Wednesday 6th September (day 38)
Oh man, whose idea was it to catch a 07.30 plane out of Edinburgh today! It was a heck of an early start, up at 04.30 and in the airport by 05.30. Despite flying with Ryan Air which is notorious for being cheap and nasty, our flight was perfect and we landed in Barcelona on time and on budget! Consistent with our experience of transferring to Amsterdam airport on public transport, we decided to use the system to travel to our an accommodation, which is very comfortable and contemporary. We will be very comfortable here. After settling in, we headed out for a sandwich (just downstairs) and some shopping (just around the corner).
Keen to show me the main attraction in Barcelona, Jim Bean suggested we take a walk to the Sagrada Familia. I am ashamed to admit that I knew nothing about it, perhaps because Catholicism is not my strong suit, but I want to know more now. What an intriguing, gaudy, ugly, impressive, colourful place it is. From the outside, which is all we saw today, it is huge and somewhat enchanting. We trotted around it, with me craning my neck, mouth agape, trying to fathom both what it is and why I’ve never heard of it. We will definitely be doing a tour of the inside!
Time to have a beer and some tapas. JB found us a local place, with a good menu and we enjoyed an hour sitting in the street. Soon enough, we were back on our feet and off to meet our tour guide. Although I was expecting someone with a Spanish accent, our guide, Aidan, turned out to be an Irishman! Despite this, he obviously knew his stuff (or his script) and provided us with a great tour of the Gothic Quarter. We started in the busy Placa de Catalunya before we headed down la Rambla. His advice about these two areas was to avoid them, as they simply attract loads of tourists, without offering the authentic experience. As we turned off la Rambla it quickly became apparent that there are loads of places to go to avoid the crowds.
Our first stop, and where the history starts, was at an ancient Roman cemetery or graveyard, revealed after bombs were dropped on the area during the civil war just before WWII. Imagine how surprised the people must have been! Our tour continued as a very easy to follow history and culture lesson. We heard about other Roman history and saw some Roman foundations, as Barcino was established. The city is in fact built on many different levels, each demolished and built over, hence the cemetery is a few meters lower than the current ground level.
We also heard about the Catalonian state, and its unique culture and language. There is a definite and deliberate push for this area of Spain to break away from the rest and become a separate country. There was of course the civil war which saw Mussolini and Hitler side with Franco, and bombed this area to test their own weapons in anticipation of World War Two. Nice of them! There is still evidence of the damage from bombs in places around the city. More recently, and in an effort to break away, there was an attempt to host a referendum in 2017, that the government violently squashed. Catalonians have a part Spanish, part French background, influencing its language. We were advised to avoid using Spanish, and if possible use Catalan instead, especially when we are indicating that we enjoy the service or food.
As we walked around the city we saw the flags of Catalonia, the independence flag and the Barcelona flag. The 4 red stripes on the Catalonia flag come from the story (one of many) that the leader of the area, Wilfred the Hairy, was stabbed in the chest during a battle and one of his loyal subjects put his hand on the bloodied wound, before wiping his 4 fingers across the golden shield, leaving 4 red stripes. To be honest I was more intrigued by Wilfred the Hairy, who apparently had hair in places that most don’t, including under his tongue. In the modern day the poor fellow would likely be called Hairy Willie! Anyway back to the flags, the Catalonian flag with a blue star is the independence movement’s flag, and the flag with 4 segments that include the Catalonian flag (sideways) and the St George’s, cross is the Barcelona flag. St George is the patron saint of Barcelona, having slayed a dragon that was terrorising the city. He slayed it just as it was about to eat the king’s daughter. The princess and George fell in love and Barcelona has its own valentines-like day to celebrate their love story. Boys give girls a single red rose, just like George did, and girls give boys a book (because it also happens to be International Book Day).
Then there is good old Saint Eulalia, who despite numerous attempts to kill her by the most bloody of means because of her beliefs, defied all wounds and kept surviving. In the end the governor had her head cut off, from which flew a white bird! The cathedral is named after her and there are 13 white geese that live in a secret garden within the cathedral, and have done so since it was built. The reason for 13 is that she was 13 years old when she was killed. The cathedral, like all the others in town, was very plain, that is until the early 1900s when the powers that be decided to jazz up the front for the benefit of the crowds expected to show up. You can see how plain it is towards the right, and around the others sides. Despite there being a history of money in the city, the Catalonians are not showy, preferring to appear plain in every aspect of their lives. Jewellery, flashy cars and other exhibitionism is left to blow ins.
Another more contemporary stop on the tour was at a very lovely mural, created from 1000s of photos depicting “moments of freedom”. Despite looking at it for a while, with and without folk standing in front of it, I couldn’t see the bigger picture. Through the camera lens though, it is as clear as a bell! As well as liking the mural very much, I love the comment made by the artist who created it. “The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a canon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer”.
