Some random observations:
· Spanish firemean are called “bombers”.
· Anne ‘s infatuation with policemen is obviously shared with the Spanish woman. While we were driving around today, we saw a poster for “girls night out”, where the entertainment were policemen strippers
· My big beer (see the picture on the blog) is called a Barril Copa Grande O Tanque
· It’s 10:15pm on Sunday night and we’ve just been seated for dinner and the Sangria has just arrived. I’m typing at the dinner table – how rude
· The couple sitting two tables are way from us are wearing matching black tops with white strips. Their kid is wearing a white top with black stripes – it’s quite a picture, in a tragic, my god what were they thinking, kindofaway.
· A group of tubby English chicks sat down at the table next to us last night at 11:30pm. The waiter explained that they weren’t serving dinner any more, to which they replied that they had already eaten once tonight, but were still hungry, so thought they’d have a second meal
Today (Saturday – that’s what I’m writing about) started early, as we had to be out at the airport by 9am to collect the car. Up early at 7am, breakfast at 7:30, taxi at 8:20 to the airport. We had arranged to meet the car man under the statue of Botero – it’s a rather rotund horse. I think Botero is an artist, who paints large people and so maybe for Barcelona Airport he made a symbol for transport being a large horse – who knows.
Collecting the car was simplicity itself, much less forma than on previous occasions. The car this year seems lower spec’d than in previous years – no parking sensors, lights don’t come on automatically, but other than that the standard 307 with a foldaway metal roof. Packed the bags in the car, got in the correct door, headed out on the motorway to Montserrat, missed one turn on the motorway, did a big loop round the motorways, but got to the cable car only minutes after it opened at about 10:15, after filling the car with diesel – 1.34Euros per litre for those who are interested. We caught the cable car to the top, which was scary for both of us as 1.) we don’t like heights and 2.) in one bit it gets very close to the cliff face.
Montserrat is a mountain near Barcelona, in Catalonia, in Spain. It is the site of a Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat, which hosts the Virgin of Montserrat sanctuary and which is identified by some with the location of the Holy Grail in Arthurian myth.
"Montserrat" literally means "jagged (serrated) mountain" in Catalan. It describes the peculiar aspect of the rock formation, which is visible from a great distance. The mountain is composed of strikingly pink conglomerate, a form of sedimentary rock, popular with climbers.
I had expected Montserrat to be a very old monastery, but infact it is a whole town set high up in the mountains and the whole place appears very new. There are hotels, apartments, shops, a museum, restaurants, and all the roads are asphalted, not the usual cobbled streets that we expect in old towns. Nonetheless, it was an interesting place to visit and the monastery itself was very interesting.
After the return cable car ride, which wasn’t nearly as scary as the way up, we got on the road to Tossa De Mar, which took about an hour and a half. Tossa is a lovely little beachside town, with an ancient castle on a hill at one end of the beach. Our hotel is right on the beach, just under the castle. It has a delightful little outdoor restaurant, which makes wonderful paella (and the Sangria isn’t too bad either). Parking in Tossa is a night mare and we had to park on the outskirts of town and carry our bags to the hotel – in 35 degrees heat – without a map, so yes, it was the longest route possible. We had a light lunch about 4pm, had a walk after lunch, took a break and then were back out for dinner at 10:30pm. Dinner was a very nice paella, then a walk up to the top of the hill to see the castle, then back down to the beach to watch a game of beach soccer at 1am on Sunday morning.
We collapsed into bed at the end of first day touring, exhausted at about 1:30am
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Day 6 – Friday 4th July – Dawdle day
After the last couple of days and given the amount of sight seeing we’d done, we were ready for a quieter day a bit closer to the hotel. As you will have read above, we had a wildly exciting morning this morning dealing with our laundry and the dramas with the first Laundromat and the SPF (single point of failure) that caused the entire system to shut down – OK, I’ve done it now, no more commentary on the laundry.
Today, we went for a walk over to Port Vell over the Rambla de Mar (a pivot bridge similar to the Darling Harbour bridge in Sydney, but much smaller). We saw a replica of the original submarine that was built by a Spanaird and went for a further whimsical wander around the back streets of Bari Gothic. Nothing too energetic on our last full day in Barcelona.
Lunch was an extended affair (yet again) in the Placa Reial (a bit of a favourite of ours), before we went for a walk through the jewellery sector of La Rambla, where Anne bought some large silver ear rings.
