Whew....such a flurry of last-minute activities in order to deal with the Air Canada strike. God's sense of humor also inflicted a perfect storm of additional personal um, situations. We are thus arriving a week earlier than planned and with only a few days before arrival, were lucky to find an immediate rental apartment in the Born area.
So my question becomes: any Born tips or advice/ fave activities, places to eat, shop, cavort, marvel at?
Gracie in advance
(sits back and awaits responses from Enric, Revulgo and Maribel

I am done. the Merce

Wow Zebec, that sounds like a really trying time. Hope that you guys get some good last-minute input here, both from the abovementioned posters plus travelers who may have been there.
Here's a more focused query:
Does anyone have any fave vendor-booths that they'd recommend from any of the following trio of food markets?
-Sta Caterina
-Libertat
-Barceloneta
I know that we certainly have our select fave booths at our own St. Lawrence market. Would be happy to share those with folks coming here.
I am done. the delicious

Can't help with vendor booths, but I loved our 3-4 visits to Tosca (tapas). Two locations:

https://toscatapas.com/

Have fun. I hope Air Canada comes through for you.

Also enjoyed La Rita:

https://andilana.com/locales/la-rita/

And the warm rich chocolate here:

https://www.faborit.com/establecimie...casa-amatller/

And of course the dick waffles, but looks like the place we had them has closed.

Mel, that was extremely kind of you - gracie!! The coincidence: your Tosca is directly in front of La Palau de Musica, same venue that we just booked tix for an hour ago, regarding a combo self-guided tour/baroque highlights concert during our first week.
And a glance at the map shows that your Faborit is where the Merce fest correfoc fire run will wind-up.
gratitude
I am done. the travelerz

We really enjoyed a concert at Palau de Musica, and had dinner at Tosca beforehand.

When do you leave?

You won’t starve in Born, this is guaranteed. For tapas and brunch, we liked Elsa y Fred. For tapas and a pleasant choice of sangrias, Casa Lolea — one of their sangrias is available at the LCBO if it turns out you like it.

Casa dels Entremesos, a guardian of Barcelona popular culture, has a small but impressive collection of the “giants” that feature in traditional festivals, as well as videos of past festivals.

Gratitude too for you FT!! Our *just-arranged-and-finalized-in-a-mad-frenzy-at-the-last-minute Born rental is (by design) near the church. Even prior to the AC flight debacle we had planned to include a stroll up to placas Sant Pere & Agusti Veli, so merci for your related tips. Mrs Z loves sangria so we look forward to that.
I'm excited coz nearby Vila wine shop has some rare Rioja plus Portuguese wines that I have long sought.
Mel, we leave tomorrow morn inshallah (if our house doesn't explode from current reno snafus).

*try that some time. jayzus.
It took me 5-6 hours of trolling every.single.property in Barcelona. Every platform. Private ma and pas plus Tourism office too. Hotels, rentals, houseboats: many were sold-out.
We had a tentative deal to sleep our first week en plein air down in the harbor in Pedro's fishing boat, but then finally found a rental. It'd just been introduced on booking.com for the first time.
Amusing contrast between the tech requirements for our first pair of 'entry keys' on this trip. In Barcelona, they want us to use a special MIT transformer device that requires multiple PHDs...then later when we arrive up in the Pyrenees rental house its just, "Yeah whatever. Just look for the flower pot at eye level on the left!"

thank you all
I am done. the single strand left in my central nervous system

Hopefully, the rest will go off without a hitch. Have a good (stress-free) trip.

Merci Mel et tous.
I am done. the Spaniard in the worx