Barcelona Credit: Marco Ken Moller

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Barcelona: Gem of the Mediterranean by Bryan Chin

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Spain’s most popular coastal town is also its gayest. Barcelona—amidst all of its sweeping Antoni Gaudi architecture and Mediterranean beach culture—has a gay community so prospering that it claims its own “ghetto” (the bustling “Gaixample” district) as well its own beach resort town (Stiges) a half-hour train-ride away.

There’s just something about this city by the sea that the LGBT community is drawn to. Could it be the year-round sunny weather? The tapas? The excellent shopping? The perfectly tanned locals? The nude gay beaches? The fact that Catalonia, the Spanish territory that Barcelona is the capital of, always tries to set itself apart from the rest of Spain like some sort of renegade?

Whatever it is, there’s no denying our visibility as a part of it. Walk up the famous La Rambla street that runs straight through the middle of Barcelona, and we’re there at the very top in our very own gay ghetto. Tour Gaudi’s massive, unfinished Sagrada Familia or his sprawling Parc Güell, and we’re there, too, admiring what the architectural genius had to offer. Barcelona has become an LGBT playground, a coastal cosmopolitan where we fit in perfectly as both locals and tourists alike.

And the cherry on top of it all? Spain legalized gay marriage in 2005. Book your tickets now, people!

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Art / 09/13/09 at 2:10 am

After my long term boyfriend (12ys) broke up with me, I took courage and booked a 1 week trip to Barcelona by myself. Best medicine in the world!!! Stayed at the Axel hotel and met so many nice people and hooked up with many guys, didn’t even had time to think of my ex. It was the most liberating trip of my life. I went in the 1st week of June, weather was awsome, warm, but not too hot. Don’t miss Mar Bella Beach, (gay/nude opt.). A lot of fun 25/7 literally, the city trully never sleeps!!!

Eric / 04/24/09 at 12:27 pm

Check out a bar called Metro (address: Sepulveda 185). I was there in ‘99, and at a certain point in the evening, men would couple off and do the traditional Sevillana dance together. It was beyond hot. Of course, earlier the big hits of the night were “The Shoop Shoop Song” by Cher and “The Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing, so I guess you take the good with the bad.

Eric / 04/21/09 at 12:32 pm

If you make the day-trip to Sitges, whatever you do, do not leave all your belongings in the rental car while you go off for one last dip in el Mar Mediterráneo (and one more peek at the hordes and droves of hot Spanish men in their square-cuts). If you do, you will undoubtedly return to a car with at least one smashed window and far less of your stuff than you left there.

Eric / 04/21/09 at 12:21 pm

There’s a bar in the old part of the city called Bar Marsella that we sought out specifically because it is known for serving absinthe. It is rumored to be the oldest par in the city, at nearly 200 years old. (And judging by the heaps of dust on the bottles decorating the walls and the cracks in the marble, it has not changed much in that time.) We were told that it has been in the same family for all those years, and that the current owner is gay. We could never confirm this, but it definitely has a very gay-friendly feel. I learned the hard way that I don’t care much for absinthe.

Marc / 04/09/09 at 7:22 pm

I’m heading to Barcelona in a few weeks. Anyone know about hot new restaurants and/or gay nightlife there?