Beautiful Granollers?

I’ve seen somebody ungraciously spit the drink out of their mouth upon hearing the words ‘beautiful Granollers.’ People react with raised eye brows and disbelief. Granollers? Beautiful?

Friends of mine came to visit last week. They created a photo album called ‘Beautiful Granollers’, and there are photos of the local bakeries, cafes, the porchada, the lovely little house on the corner with the parrot in the window, a shop where you can buy ‘love’ and pictures of me.

The fact is, we don’t have many tourists coming to Granollers. Nobody sees the point of selling the city when places like Vik are so close by. However, my friends came to visit me, and they loved it.

They loved the food. The simple Catalan food where even the worst cook can’t go astray. Excellent produce creates delicious taste.

They loved the weather. My friends came from Scandinavia, and for them, Granollers was a haven of warmth during the day and a fresh rain shower in the afternoon. It was summer with a capital S. It was still raining in Oslo and Stockholm the last time I looked.

They loved the shopping. My friends are dedicated shoppers and they adored having all of the big names in a few blocks of each other.They loved that they could smoke in bars and restaurants. Of course, just about any other place in the world, you have to leave the premises to smoke, so for them, it was a lovely luxury to sit and enjoy their nicotine rush.

Did I mention that they told everyone they met of what a great time they had here? The inexpensive alcohol, the reasonably priced and delicious food, the bakeries serving such an array of pastries, the cobbled streets and flowers spilling over balconies.

Beauty, I have heard, is in the eyes of the beer holder.

On the Revista del Valles website, I viewed a poll where you can mark Granollers as failed, average, good or excellent. I was surprised with the results. Perhaps, to increase the beauty of Granollers, I raise my glass this time and say ‘cheers!’

This article was originally printed for Revista del Valles.