In our time in Barcelona, Anne has taken something of a shine to the local policemen and their dark blue pants tucked into their manly black boots, their sexy little berets, the amount of hardware attached to their belts and their guns. Even when they are cruising around on their natty little scooters, they still get the groaning seal of approval. They have to have the whole look before they pass muster – none of this trousers out of your boots stuff. Anne has vowed to wander next door to the police commissioner’s office on her return to Wellington and work through redesigning the NZ Police uniform. Any women who would like to be part of the delegation should register at wwww.make-our-police-hot.co.nz.
But now I’m rambling off topic, so I’d better go and get another litre of Sangria in me and prepare to pick up the car tomorrow and start charging off round the Spanish country side. Tomorrow night we are in the delightfully named Tossa De Mar. Talk to you soon.
Today, we went for a walk over to Port Vell over the Rambla de Mar (a pivot bridge similar to the Darling Harbour bridge in Sydney, but much smaller). We saw a replica of the original submarine that was built by a Spanaird and went for a further whimsical wander around the back streets of Bari Gothic. Nothing too energetic on our last full day in Barcelona.
Lunch was an extended affair (yet again) in the Placa Reial (a bit of a favourite of ours), before we went for a walk through the jewellery sector of La Rambla, where Anne bought some large silver ear rings.
In our time in Barcelona, Anne has taken something of a shine to the local policemen and their dark blue pants tucked into their manly black boots, their sexy little berets, the amount of hardware attached to their belts and their guns. Even when they are cruising around on their natty little scooters, they still get the groaning seal of approval. They have to have the whole look before they pass muster – none of this trousers out of your boots stuff. Anne has vowed to wander next door to the police commissioner’s office on her return to Wellington and work through redesigning the NZ Police uniform. Any women who would like to be part of the delegation should register at wwww.make-our-police-hot.co.nz.
But now I’m rambling off topic, so I’d better go and get another litre of Sangria in me and prepare to pick up the car tomorrow and start charging off round the Spanish country side. Tomorrow night we are in the delightfully named Tossa De Mar. Talk to you soon.
Day 5 – Thursday 3rd July – Mont Juic and Park Guell
I saw a funny thing the other day. Anne and I were walking up Passeig de Gracia (walk round a big city block day) and there was a cripple (stick with me on this) coming down the street. When I first saw him, he was just a guy with a handicap going about his business – good on him. Then…he…saw….me - an obvious tourist with a backpack and a big camera. Well, what a transformation. No more was he just some guy going about his business. Rather than walking mostly upright, he became bent almost double, his progress slowed from a respectable pace to a snails pace, his handicapped walk became an exaggerated flailing of arms and legs and (and this is the amazing bit) he had a cup, which he was holding above his head (i.e. about my chest level) expecting me to put money in it. Cheeky sod – I should have given him a kick up the arse for his troubles.
I’m writing this on Friday morning sitting outside a small café on Placa Del Bonsucces, waiting for both my café con leche (coffee with milk) to arrive and for the 26 minutes to elapse before the washing in the Laundromat around the corner is finished and I can put it in the dryer – oh, the life of the international jetsetter. Vodafone has sorted out their Spanish texting problems, so we’re back in communication and have just received a flood of texts from people. Sorry to the people that we sent texts to, Big V transmitted the same text 10 times, so sorry about that.
Back to Thursday and our start at the café bar in the Mercat de la Boqueria having a couple of café con leches and potato and zucchini tortilla. Sitting at the bar is something of a highlight for us, as it gives an interesting perspective of Spanish life and you feel like a bit of a local sitting up on the high chairs at the bar, watching the staff make coffees, cook breakfasts, lay out the fresh fish and sea food for the days trade. As I say, you feel a bit of a local apart from not being able to speak Spanish, nor read the local papers, nor getting a couple of wines, beers or spirits under your belt before 10 in the morning – but an interesting perspective nonetheless.
