If only they hadn’t been demolished…

Our only intention is to throw a little imagination and think about what our picnic areas could have become if they had managed to stay standing today, three decades later.

Like most of us, they would have had to reinvent themselves. 

Because it would no longer be enough to provide space for lunch or dinner; they would have to provide multi-sensory experiences, if possible. 

Paellas would be served between flares by waiters with a lot of muscle and less clothes, and alternating garlic prawns with imaginative flexitarian recipes on the menu. We owe it to Instagram!

The well-remembered Bernardo Cortés would have been replaced by a renowned DJ and selfies with pouting would have retired our mythical portraitist Manel Canetti years ago.

In short, laugh at the Ushuaïa ibizenco. Every influencer, reality show contestant or footballer’s consort would kill for a table in the privée – an essential space in any self-respecting place – of the trendy snack bar. What a level! 

And all in the neighborhood. Next to home. Within reach of the hand but not of every pocket, no doubt.

Well, that could have been what was stolen -or saved- by the damned or blessed Coastal Law that under the project orchestrated by the 92 Olympics ordered the demolition of the picnic areas more than 3 decades ago. Time goes by… but not the memory!