. A Tapas bar at the entrance to Las Ramblas. A serious amount of people were in and half out of the restaurant/bar when we all arrived. Somehow we got a table and were served by a waiter who might have an alternative career as a mexican bandit in his spare time, and probably does as he needs the money, our leader I think forgetting to tip him………

Tapas does not excite me but this was fine. Tapas seems to mean a cholesterol death event mostly but again this was not too bad. The best part of the evening however was Bar Obama next door. This is a place that is highly recommended. Empty at 11.30 and packed beyond belief at 12.30. A singer and guitarist were superb and she had one of the best voices I have heard for a long time. Powerful and effortless.

Sitting here this evening having a quiet evening preparing for a talk tomorrow ( no alcohol and lots of sleep ) I can see the cruise boats on the horizon………………wishing maybe I was onboard

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