Avesta (CLOSED)

This venue is now closed.

A collection of preserved butterflies distributed throughout the room. International banknotes hang like sausages the bar. Objects that look like dusty props taken from the set of 'The Others'. Swedish flags. Frames around strange Persian-looking symbols. Avesta is one of the leaders in every-man-for-himself rustic decor that defines the darkest corners of the Barri Gòtic. In this asymmetrical labyrinth of a cave materials coexist that celebrate an ugliness which draws you in and doesn't let go. Aged wood, white-painted stone and ancient tiles come together under one roof that would send any obsessive-compulsive straight to a very quiet place for a long rest.

Once you've found a way to settle your bum into a chair made of logs, you've got to try the rare 'leche de pantera', which is the best in the barrio. This 'panther's milk' is a lethally strong drink made of condensed milk, gin, rum, Cointreau, peppermint and cinnamon. If that sounds too much for you, order the old standby, absinthe. There's also a great and potent 'agua de Valencia' (cava, orange juice, vodka and gin), and don't worry, they also have a very decent list of beers for those not ready to pass out before dark.

With all this kitsch in th air, accompanied by a soundtrack featuring the finest of 1980s progressive Spanish pop-rock, you feel like you're somewhere special, singular in the Gòtic, where the fabric of space and time is distorted, gobbling up tourists, uni students, local drunks, bohemians and even local weirdos, like your dear writer. Welcome home.