The history lessons continued in animated form until we reached the gelato shop and eventually the end of the tour. As always it was a great way to see the best sites and sights of the city, this time in the evening. We have a few ideas for tomorrow and a few places to go back to, but for now, I will be asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, but only if my feet stop throbbing. At least I am getting my steps back up!
Thursday 7th September (day 39)
Thankfully my feet have stopped throbbing, just in time for us to walk a few thousand steps again today. There is a loose plan that involves Gaudi. However our first stop on today’s walk was the city’s own Arc de Triomf at the entrance to the Ciutadella Park. Impressive, but not as much as the Arc in Paris. We didn’t really come for the Arc though, we came to sit on Vaclav’s seat, just like we did outside our house in Prague, five weeks ago! It took a bit of finding, but my eagle eye spotted it, looking exactly the same as its partner. We sat for a while, but the day was already starting to heat up, so we opted to move along towards the harbour for some lunch and a sea breeze (and coffee).
With food in our bellies we set off in search of some other interesting things to see and do today. The city is full of them, so it shouldn’t be hard! Not far along the road we encountered a huge monument and statue of Christopher Columbus. An odd thing really, considering old Chris was Italian. Anyway, it sits at the bottom of La Rambla, pointing off into the distance, probably in an obscure direction compared to where he though he would go!
Our next stop was the Palau Guell a building designed by Gaudi, where we were able to escape the hot day wandering around with our audio tours telling the story of eccentric owners and their more eccentric designer! While it is impressive, I would have to say that Gaudi-ism is not really my thing. I love colour, but the combo of colour, light, size and shape is all too much for me. I couldn’t live there, but I can appreciate it for what it is and I loved the ingenuity of certain aspects of the build, like the arrival area for horse drawn carriages, and the stables and the way the rain water is captured for the troughs.
Something that is very much my thing on a hot summer day is beer, so we decided to find a spot to try one or two. Fortunately the Antic Theatre jardin had just what we needed and along with a couple of cold ones we were able to people watch and while away some time, eagerly anticipating our impending visit to take in some more Gaudy at the Sagrada.
Still chugging on with our busy day, but a bit rejuvenated after the rest in the jardin, we jumped on a bus (with a very cranky driver who shut the door in my face!) to head along to the sagrada familia for our booked look inside, with audio tour. While we are using the public transport system, we haven’t got the hang of it completely. It seems like there might be public and private companies operating the buses, making it a bit confusing. Nevertheless we got to our destination and (here’s a first), I didn’t call out a “thank you” to the driver. We arrived at the temple (also called a basilica – not a cathedral) just as our allotted time started and we were the last to leave, an hour later. The audio tour is an excellent way to see the best parts of the facade and the interior. The two are quite different.
The outside is elaborate and gaudy, in complete contract to other places of worship in Barcelona, that are almost entirely unadorned (remember, no showiness or evidence of wealth). The eastern side of the outside is called the Nativity and the western side is the Passion. They are on opposite ends of the short arm of the cross that forms the inside of the temple (think of the crucifix). The nativity side has all the sculptures that make up the nativity, leading to Jesus’ life as a carpenter. It’s quite calm and very traditional. It’s also where we entered the temple. The passion side on the other hand is clearly about suffering and angst. The sculptures on both sides are intricate, accurate and realistic. With the audio tour describing so much of the detail, you could stand there for hours listening and looking. But we needed to go inside, which is equally as amazing as outside.
The inside is far calmer, with a lot less detail and far more like a temple in terms of the peace and quiet. I especially liked the colour and glow coming in through the amazing stained glass windows. I also really liked the various textures throughout, including the stone, glass, and wood. I can’t imagine what it must be like to attend a religious service in this building. There are so many chambers and chapels and naves and transepts, perhaps they hold different services in different parts of the temple. Eventually and all too soon our time was up and we were thrown out the door and then the gate, suddenly finding ourselves out on the street on the passion side.
It’s truly amazing to think that this structure was designed in the 1880s and is still under construction! There are cranes atop the spires and scaffolding adorning the façade. What the heck else can there be to add? It’s certainly one way to keep people coming back to Barca time and time again. And to be honest, I’ve gone from thinking it’s a bit ugly, to appreciating the temple for it’s sheer magnificence. And, I would recommend getting up close and personal with a piece of Gaudy, either at the Sagrada or elsewhere in town, even if you think it is not your thing! You never know, you might also come to love it!
