Les gens que j’aime

Les gens que j’aime (which means ‘the people I love’) is a cocktail bar in the centre of Barcelona. In its early days it was frequented by the gauche divine (Barcelona’s avant-garde intellectual and artistic set), and behind a red curtain, which is no longer there, the lustful fantasies of the bohemian bourgeoisie came true. It still looks just as it did when it opened in 1967, and it’s a little gem in the Eixample that stands out from other bars because, in the half-light, crouched in a corner, there’s a clairvoyant who reads your cards (tarot) or your palm (palmistry), depending on the day.

This pseudoscience, unprovable and esoteric, has always drawn me out of curiosity rather than belief, with that fear of what it might reveal about an uncertain future. The truth is I had my palm read once and she got quite a lot right, whether because I was ready to find coincidences or because the coincidences were real. But one day I’ll go back, for the tarot this time.

Fortune teller aside, Les gens que j’aime has an air of mystery about it. You get in down a flight of stairs into a basement. Low lighting, calm music, red velvet chairs and sofas, cocktails for every taste and a décor crammed with paintings you can barely make out: it’s the perfect place for a quiet, intimate evening away from the hustle and bustle and from minimalist design.

To one side of the bar, a small wooden staircase with extremely narrow steps takes you up to a rickety gallery from where you get another view of the bar. That’s exactly where the tiny toilets are.

Tarot: Monday to Friday (evenings)

Palmistry: Thursday to Saturday (evenings)

Address: C/Valencia 286, 08008 Barcelona

Opening hours: Sunday to Thursday 18:00–02:00 / Friday and Saturday 19:00–03:00

Phone: 93 215 68 79

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