La Mercè 2025

La Mercè is one of Barcelona's biggest events every single year. It's a celebration of the city's patron saint, The Virgin of Mercy or Mare de Déu de la Mercè. It's a day full of music, dances, exhibitions, open museums, and everything you can think of! Luckily it was also a bank holiday so for me, after almost two years, I took out my Nikon camera from the drawer and brought it with me to the city center to be in the celebrations.

Here are some photos that I took from the beautiful events along the Cathedral area and to the center of Placa Sant Jaume. It was a rainy start of the week but today it was a perfect combination of sunshine and cool breezy weather. I'm just so happy I decided to bring my camera and take these lovely memories to share with you all!

       

Never Stop Celebrating!

Stevenson

Hello from Costa Brava

Sa Tuna, Catalunya

Four months in on my new job but still I am feeling very stressed and overwhelmed. I know that my job is a lot bigger plus the fact that I now work on a totally different field, the feeling of overwhelm comes with it. But more than that, I struggle with how I can stop feeling so panicked and anxious whenever there is a new topic or a process that I have no idea yet how to execute. And the worse part of this is that it's affecting my life outside work as well because that "fight or flight" feeling just comes in at random moments even outside work when something "scary" about work pops out of my mind. 

I know (I hope actually) that this is just a phase but whenever I think that I'm already four months in, it's not helping me. My new leaders and stakeholders do not fail to motivate me and tell me I am doing not just okay but actually good, but maybe I am indeed kind of a perfectionist or has this somehow a control issue that I need to know everything as much as I can and do everything as much as I could which is denying myself to take some pauses and appreciate my progress instead of just constantly looking at that other end of the journey.

But more than all these things, everything is well and in between working since I started this new job, I did a couple of nice vacations in the Balkans and another week in Romania during the course of the Summer just to try and relax and do my best to forget about work and it did help me so much. I hope I can share more of that in this blog but I did some Travel Episodes on my YouTube Channel: Steven's Queue that you can join me with!

Aside from those two trips, my French friends from the office tagged me with them on a weekend drive through Spain's Northeastern Coast or known as the Costa Brava! They took me to a cute city called Begur which was so beautiful, quiant, and full of character! Here are some of my photos from that lovely August Day!

 

Begur Center

We started at the beautiful city center of Begur where my friends Clara and Anaïs drove for quite some distance from Barcelona. But the whole drive was worth it (of course I'm just a passenger as I do not know how to drive) and even if there were some tourists, it was not overpowering and crowded that we were able to enjoy the cute sights and even had some lunch of pinchos on the center.

Then Clara drove for another 15-20 minutes to visit Sa Tuna which was another beautiful coastal village, still part of Begur. I thought we were swimming there already but they took me to a beautiful more hidden cove which was Cala Malaret and I enjoyed it so much because I'm scared of waves so it was so ideal for me that I stayed in the water for almost an hour!

 

Cala Malaret

We all have our challenges in life and despite this mentally exhausting journey on this new job that also affects me emotionally, it is always the people around us that makes the adventure more bearable, enriching, and worth the efforts. Grateful for my new manager for the support she provides me, my main stakeholder who's been lenient with me and my mistakes, and my dear friends who act as my family here in my new life in Spain! I may be alone here but I'm a lot less lonely because of these beautiful souls! And of course, thanks to you y dear blog friends that even if I come and go, you never forget about me. And are always there to welcome me whenever I can pass by and express myself through writing.

Never Stop Fighting!

Stevenson

Vic

About 70 kilometers north of Barcelona is the city of Vic. Just a little bit more than an hour by train from Barcelona Sants, this city has an iconic plaza that has been preserved through the ages. It is located in the plains and is perfectly in the center of the Coasts of Barcelona and the Pyrenees range thus giving it a very special climate and vegetation that makes its winters a lot colder than most of Barcelona province.

I went there on a weekend of May, just for a day trip as part of my New Place Sundays. (Which I haven't done in the past two weeks now because I fell ill but I'm getting better now little by little). It was a quiet city especially since I went there on a Sunday where everything is expected to be closed here in Spain.

    
Stores line up on beautiful medieval alleys

Vic also has a prominent university wherein Spanish students and even from neighboring countries chose to take their degrees. It was once a big textile producer just like other cities in the Barcelona province, but now this industry is slowly fading away if not completely. But one of my favorite sausages, the fuet which is a thin cured pork sausage is being manufactured mostly here.

    
Some interesting signs I saw around the city, including a cafe with my name.

Just another amazing city very close to Barcelona. Truly, the region that I am living in boasts a lot of beautiful sights and colorful culture that is both distinctly their own and at the same time, distinctly Catalan. I feel really blessed to call this region my new home.