What a day! And it’s not over yet. There’s food to be had. The dish of choice in Barca is apparently pintxos, so we headed across to Blai Street to try these delicious little finger foods. There is an endless choice of bars to choose and the street is full of tables and chairs so you can enjoy them outside in the fun atmosphere. One of the pintxos we tried was called a bomb, a ball of tasty mince wrapped in soft mashed potato. Of course we had to have one! Naturally we had to wash all this delicious food down with some equally delicious beers, and then on our long walk home, complete the food groups with an icecream. I may never need to eat again …
Friday 8th September (day 40)
Having heard about Europes biggest fresh food market, Boaueria, during our walking tour, I decided I could eat again so we to headed there for coffee, breakfast and a look around. The hot tip was to arrive there between 8 and 10am, which proved to be very good advice! The market is a feast for the senses which I suspect Gaudi himself would have loved! There is everything from fruit and vegetables, to meat and fish, as well as sweets and pastries. The colours were incredibly vibrant and as the sounds were a mix of vendors calling out to buyers and themselves. We wandered around for a while, eventually finding a spot to have a coffee and some delicious omelette, with some fresh baguette. The food and the experience of perching on a stool around the edge of the stall was great, and made the 08.00 alarm worth it!
To top off our experience, we bought a fresh juice and some less healthy chocolate and fudge, before heading out the big doors (in the opposite direction to the people flooding in), and wandered home to finish the chores (washing).
It was actually very nice to have a wee rest in the middle of the day. We used it to book a flamenco show for tonight! At the concert hall no less, and VIP seats! That’s pretty exciting and now I am looking forward to it. But first, we are off to the high point in the city, as is our custom on our last day. We decided to take a taxi there, although there is a cable car that takes people right to where we wanted to go. My fear of heights can really only be pushed so far, and a cable car like this one is beyond the limit. I remember that the one in Queenstown really challenged me, but it went up a mountain side, so the fall (had there been one) would have been minor. Similarly the one in la Paz followed a hillside making a rescue (should it be needed) possible. Here, the cable car is in the sky. Sorry, I just can’t do that! The cab ride was not at all hairy, although after dropping us at the stadium he did leave a bit hoonishly!
Anyway, our first stop atop the hill was the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Stadium. It has a long history, way before 1992. Barcelona wanted and prepared for an Olympic Games in the 1930, then their own civil war loomed and Berlin was awarded the games in 1936. So Barcelona played the long game and eventually they were awarded the games. To accommodate them, the existing track and pitch was lowered 11 metres so that a whole new set of stadium seating could be added! We got to see the flame cauldron. I remember watching the arrow shot across the sky to light the flame, and I loved the Andrew Lloyd Webber song Amigos Para Siempre (Means You’ll Always Be My Friend) that was an anthem. It was great to see the stadium and the surrounding area, and imagine people everywhere, watching athletes compete.
The area is now very quiet, especially where we are picking up the camper tomorrow, at a carpark not far from the stadium. After checking that out, we wandered along the top of Barcelona, enjoying the view, until we found a beer garden and a seat.
Eventually we picked out the landmarks (including Primark) and roughly where “our house” is. The walk we took and the city’s orientation left me a bit confused, but I got there in the end. It was a very nice way to see the city from on high, without having to go inside a building.
So, you want to know what the flamenco show was like? Well after a short rest at home, we caught the metro across town to the Gaudi-esque (not Gaudi) El Palau de la Música Catalana. The building itself is beautiful, both inside and out. As for the show, it was excellent, with 4 musicians, 2 singers and 3 dancers. It was a combination of singing and dancing and instrumental pieces. Of course the highlight was the dancing, both the pieces choreographed for all 3 dancers, and those for the solos. One of the women performed a dance wearing a gorgeous dress that trailed to the left, in a sea of ruffles. Her dance involved the train of the dress, which she danced around, flicked with her shoes and swished with her hips! I have no idea how she didn’t fall over! The male dancer performed a great tap show, tapping at a speed I couldn’t manage with my fingers! His feet and legs must ache when he gets home.
Naturally, we couldn’t understand the songs, but we got the gist of them. I would bet one was about a lost lover, one was about parents denying their daughter true love, and one was about the passage of life through time. We both thoroughly enjoyed the entire show, in the same way as we enjoyed the Edinburgh military tattoo when we were in Scotland. To end our all-things-Catalan evening, we found and enjoyed some paella and sangria, ticking off another 70B4Seventy item.
And just like that our time in Barcelona is finished. It has been a whirlwind visit, shorter than our visits to other cities on this trip. Despite that, we have loved it. The highlights have definitely been the Sagrada Familia, the market and our tour of the Gothic Quarter. Two full days and three nights is definitely enough time to see the sights and sites, but if you are headed here in peak season, book ahead. We didn’t book ahead and missed out on an ebike tour of the outer parts of the city and a guided tour of the Sagrada, but otherwise, thanks to it being off season, we were able to book everything else once we arrived in Barcelona. Barca, you are gaudy, but we love you!
Head on over here to meet Luigi and follow us along the Mediterranean coastline.
The Solo Avocado 