Barcelona was where we became temporary residents. Not a vacation. Not a test run. The actual move. We quit our jobs at Disney, sold what we didn’t need, and boarded a flight with two cats, one suitcase each, and Lance’s music equipment. We used a local Barcelona agency called SH Barcelona to find us an apartment. Everything that came after, the decade of long stays, forty countries, this blog, the YouTube channel, started here.
It stole our hearts on the first day.
Finding a long-stay apartment in Barcelona
The apartment through SH Barcelona was our first taste of what a real long-stay rental could be. Not a hotel room. Not a tourist rental. A real place in a real neighborhood, with a key and a grocery list and a rhythm dictated by the city instead of a checkout time.
We didn’t know it yet, but this was the model. This was the shape of every long stay we’d do for the next decade. We just hadn’t named it yet.
Living in the Gothic Quarter
Barcelona has neighborhoods you visit and neighborhoods you live in. Most people would tell you the Gothic Quarter is the first kind. We tried the second version. Yes, tourists everywhere by day. But by 10 PM the day-trippers thin out, and what’s left is one of the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods in Europe. Courtyards you can only find by getting lost. Narrow lanes that turn without warning. The sounds of the great reggae band Microguagua drifting through our window at night. The bar on the corner that opened early for the people heading to work. The panadería down the street with warm bread every morning.
The Gothic Quarter after dark is a completely different place. That’s the trade for living inside the postcard.
A typical day in Barcelona
Coffee at the corner bar. Groceries at the small market where we learned the hard way to check the label before buying milk (sheep’s milk smells awful). Long walks. Barcelona is a walker’s city and we walked hours a day. Afternoons often ended at the beach.
We hit La Merce festival, which turned out to be a fireman’s nightmare and one of the best nights of our lives. The Gracia Festival was a colorful eyeful of local talent. We saw so much Gaudi our brains rewired themselves. We confirmed that crema Catalana is one of the best things on earth. We learned that not all cava is created equal.
Barcelona: our verdict after a summer of living there
We didn’t know yet that we’d end up in Croatia next, or Bulgaria after that, or that this would become a decade of long-stay life. We just knew we couldn’t stay where we were.
Every long stay since has been an extension of what we learned here. If we had to point to one city that made us who we are as travelers, it’s this one. Barcelona is the origin story. Everything since has been the sequel.
Barcelona long-stay stats
- Duration: A summer, long-stay apartment rental
- Booked through: SH Barcelona (local rental agency)
- Neighborhood: Gothic Quarter
- Cost tier: Affordable
- Walkability: One of the best walking cities in Europe
- Cat-friendly: Yes
- Best for: The people who want to know how a life change starts
- Would return: Absolutely. Barcelona owes us nothing and we owe it everything.
For this stay we booked through SH Barcelona, a local rental agency that knows the neighborhoods well. If you’re planning a long stay in Barcelona, the Gothic Quarter works if you can handle daytime crowds for evening magic. If you want quieter, look at Gràcia, Poblenou, or Sant Antoni.
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