I can’t believe four days has gone so quickly. Already we are due to leave Barcelona tomorrow. It has been a strange mix of very lazy and walking far, far too much. Every day we’ve lain in bed till at least midday, fitting in a few video calls here and there, not really ventured outside till at least 2pm, and then walked, walked, walked, walked our way into exhaustion to come back and still not have dinner for a few hours.
Our first real day of exploring we went all throughout central Barcelona to look at the main attractions of the city. We walked down into the suburb known as Barri Gotic via the apparently world-famous street La Rambla (sometimes known as Las Ramblas as there are four or five different sections). On the way we encountered the first of many Gaudi buildings in the city. It’s like they’re obsessed. Or he was obsessed. But definitely deranged. Okay, that’s harsh. He was an “arty type” (please use physical quotation marks for effect). They all have surreal, wavy, semi-prehistoric-semi-futuristic architecture that really make them seem sculptural rather than edificial. La Pedrera and Casa Batilo, I think they were called. Blahblahblah (insert horrified “arty-type” gasp).
One thing I managed to get a good hold of was how ill placed many of the trees were. Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE trees. They make or break a city for me. But when they are placed in front of so many picture-begging buildings so that you can’t get a shot unless you tilt your camera at a 75º angle and pretend that it still looks okay. Ah well, can’t win ‘em all.
Into Barri Gotic and down La Rambla, which was a beautiful and interesting street. Inundated with people, some walking, some stopping to stare at the plethora of street performers trying to make a living, and some were better than others. One in particular I thought was fantastic was dressed as a kind of devil, painted black with huge wings and a wicked, wicked smile. Just perfect! He would have been making a fortune though – I gave him 50 euro cents and he was getting tipped every 20 seconds or so. Add that one in your head.
Also in excess on the streets were pet stores – some that I’m not sure were entirely legal. Apart from your normal fare of goldfish, birds, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs, they had turtles, tortoises, ferrets, Australian cockatiels, iguanas, a possum-like creature that I’m certain was a marsupial of some sort and even chipmunks. I wanted to take a chipmunk, but knew I wouldn’t get it through customs anywhere or like the idea of supporting pet store I’m sure are illegal. Okay, pet stores full stop with exception of buying goldfish, when I normally go to aquariums anyway.
We walked right down to the port, passing the Colon monument as we turned around. We then found a great little restaurant called Restaurante Gloria, which we clearly had to eat at. We took a few photos which Chelsea has tainted horribly, but she’s funny so I forgive her. I also happened to see what I had hoped I would never see: a drullet. Yep, a dready-mullet. And not even sexy dreads. No my friends. Dirty, skanky, fuzzy, rat-eaten and rat-tailed dreadies. Shudder of the ultimate shudders. And not just once – I saw another today *hangs head in sorrow*.
After that horrible discovery we quickly went off to find something pretty – and so we did. Two gorgeous churches are here in Barcelona; the supposedly most beautiful Eglesia Santa Maria del Mar, which you can’t get a decent photo of because it’s surrounded by buildings which prevent you from being any further away than about 20m. The other I think was prettier but unfortunately (well, for me, I guess it’s fortunate for Barcelona) is currently under construction so you can really only see its beautiful gothic spires. It was called La Catedral and had a few gargoyles to boot.
From here we started our trek back home, via a few key places – the Spanish Arc de Triomf which was a vibrant orange-red and marked a beautiful walkway with palm trees, lamp posts and a few beautiful buildings in the background. Last touristy stop was La Sagrada Familia, another of Gaudi’s creations which was also under construction, but undeniably designed by a freaky arty type. It was beautiful in a creepy, Gothic-Disney kind of way, but enticingly enigmatic enough for you to linger longer than you need to.
At the end of the day after reviewing my photos I’ve discovered that Andrew has developed an irritating habit (he SWEARS it’s accidental) of cutting off the top of my head and including my chest area in photos. Did I say chest? I meant breast. It may be because I have put on a bit of weight and made it difficult for him to concentrate, or it may be because he’s a down and out pervert. Take your pick.
Anyway, the next day after chatting to people online we took a walk up to Parc Guell, a large park situated very uphill from the rest of the city. We also have discovered the baffling Spanish answer to steep slopes – escalators. How these people stay so thin is beyond me, because every steep hill I’ve gone up has escalators all the way up. Outside. From America I’d expect this, but Spain? Curious and curiouser.
The top of Parc Guell gave us a beautiful panoramic view of Barcelona, and yet more Gaudi creations. At one point I felt like I was in Candyland for the buildings that could have been gingerbread houses (no Hansel or Gretel I’m afraid. Or Charlie). Up a flight of stairs to a Gaudi cave of columns with murals and a busker. Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi. The city’s crazy I tell ya.
Today we started off the day with a trip to the Dali museum (baha Chels) but I must admit it was nowhere near as good as the Dali exhibition I went to when I was in Italy. This one had many sketches from before Dali lost his mind completely and became the epitome of artsy types, and quite a few sculptures. It was reasonably interesting, but almost an anti-climax (for $15 it was anyway).
Then we went off to Montjuic, the huge park that held the Olympics in 1992. When you enter the park from the front entrance you are confronted with the magnificent Palau Nacional, which was, well, palatial. Up many, many flights of steps (with a rest and a skulled bottle of water on the way – it’s 35ºC here dammit!) and we were up the top with again a great view of the city.
We walked around, looked at the Olympic Stadium and other bits of the park before realising that we had a LONG walk home – we walked nearly non-stop for nearly 5 hours, so our feet were complaining loudly by the time we got home. Before we got home though, we were treated to one man’s wander through the park – completely starkers. Sure, it was hot, but what the? He had bizarre tattoos everywhere (that says it all really, tattoos = bad, don’t they?) and no hair where it counts (SO wanted to put something in about chest hair + my father, but thought it was obvious to everyone anyway). However, he did have a rather long….stride. Ah, good ol’ Barcelona and the things I’ll remember.
So, yeah. Off to Valencia tomorrow, then a night in Madrid ready to fly to Morocco. Hopefully it will be a nice reprieve from everything being RIDICULOUSLY expensive. We did manage to wash for only $10 today, which was not bad considering. Mmmmm…..clean clothes.
Ciao!!
Barcelona photos