After Wednesday’s extensive walk, we thought we should follow up with another big sight seeing day, so we headed off to Mont Juic (The Jewish Mountain – named after a medieval cemetery that used to be on the Mountain). The Mont is a big “green” area of the city and contains a castle (at the top), the 1992 Olympic stadium (on the side), some gardens, the national palace, several art galleries and an exhibition hall. Our first stop was the Castle, but to get there we had to walk, take a funicular (cable car) and go on a gondola – exciting eh! From the castle you could take in awesome 360 degree views of the city and the port. The castle itself now contains a cartoon and animation museum, but its recent history is much more gruesome as it was used by Franco for executing dissidents by firing squad. From the castle, we walked down the hill to the Olympic stadium and then round to the Palace, which sits at the base of the hill. In front of the palace there is a large waterfall, which flows from the Placa de la cascades, down to the Placa de Calle Buigas and a magnificent water fountain right at the bottom of the hill. This then leads down a long promenade (Avenue de la Reina Christina Maria) with water fountains on either side of it to two large turrets at the end and a large monument on Placa D’Espagne.
The Avenue de la Reina Christina Maria was closed because of an exhibition being staged there this week, so we wandered around the block to get to the Metro to Park Guell, which is our next stop for the day. The Barcelona Metro is great – very clean, good signposting and all 1.30 Euros for any trip.
Anne was very impressed by the huge motorbike park outside the exhibition. Since she got her motorbike license the week before we went away, she has decided that she wants a scooter to ride on. Europe being Scooter Central, she has been checking out the vast array of scooters that are on offer to decide which one she wants. Now don’t think small little 50cc scooter, think big, red and Italian – think expensive, but nice…..niiiiiice !!!!
Park Guell is a park that was designed by Gaudi in the early 20th century. It was built for the rich to enjoy, but didn’t make any money, so was closed until it was bought by the state. The park is on a steep hill, which fortunately has escalators to take you to the top. The temperatures today had been a lot cooler and the skies were overcast (we even got a few spots of rain at the National Palace), but by the time we got to Park Guell, the humidity was getting up again and the sun was out, so it was nice to not have to walk up the hill. In the park itself Gaudi has continued with the Lord of the Rings theme (or did Tolkein take off Gaudi), with a bit of Alice in Wonderland thrown in for good measure. If I was a writer and you had all day to read this, I’d describe it, but I’m not and you don’t, so I’ll put some pictures up on Flickr for you to have a look at – it’s pretty cool, but crowded with millions of people.
By the time we sat down for lunch, it was 4pm, so we did lunch from 4 till 5:30, then had a break until 8pm when we went for a walk down La Rambla and all around the Barri Gothic – just sort of going wherever whim took us along narrow little alleyways, though small squares, past churches, the cathedral, the town hall, stopping occasionally to observe people eating and drinking, or just sitting around talking. We sat down in a bar in the Placa Reial at about 10pm for a small (1/2 litre) jug of Sangria and some Tapas. Placa Reial is one of the main squares, just off La Rambla. It has restaurants and bars all around it. One restaurant in particular had a queue outside it that extended half way out into the square – about 50 metres – I kid you not. It was not until 11:30pm that the queue had all got into the restaurant.
High drama…..da, da, da daaaaah. Anne has just come back from the Laundromat and there has been a melt down on the central console which controls all the washers and dryers – shock, horror. We can’t get our washing dried. So, I am now writing this from a new café, as we have had to move to another Laundromat at the far end of La Rambla to find a clothes dryer that works. We are once again waiting for the laundry to finish in another square in Barcelona – oh, the excitement of being an international jetsetter.
Back to Thursday. By the time we returned to the hotel, all the shops on La Rambla had closed and been shut up for the night. The shops are a pretty cool design – when they are all shut up, they are basically about a 10ft square glass box. Each day, the front and the sides open right out, so you get a long thin shop with all the books, flowers, bird or hamster cages hanging on the walls.
That was our day….this is our new day….Mission accomplished….laundry dried, blog updated, now let’s get to that market for a tortilla.
I’m writing this on Friday morning sitting outside a small café on Placa Del Bonsucces, waiting for both my café con leche (coffee with milk) to arrive and for the 26 minutes to elapse before the washing in the Laundromat around the corner is finished and I can put it in the dryer – oh, the life of the international jetsetter. Vodafone has sorted out their Spanish texting problems, so we’re back in communication and have just received a flood of texts from people. Sorry to the people that we sent texts to, Big V transmitted the same text 10 times, so sorry about that.
