The ocean!
YAY! View of it this morning almost eased away the pain in our pockets from
shelling out for the campsite...We spent the morning doing washing, having
breakfast, using wi-fi, watching the MANY cats as they attempted to catch
pigeons and contemplating our ‘plan from here’. After 10 sometime we sauntered
down to the train station, navigated ticket buying in Spanish and caught the
train into Placa de Catalunya.
Out of the
underground and the first thing we saw were HUGE Armani billboards. Nice. We
headed to the info site and then to supermarket to purchase kai – getting hungry!
The other info site next to the supermarket on La Rambla told us where we could
find info about camping in Spain...at another
info site. So off we went...
Fortuitously
our route led us past many sights that we wanted to see anyways – yay! Gaudi’s
Casa Batlio, it’s neighbour Casa Amatller, Fundacio Antonio Tapies (FULL of
books!), Gaudi designed lampposts and his La Pedrera. All of this en route to
the third info site, which was housed by the peaceful Palau Robert, held a
couple of exhibitions (FREE) and had info about camping in Catalunia
only...there are none of the ‘whole of Spain’ books left – and the man had a
REALLY good look on all levels of the building and all info sites in the
country *sad face*. BUT he found a website that we have been using since! (with
mixed results)
Continuing
on our self-guided-Barca-walking tour...found some graf, the imposing Santuari
de la Mare de Deu del Carme (another cool church that was closed up – makes Roni
sad), Gaudi’s Les Punxes and...La Sagrada Familia! We ooh-ed and aaah-ed,
walked the circumference and took many photos. A bus full of nuns pulled up at
one point and they joined in the awe and pic taking – made us giggle and one
gave Roni a wave as she took pics! Had prepared to be underwhelmed due to all
the hype but it is pretty intense. We like.
Off on our
way to find a Roman ruin Roni had found out about...via Les Saleses – a
BEAUTIFUL church we stumbled upon. Past Pl. Tetuan with its sculpture and
juggler, Barca’s Arc de Triomf, more graf, the ornate, Palau de la Musica
Catalana and then we found Barcelona Catedral – Gaudi’s first cathedral. Not
only that but there were mass groups of Spanish dancing out the front with a band
going hard. From the aged ones all the way down to the littlies – getting their
espadrille on...very cool. We navigated the little streets behind the cathedral
to find Temple Roma d’August. Success!!
We started
on our way back to the station then...via Gaudi’s Palau Guell, Bar Lisa (we
found it in the dodgier area of town – sorry sis!) and back down La Rambla with
the hordes. Train back to El Masnou and a walk along the beach at dusk before
eating our dinner. A very full day and one we both enjoyed – despite the fact
we didn’t get to the museum with free entry today on our travel list!
