When I lived in London a few years ago, friends from Barcelona would tell me that although they loved London, they missed the light of Barcelona.

At the time I didn’t understand what the problem was. The weather in London wasn’t that bad, was it? To be honest, having grown up in the north of England, I thought London’s climate was pretty good. But after only a couple of months living in the Catalan capital, I got it. The light of Barcelona is intense. If I’d grown up in a place where the sun shines so relentlessly, I’d probably have missed it too.

I think sometimes you miss what you grow up with. What you’re used to. I remember that there were times when I was living through weeks of non-stop, searing summer heat in Brisbane, when I would crave one of those crisp English mornings where you can see your own breath as you walk.

Waking up to an apricot glow

Now, when I’m not there, I miss the light of Barcelona too. If you live in the city, you get used to waking up to an apricot glow, squeezing through the shutters and slowly creeping up the walls of the flat.

And the light follows you around wherever you go. It bounces off the Mediterranean, it flashes through alleyways in Gràcia and the Gothic Quarter, it flickers through the trees that cling to the hills behind the city, and it radiates the squares of the barrios, making them glow as they fill up with people in the evening.

The light can make you feel whole. It charges you as well as a good coffee can. When I moved to the city I soon became addicted to the light of Barcelona. I felt like I could almost breathe it in.

And it’s not that I was starved of light in London. I’m actually equally as fond of a very London kind of light that you get in the winter. A kind of silvery gleam from the sun that adds to the grandeur of the place.

The shimmering light of Barcelona

It’s just that the light is so piercing and unrelenting in Barcelona. It’s not sunny every day, but there are times when it feels like that’s the case.

As far as cities go, Barcelona is a pretty photogenic one. And the light of the city certainly helps. The tiles on the roof of Casa Batlló shimmer in the sunlight, as do the colourful fruits that adorn the top of the towers of the Sagrada Familia.

To truly appreciate the light of Barcelona, you need to head to the hills behind the city and take in the views from there. At sunrise or sunset, you can see the cityscape change colour from vantage points like the bunkers in El Carmel or Carretera de les Aigües behind the monastery in Pedralbes.

When I was a kid I remember watching the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona on TV. At the time I was fascinated by the golden glow that constantly seemed to envelop the place.

25 years later, I still feel the same way. And when I’m not there, it’s the light of Barcelona that I miss the most.