They say drinking absinthe used to be like smoking a serious spliff: if it was good, you didn't have to wait long for its effects to take hold. Supposedly, this was the kind you could find at Bar Marsella back in the day, popularly known as the oldest, operating absinthe bar in Barcelona. Established in 1820, the bar has long had the reputation as one of the green fairy's favourite haunts.
But anyone coming here with the hopes of reliving the escapades of Baudelaire or Hemingway will instead find a throng of sangría-fuelled Erasmus students and the odd myth-obsessed person being instructed in the ritual without any glamour whatsoever. However, on a slow night at this tavern steeped in nostalgia, we can easily pretend to be Johnny Depp in 'From Hell'.