Back to Thursday and our start at the café bar in the Mercat de la Boqueria having a couple of café con leches and potato and zucchini tortilla. Sitting at the bar is something of a highlight for us, as it gives an interesting perspective of Spanish life and you feel like a bit of a local sitting up on the high chairs at the bar, watching the staff make coffees, cook breakfasts, lay out the fresh fish and sea food for the days trade. As I say, you feel a bit of a local apart from not being able to speak Spanish, nor read the local papers, nor getting a couple of wines, beers or spirits under your belt before 10 in the morning – but an interesting perspective nonetheless.
After Wednesday’s extensive walk, we thought we should follow up with another big sight seeing day, so we headed off to Mont Juic (The Jewish Mountain – named after a medieval cemetery that used to be on the Mountain). The Mont is a big “green” area of the city and contains a castle (at the top), the 1992 Olympic stadium (on the side), some gardens, the national palace, several art galleries and an exhibition hall. Our first stop was the Castle, but to get there we had to walk, take a funicular (cable car) and go on a gondola – exciting eh! From the castle you could take in awesome 360 degree views of the city and the port. The castle itself now contains a cartoon and animation museum, but its recent history is much more gruesome as it was used by Franco for executing dissidents by firing squad. From the castle, we walked down the hill to the Olympic stadium and then round to the Palace, which sits at the base of the hill. In front of the palace there is a large waterfall, which flows from the Placa de la cascades, down to the Placa de Calle Buigas and a magnificent water fountain right at the bottom of the hill. This then leads down a long promenade (Avenue de la Reina Christina Maria) with water fountains on either side of it to two large turrets at the end and a large monument on Placa D’Espagne.
The Avenue de la Reina Christina Maria was closed because of an exhibition being staged there this week, so we wandered around the block to get to the Metro to Park Guell, which is our next stop for the day. The Barcelona Metro is great – very clean, good signposting and all 1.30 Euros for any trip.
Anne was very impressed by the huge motorbike park outside the exhibition. Since she got her motorbike license the week before we went away, she has decided that she wants a scooter to ride on. Europe being Scooter Central, she has been checking out the vast array of scooters that are on offer to decide which one she wants. Now don’t think small little 50cc scooter, think big, red and Italian – think expensive, but nice…..niiiiiice !!!!
Park Guell is a park that was designed by Gaudi in the early 20th century. It was built for the rich to enjoy, but didn’t make any money, so was closed until it was bought by the state. The park is on a steep hill, which fortunately has escalators to take you to the top. The temperatures today had been a lot cooler and the skies were overcast (we even got a few spots of rain at the National Palace), but by the time we got to Park Guell, the humidity was getting up again and the sun was out, so it was nice to not have to walk up the hill. In the park itself Gaudi has continued with the Lord of the Rings theme (or did Tolkein take off Gaudi), with a bit of Alice in Wonderland thrown in for good measure. If I was a writer and you had all day to read this, I’d describe it, but I’m not and you don’t, so I’ll put some pictures up on Flickr for you to have a look at – it’s pretty cool, but crowded with millions of people.
By the time we sat down for lunch, it was 4pm, so we did lunch from 4 till 5:30, then had a break until 8pm when we went for a walk down La Rambla and all around the Barri Gothic – just sort of going wherever whim took us along narrow little alleyways, though small squares, past churches, the cathedral, the town hall, stopping occasionally to observe people eating and drinking, or just sitting around talking. We sat down in a bar in the Placa Reial at about 10pm for a small (1/2 litre) jug of Sangria and some Tapas. Placa Reial is one of the main squares, just off La Rambla. It has restaurants and bars all around it. One restaurant in particular had a queue outside it that extended half way out into the square – about 50 metres – I kid you not. It was not until 11:30pm that the queue had all got into the restaurant.
High drama…..da, da, da daaaaah. Anne has just come back from the Laundromat and there has been a melt down on the central console which controls all the washers and dryers – shock, horror. We can’t get our washing dried. So, I am now writing this from a new café, as we have had to move to another Laundromat at the far end of La Rambla to find a clothes dryer that works. We are once again waiting for the laundry to finish in another square in Barcelona – oh, the excitement of being an international jetsetter.
Back to Thursday. By the time we returned to the hotel, all the shops on La Rambla had closed and been shut up for the night. The shops are a pretty cool design – when they are all shut up, they are basically about a 10ft square glass box. Each day, the front and the sides open right out, so you get a long thin shop with all the books, flowers, bird or hamster cages hanging on the walls.
That was our day….this is our new day….Mission accomplished….laundry dried, blog updated, now let’s get to that market for a tortilla.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Prices of things
I'll update this occassionally with things, just to give people an idea of how much things cost in Spain.
