From Beach to Mountain

Barcelona is a city that truly has it all - it's surrounded by beautiful beaches and mountains. We decided to take advantage of both by starting out the day at Platja Barceloneta and ending it on Montjuic.

The day started out as hot as ever, and J and I collected our beach towels from the hotel and hoofed it towards one of the busier beaches of Barcelona, La Barceloneta. It wasn't that far away, but the heat made the walk nearly unbearable. The only thing keeping me going was the thought of jumping into the waves of the Mediterranean.

The walk itself was beautiful - we came across the monument to Christopher Columbus, Port Vell and one of several beautiful paths that we could take to the beach.

It was a long, hard slog but totally worth it when I saw this:

Heaven.

J and I spied some empty lounge chairs with umbrellas, and I asked around until I figured out the protocol for renting the lot of them. Apparently, you just plop down on them until some guy comes around and takes your money from you. Sweet!

J sat around in the shade reading his book while I alternated between trying to get a tan and frolicking in the waves when I got too hot. It was amazing! Some differences though: (1) about half of the women were topless, and (2) smoking is quite popular on the beach. We were also by a large group of old men playing backgammon while basking in the sun and every so often, they'd burst into song that repeated the word "porque" (English: why). I was very amused and told J that that was what retiring was all about.

After I was done burning to a crisp, we packed up our beach things and headed further down the beach to make our lunch reservation at Can Majos, a restaurant famed for its paella. The restaurant lived up to its reputation and then some. J and I were seated on the terrace and presented with some soft bread soaked in olive oil and tomatoes and a small dish of olives while we waited for our order to arrive. We chowed down on our seafood paella when it arrived, all the while exclaiming over the crispy rice and succulent langoustines. Interesting fact: Ask for beer in Barcelona, and you'll inevitably get Estrella brand beer.

We stuffed ourselves senseless, and we decided to head back to the hotel for a proper wash up. We slowly moseyed our way back to the hotel and ended up power-napping for a few hours. Hey, that's what being on holiday is all about.

It was a bit late when we woke up, but we decided to head to Montjuic anyway. Montjuic is the home of the Olympic Stadium and a series of beautiful gardens that's west of Las Ramblas. The first thing you see when you arrive is the art museum, which was absolutely beautiful all lit up at night.

We headed towards the gardens, but we arrived a bit too late and they were locking up the gates. The security guard we came across very kindly told us that we were free to walk around to take pictures but to take care as the area got dangerous in the evening. We very gladly heeded his advice and headed back to the Museum area, where La Font Magica was about to happen.

During the evenings, the huge fountain in front of the Museum has a fantastic light and music show. It's not on every night, but we accidentally timed our visit just right to catch the show, which started at 9 PM. People were already staking out seats at least an hour in advance, but J and I managed to snag a great viewing point for the 15 minute show.

It was a fantastic end to an amazing day, and J and I agreed to return to Montjuic the next day to visit the gardens properly. Did I mention I love Barcelona?!

A Day of Gaudi

Antoni Gaudi, the father of Modernisme, shaped much of the best known architecture in Barcelona and his style was all about following nature in design, and he eschewed anything resembling a straight line. We decided to spend the entire day on just some of his best stuff.

It was shaping up to be another scorcher, and I wasn't quite sure how hot it was going to be down in the Metro. J easily convinced me to take a taxi up to Parc Guell, our first destination, but first, I needed to stop by the magic fountain on Las Ramblas that ensures that the drinker of the water would return to Barcelona since I had already fallen in love with the city.

Las Ramblas in the morning before it gets too crazy

The water from the fountains taste very "minerally"

Parc Guell dates from 1900, and it's a beautiful park situated high on a hill. The gingerbread looking buildings were inspired by the story of Hansel and Gretel, and they are the first things you see.

After entering the park, there's a grand staircase leading up to the Sala Hipostila.

The place was positively crawling with people when we arrived, and we slowly wended our way up the stairs to the Sala to take refuge in its shade. It was originally designed as a marketplace, but now it's crawling with tourists taking pictures of its beautifully tiled ceiling.

A word of warning: if you don't like mosaics, you will not like Gaudi cause he loved the stuff. I love it too, and I spent most of the time smiling dementedly and taking millions of pictures. But damn, it was hot - my shirt was soaked through with sweat as we stood on the main terrace above the Sala Hipostila to admire the fantastic view of the city.

The heat soon drove us to seek refuge in the shade of a palm tree, where we were heckled by one of the many angry parakeets that live in the park.

We took a quick stroll to look around before we decided that neither of us wanted to die of heatstroke.

 

Our next stop: La Pedrera on Passeig de Gracia. La Pedrera is another of Gaudi's creations that was built in 1905-1910.

Further down the street: La Casa Batllo, which is one of the three funny-looking Modernisme houses that are together called la Manzana de la Discordia (Apple Block of Discord). Gaudi designed only La Casa Batllo, and and the other two were by other Modernisme architects.

The other buildings of La Manzana:

Casa Amatller

Casa Lleo Morera

Honestly though, I came across so much beautiful architecture in Barcelona that as amazing as Gaudi's buildings are, I admired many other buildings almost as much.

Until I saw the Sagrada Familia, considered Gaudi's masterpiece. All of the travel forums warned me that the queues for the mother of them all would be horrendous so I was sure to buy advance tickets for the main event.

