A little over two years ago, the artist and illustrator Javi Royo has been living in the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona: “I love living here, it is full of gems; it is undoubtedly my favorite place in Catalonia”. He settled in the neighborhood after living for almost twenty years in Gràcia, next to the Verdi cinemas. He recalls that when he told his friends he was moving to Sants, almost no one understood the change. “It’s strange that people from Gràcia, from one side of Diagonal, and from the other side of Ronda de Dalt, think there is a kind of precipice and they might fall into the void,” he says jokingly. He acknowledges that he is a fan of Gràcia, even though it is losing its neighborhood essence, but he is rediscovering Sants: “They are a kind of cousins, here there are also incredible squares, like Plaça d'Osca, with trees and bars around, and classic wineries are preserved, with their barrels and tapas”. For someone who travels as much as he does, the location is privileged, it is a fifteen-minute walk from Sants station and it takes less than half an hour to get to the airport. He also values the markets, both the Sants market and the Hostafrancs market, with excellent produce and very friendly people at the stalls. He advocates for us to consume in the markets and value them. “I am in love with Xevi's cheeses from Llet crua, the Cex charcuterie with Iberian vending machines every day of the year, a classic like Forn Baltà, the Catalan cuisine menus from Mson, the small plates from Tramendu Bar or the vermouth bar Las Locas,” he explains enthusiastically. He has an endless list of recommendations where culture is also very present with CaixaForum, the Zumzeig cinema, the Heartbreak Hotel theater or the Sala Taro multicultural space. The illustrator is particularly excited by what a taxi driver told him, that Plaça de Sants is where the N-340 ends, the longest national road in the country, which originates in Cadiz. He imagines an arm coming out of Barcelona and stretching until it reaches the Andalusian city with his fingertips. And something similar happens to him with Carrer del Consell de Cent, one of the city's green axes with priority for pedestrians: “It’s a delight for those of us who like to walk. It also starts from the Sants neighborhood and reaches Passeig de Sant Joan. This would be a slightly shorter arm than the one to Cadiz, but capable of tickling the city center”. All this he already finds extraordinary and he still finds a couple more advantages, Montjuïc and neighborhood movements: “It is a fairly organized neighborhood, where associativism and cooperativism have a considerable presence. And on top of that we have this magical mountain, which we often forget, but which is a real gift,” he adds.