Taxi from the airport to the city - 25 Euros (including tip)
Baguette (La Rambla) - 5 Euros
Large (monstrous) Sangria - 12 Euros
Large (1 litre) Beer on La Rambla - 12 Euros
Standard (333ml) Beer 50m off La Rambla - 2 Euros
0.5 litre of water from café - 1.30 Euros
5 litres of water from super market - 0.54 Euros
Laundry – Washing and drying each - 3.50 Euros
Tickets to Barcelona attractions - 9-10 Euros
Barcelona Metro Tickets - 1.30 Euros for any trip
Internet use for a day (Barcelona Hotel) - 15 Euros
Taxi from the airport to the city - 25 Euros (including tip)
Baguette (La Rambla) - 5 Euros
Large (monstrous) Sangria - 12 Euros
Large (1 litre) Beer on La Rambla - 12 Euros
Standard (333ml) Beer 50m off La Rambla - 2 Euros
0.5 litre of water from café - 1.30 Euros
5 litres of water from super market - 0.54 Euros
Laundry – Washing and drying each - 3.50 Euros
Tickets to Barcelona attractions - 9-10 Euros
Barcelona Metro Tickets - 1.30 Euros for any trip
Internet use for a day (Barcelona Hotel) - 15 Euros
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Day 4 – Wednesday 2nd July – Art Appreciation 101
Today, we are sight seeing central. No more of this wussy “let’s go round a big city block” or “lets go down to the waterfront”. Today we bring out the serious walking shoes and head off for distant horizons. Actually, we’re taking the tube to see the Segrada Familia – Gaudi’s master piece that was first started in 1882, Gaudi took over as the principal architect in 1883, worked on it for the remainder of his life (being killed when hit by a tram in 1925 and lived within its confines for the last years of his life) and is not due to be completed until 2030 – almost 150 years after its commencement.
I’d expressed my doubts about Gaudi in my previous post, but today we were off to see what is his masterpiece, and more than his life times work. In order to make an early start, we’d set the alarm for 7am, but with not being used to the time zones yet, we were both up at 4:30, finishing off the blog to date, setting up flickr to hold all the holiday snaps, and formatting the blog to contain photos of what we’ve been up to.
Despite what I said yesterday, we did have the breakfast deal at the hotel this morning, in order to get an early start and get to the cathedral as early as possible to avoid all the bus tourists that flock to the site.
The building itself from the outside is still very much reminiscent of a Lord of the Rings set, but it does have a certain appeal and you do have to admire the attention to detail in both the design and the external decoration of the building, even if it isn’t to everybody’s taste. Inside is a different matter. Although it does still have some quite eccentric touches, the whole effect is much cleaner and less fussy that what is presented on the exterior. Anne and I took the lift to the top of one of the spires and then walked down the spiral stair case. Having now visited this monument to a man’s dream, I have to say that my attitude to his work has softened considerably and I’ve now come up with my 5 reasons to love Gaudis work, even if the aesthetic isn’t exactly to your liking.
1. Courage – it takes real guts to design something as out there as the Segrada Familia
2. Dedication – over 80 years after his death, work continues on the building. As I said before it isn’t due to be completed until 2030
3. Skill – it takes real craftsmen to build something like this. Encouraging their work ahead of the drive for efficiency has to be supported
4. Design – forget how long it will take, or how much it will cost. This is what we want and if it takes 200 years, that’s what it will take and that’s the result we will have at the end of it. Once the design is finalised, there is no compromise on budget or time.
5. Architecture and Engineering – it is an architectural and engineering marvel, as you learn on the tour when they discuss the detail that has been gone into determining what materials will be used in delivering the final result.
Having been through and over the Segrada Familia, we set off on a long walk towards the harbour, but more specifically to the Arch d’Tromph and the Parc Du Citadella. From there it was on to the Picasso Museum. I’ve never been a huge Picasso fan, as I’m a bit too literal to “get” all those funny angles and perspectives that go into his work. However, seeing as how Barcelona is his adopted home town, there is a museum in his honour and not wanting to underestimate my ability to completely “miss to point”, I was keen to go and see what all the fuss was all about.
For the second time in a day, my whole perspective of an artist was changed. The Museum is an awesome overview of all his work and makes you aware of all the amazing things that he created and the broad range of techniques and materials that he used in his work.