As for La Sagrada Familia... there are no words. And there are no pictures that could ever do it justice. You just have to go. It's been under construction for over 100 years, and it still won't be finished for another 20 or so years.

The western exterior with bronze doors:

 

The interior:

 

 

 

 

 

The southern entrance:

The main entrance:

 

J and I spent the full hour that we were allotted wandering around the church, and it was just amazing. By the end of our tour of La Sagrada Familia, we were tired and dirty and too glad to hop into a cab to head back to the hotel. Once there, we fell into our usual routine of hot shower, room service, and zonking out.

Hot in Barcelona

We've been trying to book a holiday for a while, but I was too busy with work and running to plan an itinerary for a trip to Iceland as we originally planned. Instead, I decided that we ought to head out to Barcelona where the temperatures are around 31C (87F) in the middle of August - woohoo!

As soon as our British Airways flight landed, I knew we had made the right decision. I couldn't stop smiling as soon as I saw the bright blue sky and felt the warm air on my skin. Barcelona is part of the Catalan region of Spain, and although their main language is Catalan, they also speak and understand Spanish so I had a lot of fun trying out my Spanish on the very nice guy at passport control.

J and I found the Aerobus that took us into the middle of the city, and we hopped off at Plaza Catalunya and headed down Las Ramblas in search of the Hotel Meridien Barcelona. Of course, we immediately got lost, and I thanked my lucky stars I remembered enough of my high school Spanish to ask a very nice security guard how to get to our hotel. Check-in was painless, and J was excited at the prospect of staying at a 5 star hotel. Our room was great, much more spacious than one could expect of a European hotel, and it's at a great location right on Las Ramblas so we're in the center of it all.

We unpacked quickly and immediately headed out to check out two different neighborhoods - the Barri Gotic and La Ribera. First on our list, el Mercat de la Boqueria, which was just a hop further south on La Ramblas. It's a very famous outdoor supermarket that sells just about every kind of food imaginable. We saw lots of stalls selling juices, fruit, aged meats, nuts and seafood. We were a bit overwhelmed with all the sights and smells and agreed to return later after we had worked up an appetite.

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered east until we stumbled on the Esglesia de Santa Maria del Pi and the Plaza de Sant Josep Oriol which was right behind it. The church is from the 12th century, but it wasn't really much to look at other than its giant rose window, and we enjoyed the plaza much more.

 

Along the way, we also saw all sorts of tiny streets that I was tempted to follow.

We continued east until we finally got to the Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulalia, which is a combination of 14th and 19th century architecture. As soon as we entered, the cloisters grabbed my attention. It felt so tranquil, and it's populated by 13 geese that supposedly represent the age of Santa Eulalia at the time of her martyrdom. Every time the bell tolled, the geese would start honking like mad, which I found absolutely hilarious.

 

 

 

We wandered around inside the church, and there are some bits that just took my breath away. For instance, the intricate woodcarving on the choir stalls was absolutely amazing.

 

 

You can also take a lift up to the roof and get a great view of the city. Barcelona's skyline is both old and new; you see Gothic bell towers surrounded by cranes and sky-high hotels.

  

After we left La Catedral, we were both pretty hungry and decided to stop in at Los Caracoles for lunch. The restaurant is supposed to be one of Barcelona's best known restaurants and well-known for its snails and rotisserie chicken. I wasn't that interested in snails, so I ended up enjoying the best rotisserie chicken I have ever eaten in my whole life. J had ordered the steak, but I gave him a hunk of my chicken after he was finished with his dish, and he agreed that it was the best chicken ever. The ambience is also very old school and tavernish, and the walls are filled with pictures of famous people that have eaten there in the past. Although most of the items on the menu were quite expensive, the service and food were both excellent.

Full and happy, we made our way to the neighborhood of La Ribera, which lies just east of the Barri Gotic. We visited the Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar, another 14th century Gothic church, but the church was completely full so we couldn't enter. Instead, we bought some gelato from a shop in the plaza and walked around the Passeig del Born, a pretty stretch of trendy shopping.

We weren't too far from the Parc de la Ciutadella so I led J even further east until we finally entered lush looking park. We came across a building known as the Castell del Tres Dragons (the Castle of the Three Dragons), which looked like a giant play castle someone had built for their very spoiled kid.

 

 

From the castle, we also spied the Arc de Triomf with its strange-looking Islamic style brickwork.

J was looking pretty miserable from the heat and all of the walking, and we decided to hoof it back to the hotel although we weren't finished exploring the park. I was also looking forward to seeing our hotel room again since I was much hotter and dirtier than I had been in quite some time. Once we were back at the hotel, it was a hot shower and room service before we both zonked out for the night.

Some random observations:
1. Barcelona has the most beautiful lampposts I've ever seen.

2. Lots of women were wandering around extremely scantily clad, and European women are slim enough to make California girls look like heifers.
3. Every single building, and I mean every single one, has juliet balconies.
4. Barcelonins love their fruit juices, hams, and smoke shops.
5. A lot of the shops were closed since many of the locals skip out of town in the month of August.
6. There's lots of graffitti everywhere, but not scary graffitti.
7. There are benches and water fountains everywhere, even in completely empty streets.
8. A lot of the homeless people that we saw had pets - dogs or cats.
9. Many Barcelonins do not speak a lick of English so bring your phrasebook.
10. It's a great city for bicyclists since the bike lane is actually on the pavement with the pedestrians and not on the road with the cars.