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Last September, I spent a mellow week in Barcelona walking through the alleyways of the Sant Pere neighbourhood, taking pictures of the graffiti. Yes, if I'm not taking pictures of the groceries in exotic locales, I'm taking pictures of the walls. Obviously, I'm not your typical tourist.

I've always been fond of street art -- in addition to the totally punk politics of it, I love its immediacy and ephemeral nature. In San Francisco in the early 90s I admired the work of Twist, Dave, and Reminisce -- and I had a soft spot for some guy named Tom Mosh, who merely scrawled his name all over Chinatown and lower Nob HIll.

Barcelona's graffiti art is fantastic, and I spent days walking around the city admiring it -- definitely an unexpected pleasure. There are giant, fabulous, "official" graffiti murals, but my interest was in the urgent little tags and drawings in the alleyways and on the shutters that shopkeepers pull over their doorways during siesta. You could see different art on the same block depending on whether a store's shutter was up or down when you happened to walk past.

Three travel suggestions if you're Barcelona bound: check out Spray Planet gallery near the Picasso Museum, try Bar Mariona at Ronda de Sant Pere 62 (or 63?) for cheap tasty sandwiches and champas, and visit Freaks bookstore for European comics and zines at Ali Bei 10. Hunt down a copy of Le Cool's Weird and Wonderful Guide to Barcelona, which I was fortunate enough to find on my second day.

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Space Invaders tile installation, Super Mario, and some art appreciation.

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