Just when I thought I had put the topic of property search behind me, we are now on the hunt for a new place to live here in Barcelona.  For the past months we’ve been down near the beach in Poblenou, and it is fantastic. It has space, is cheap, has great bike lanes, near the beach, there are tons of start-ups and co-working spaces, etc. It lacks only one thing: international schools. Given that we don’t plan to spend the rest of our lives in Catalonia, we decided it would be better not to send the kids to the local Catalan language schools.

Unbelievably all of the international schools in Barcelona seem to be clustered (almost literally on the same street) at the other end of town. So right now we have a fairly hellish commute everyday (not least because hundreds of parents drive their kids to the schools every morning and afternoon). So we are now on the hunt for a new place to rent in Sarrià or Pedralbes. If you know of a 3-4 bed place, please get in touch.

I will be very sad to leave Poblenou, and we’ve found through talking with many other expats that our situation is hardly unique. If you want to make some money - open an international school in Poblenou, I would gladly invest. Relatedly, I see this as one of the few areas Barcelona’s tech scene is not well placed to attract international talent. Any experienced person who considers moving here will have children, and commuting all the way across the city is a major damper on the otherwise great quality of life in Barcelona.

The two bits of good news about the move are we will be closer to the forest and nature and should have a much nicer view looking down over the city. 

If you have any leads please send them my way. I’m not expecting a lot from this post, but figured there was no reason not to try.