Granja de Gavà

El Raval, Barcelona –

In 1942, the famous Catalan writer Terenci Moix was born in Granja de Gavà (Farm Gavà), back when the location was the site of a small dairy and the surrounding El Raval neighborhood was just a shadow of the trendy hotspot it has since become.

Yet while the surrounding blocks now constantly buzz with activity at the variety of nearby bars and clubs, Gavà remains a quieter haunt where intellectual types can sip coffee and dish over literature, and where Moix himself used to sit and write poetry before his death in 2003.

Newspapers highlighting major events in Spain over the last several decades adorn the walls, as do tiles scribbled with past patrons’ musings on everything from the meaning of life to their opinions of the bar snacks.

Latin rhythms fill the space in the evening, though always at conversation-friendly levels, so weary travelers can tuck in with a beer at one of the tiny tables, make new friends over traditional Catalonian fare, and stare at the statue on the bar of a robust woman wearing a giant hat made of bananas.

What does it meaaaaaaaaaan?

The loud chatter of multiple languages spills out from the international crowd that frequents this place, as one round of drinks turns into three. Granja de Gavà maintains that authentic character of old poetic elegance mixed with a 21st-century-shots-and-cocktails kind of night.