A Mid-Westerner in Mid-Wales

There were too many pictures and videos, so instead of making this blog post longer than it already will be, I will just send you to look at them here on your own.  We had a great time in this magical city and really felt like we took advantage of being so close to Spain.  Here’s how we spent our time.

Day 1-2: We drove to Bristol (where we were taking off from) to see S and D in their new cute home and caught up with them.  I haven’t seen S since 2002 so it was really great to see her!  Our flight the next morning experienced a delay both at the beginning and end of the trip.  The first delay was due to weather.  The second delay was due to this bachelor party on our plane getting drunk and belligerent which caused the pilot to call the Spanish police during the flight.  So we had to wait for the Guardia Civil to unload the rowdy bunch and haul them off to prison!  We arrived at the hotel around 4pm, tried to find some lunch, unpacked, and headed to Parc Guell to see it at dusk.  Our first encounter with Gaudí really got us excited to see more of his works.  We headed to dinner around 10:30 and had a fantastic Catalan meal at La Bodegueta complete with cava sangria and pa amb tomàquet.  It was midnight, but our day wasn’t complete!  We headed to Montjuïc de nit for their once a year evening soirée where they open up the MNAC (the national art museum) until 3am!  Hitting up a museum in the middle of the night was the best way to adjust to Spain’s late timetable!

Day 3: We started the day by seeing the Picasso museum which was one of the highlights of the trip.  It not only shows his progression as an artist, but it also has many of his studies on Velázquez’s Las Meninas.  Afterwards, we had our first tapas lunch and walked around Born and Ribera districts to see the neighborhoods, including the Basilica Santa María del Mar which is a gothic Catalan church.  After a siesta, we headed to dinner at Elche where we had our first paella of the trip, except it was in noodle form called fideuá.  Delicious!  We finished off the evening by seeing the last show of the Magic Fountains which were spectacular.  However, we ended up being victims of pickpocketing when someone reached into my bag and grabbed my wallet.  I felt it right away but there were too many people around, and it all happened so quickly that I didn’t have any time to react.  As Dan went looking for the wallet, a woman approached me and gave it back to me saying she had found it a few feet away!  She may very well have been the same person who took it, but I was so grateful to have the wallet (completely in tact minus €10 note) back that I didn’t care.  That taught us to be more careful!

Day 4: We had planned to go to the seaside resort of Sitges, and we couldn’t have picked a better day!  It was an easy 35-minute train ride and a short walk to the beach from the station.  It was a really beautiful warm day and playing in the Mediterranean convinced us of the benefits of vacationing there!  After a relaxing day, we headed back to catch a flamenco show with our second paella meal.  Yes, it was very touristy, but actually the dancing was really good!  Dan got called to the stage and did his best at imitating the dancers.

From Barcelona July

Day 5: Food day!  We got our tastebuds revving by visiting the world famous La Boqueria.  So much fresh fruit and seafood!  We decided that the next time we come to BCN, we’d rent an apartment so that we could buy food from the market and cook them ourselves.  Our lunch was at Café Viena which is home to Mark Bittman’s (The Minimalist) favorite sandwich in the world.  Even though we loved it, we personally think the panino con bollito in Florence’s Nerbone is slightly better.  We then saw more Gaudí by visiting the Casa Batllo (just the outside) and Casa Milà (“La Pedrera”).  I am so amazed at how his buildings make every other building around it just seem dull and boring.  And since he takes his inspirations from nature, how come nobody has come up with this style before or after him?  After spending a long time in La Pedrera, we went off in search of the famous BCN hot chocolate, suizo, at Granja La Pallaresa.  I didn’t like it, but it’s probably a drink made only for chocolate lovers.  We finished off the evening by attending our cooking class, taught by T, a former chef at a 5-star hotel.  Another highlight of our trip as this class taught us how to make traditional Spanish cuisine and also just some great tips on how to cook better!  Delicious and educational!

Day 6: Art day! Our first stop was the Miró Fundacion.  He was a modern artist who worked in many different types of medium, including paint, sculpture, fabrics, etc.  Very cool and interesting work on top of Montjuïc.  While we were up there, we walked around the mountain and saw the Olympic Stadium from the ’92 summer olympics.  Dan still remembers the archer shooting the flaming arrow to light up the torch.  We also went to Montjuïc Castle which is an imposing fortress overlooking the city.  It was built in the 1600s and has a bloody history from the Spanish Civil War, holding many political prisoners.  We headed down the mountain on the cable cars which gave us very cool views of the mountain and the city.  Next stop was the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí’s masterpiece which is still being constructed.  It was actually amazing to watch it in the construction phase because it just shows how much work needs to go into building a cathedral!  Pictures and words can’t capture how breathtaking it is, you just need to go see it.  We treated ourselves to a massage before heading off to dinner at a fantastic Vietnamese-New Orleans-Spanish fusion restaurant called Me off the beaten track.

Day 7: This day was supposed to be a beach day, but alas, it was raining hard when we got up.  We ditched the beach idea but headed to lunch at a place K recommended which was on a deserted street but absolutely packed full of people.  Great food, very cheap, fun to people watch!  When we left, the rain had stopped, and we saw people lined up along the street eagerly awaiting with their cameras.  We had accidentally stumbled onto Stage 6 of La Tour de France!  We waited for a long time as there were long processions of promotional cars advertising their products, but eventually we saw the cyclists (including Lance Armstrong!) race by.  It was very lucky and so cool to see them!  After we saw most of them go by, we continued on our way and did some shopping for souvenirs.  We didn’t buy anything there, but there was a cool antique market outside the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, another gothic Catalan cathedral.  Our last dinner in Spain was actually at a yummy Mexican restaurant in Gràcia, the last independent neighborhood in Barcelona.  We headed home the next day, relatively uneventfully, even getting on an earlier flight than originally planned.  We had one last sandwich at Café Viena and arrived in Bristol around 3:30 and came home to Siena by dinner time.

Immediately before the trip (and during the trip for Dan), we were reading a book called The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.  It takes place in Barcelona, and is the first of four books he plans to set in that time and place.  Being able to visit the places that he writes about was a real treat, as we were able to go to the same churches, streets, cafés that his characters did.  It’s also just a great book, one of the best I’ve read in years.

Overall, a very relaxing and fun trip.  I liked the atmosphere of the city and the sense of an international community there with a deep history.  I am now in the midst of learning more about the Spanish Civil War, which was such a significant event whose impact reverberates in every aspect of Spanish culture even today.  The public transportation system is top-notch (deservingly called the best in Europe), as we were able to get everywhere we needed to without ever waiting very long.  I enjoyed the Picasso museum, Sagrada Familia, Sitges, and our cooking class the most, but the whole trip was truly fantastic!  I can definitely see why people return again and again and perhaps we will too!

Happy half-birthday to Dan!

Next trip: India!