Leaving you this post with a photo of me on the city's iconic square, thanks to a group of students who passed buy and were kind to take this solo traveler's photo.

Never stop taking pictures!
Stevenson

Girona

Catedral de Santa María de Gerona

Girona is located 100 kilometers north-east of Barcelona. It has its own Airport but you can reach this beautiful city by train from major stations in Barcelona in an hour and a half. As it is located in between Barcelona and the French border, visitors not just from Spain and Catalunya but also from France make this a popular destination.

In my case, I rode the earliest train from Barcelona Sants that took me straight to the French border city of Cerbère. All of it in another post but the bottomline is, I went to Girona just as a side trip on my way back from France.

Estació de Girona

I arrived 2 hours late than intended because our train got stranded just a good 20 kilometers before Girona due an accident with the train that went first than us. But it was not that bad because I was able to have time to read my book and also it was still a bit early. But upon arriving, I was greeted by the nice (and cooled) Girona train station. So I tried to purchase my tickets back to Barcelona and then moved forward

Pro Tip: When doing a spontaneous weekend trip, upon arriving to your destination without yet an outgoing ticket to your next destination or in my case, home - best to buy your tickets in advance before leaving the train station if possible. This will save you time and anxiety as you can plan when you need to be at the station for your outgoing train.

   

My room for a night at Girona

I was supposed to do just a day trip but hearing a number of people telling how nice Girona is, I thought I'd stay a night. I booked the cheapest thing in Booking.com and I saw Residència Universitaria Pare Claret. It looks simple and clean, as long as it has a private bathroom and an AC in this hot Spanish Summer, it's a deal for me. And I was happy with my booking, especially mentioning again the AC!

Residència Universitaria Pare Claret

Rda. Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 28

17002 Girona

So after a shower because it was an extremely humid August afternoon, I set foot to the old city. This "modern" part of the city is separated from the historic quarters by the river Onyar.

Riu Onyar

Even from here I can see the medieval buildings already which excited me so much. It was a Saturday afternoon and there were quite a crowd but not Barcelona afternoon level. I wanted to go to the Cathedral as it is one of the filming locations of the Game of Thrones Series which I followed since it aired its second season.

The Facade of the Cathedral of Girona

This beautiful cathedral was really enormous! It is so beautiful that it was the chosen location to depict the Great Sept of Baelor on HBO's The Game of Thrones series. I had to use my phone's 0.5 lens just to capture it from bottom to top thus the distortion but still I love the photo that I shared it with you. 

It is also known as the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Girona and is a Roman Catholic church that was and completed in the early 18th century. But it has a long traced history dating back to the 6th century before it was transformed into a mosque by the Islamic conquest of Iberia. 

Sant Martí de Girona

Another place on my list was Sant Marti de Girona. Honestly, this is my favorite place in Girona. The reason is that one of my favorite Filipino Movies had scenes filmed in Girona and one of those iconic locations was this one. I mean, it's both grand and romantic at the same time right? And to be able to see it in my eyes was very touching for me.

Just like on the movie, the base of the dividing staircase is a busy café with summer chairs and tables and I wanted to see it without all the other tourists (which I successfully achieved the next morning when I decided to visit it again).

   

But of course, what summer getaway would ever be complete without some ice cream! There's a lot of ice cream shops around the city but I chose this cute shop Roli Gelateria not just because it has a high rating in Google Maps, but because the interiors were cute. Good thing I did because the crew were very nice (as you can see I did not feel shy to ask my photo to be taken) and I felt a bit adventurous that day to try new flavors. I opted for a scoop of Speculoos and another of Lime. I never had Lime ice cream and I tell you, Roli's lime flavor is amazing! I highly recommend Roli when you visit Girona!

Roli Gelateria

Carrer de Santa Clara, 3

17001 Girona

Catalan Architecture

Overall, my trip to Girona was a very good one! I can confidently say that it is my favorite place in the region of Catalunya, well of course next to my Barcelona. People are nice and chill and there's a lot of things to see, flavors to taste, and memories to make! These are moments when a side-trip became a very good destination which you are sure to visit again in the future.

Never Sleep on Sidetrips,

Stevenson

Garraf

Located south west of Barcelona, Garraf is a 45-minute train ride from Sants Station. It is a quaint seaside town but boasts stunning blues - both the sky and the sea. There's a small bay where people enjoy the beach and walking further west is a Marina where you can enjoy the breeze in a very quiet spot.

      

I went there in Spring so the weather was perfect, spent just a few hours to take pictures and enjoy a new town just outside home. I did not see any big restaurants or hotels on the stretch I walked by but it was a very cute place.

Never Stop Exploring Small Towns!

Stevenson