Our next stop was the Palau de la Musica Catalana, with its beautiful façade. We couldn’t go inside to see it’s amazing glass roof, but will hopefully make a return visit in the next couple of days before we leave Barcelona.
Having been on the go since 8:30 in the morning and the time now approaching 2:30, with the temperature in the mid 30’s we decided to sit down for a couple of hours of lunch and wine.
Dinner is Tapas again tonight and we’re going to try and find an internet café, so that we can get the cost of internet down to something less than 15 Euros per day
I’d expressed my doubts about Gaudi in my previous post, but today we were off to see what is his masterpiece, and more than his life times work. In order to make an early start, we’d set the alarm for 7am, but with not being used to the time zones yet, we were both up at 4:30, finishing off the blog to date, setting up flickr to hold all the holiday snaps, and formatting the blog to contain photos of what we’ve been up to.
Despite what I said yesterday, we did have the breakfast deal at the hotel this morning, in order to get an early start and get to the cathedral as early as possible to avoid all the bus tourists that flock to the site.
The building itself from the outside is still very much reminiscent of a Lord of the Rings set, but it does have a certain appeal and you do have to admire the attention to detail in both the design and the external decoration of the building, even if it isn’t to everybody’s taste. Inside is a different matter. Although it does still have some quite eccentric touches, the whole effect is much cleaner and less fussy that what is presented on the exterior. Anne and I took the lift to the top of one of the spires and then walked down the spiral stair case. Having now visited this monument to a man’s dream, I have to say that my attitude to his work has softened considerably and I’ve now come up with my 5 reasons to love Gaudis work, even if the aesthetic isn’t exactly to your liking.
1. Courage – it takes real guts to design something as out there as the Segrada Familia
2. Dedication – over 80 years after his death, work continues on the building. As I said before it isn’t due to be completed until 2030
3. Skill – it takes real craftsmen to build something like this. Encouraging their work ahead of the drive for efficiency has to be supported
4. Design – forget how long it will take, or how much it will cost. This is what we want and if it takes 200 years, that’s what it will take and that’s the result we will have at the end of it. Once the design is finalised, there is no compromise on budget or time.
5. Architecture and Engineering – it is an architectural and engineering marvel, as you learn on the tour when they discuss the detail that has been gone into determining what materials will be used in delivering the final result.
Having been through and over the Segrada Familia, we set off on a long walk towards the harbour, but more specifically to the Arch d’Tromph and the Parc Du Citadella. From there it was on to the Picasso Museum. I’ve never been a huge Picasso fan, as I’m a bit too literal to “get” all those funny angles and perspectives that go into his work. However, seeing as how Barcelona is his adopted home town, there is a museum in his honour and not wanting to underestimate my ability to completely “miss to point”, I was keen to go and see what all the fuss was all about.
For the second time in a day, my whole perspective of an artist was changed. The Museum is an awesome overview of all his work and makes you aware of all the amazing things that he created and the broad range of techniques and materials that he used in his work.
Our next stop was the Palau de la Musica Catalana, with its beautiful façade. We couldn’t go inside to see it’s amazing glass roof, but will hopefully make a return visit in the next couple of days before we leave Barcelona.
Having been on the go since 8:30 in the morning and the time now approaching 2:30, with the temperature in the mid 30’s we decided to sit down for a couple of hours of lunch and wine.
Dinner is Tapas again tonight and we’re going to try and find an internet café, so that we can get the cost of internet down to something less than 15 Euros per day
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Day 3 – Tuesday 1st July – Barcelona
Still haven’t got the sleeping right – I’m writing this at 5am on Wednesday morning, although, we didn’t have a nap yesterday and were up and about until 11pm.
Breakfast at the market today – we plucked up the courage. We were conspicuously tourists however, because who else would have coffee in the Barcelona heat – at 9:30am. The locals preferred there drinks at room temperature (red wine) or cooler (Rosé, beer, spirits over ice) and what better time than to get the first one under your belt than 9:30 in the morning. For breakfast, we had the Tortillas (potato pancake, with cheese and zucchini) and coffee. It’s a change from the usual weet-bix and peaches.
The walking today was all quite local, as we headed off to visit some Gaudi buildings. Firstly, Casa Battlo and La Pedrera. Everything here is all about Gaudi, but I’m not convinced. There’s some beautiful architecture in Barcelona (I’ve put some pictures up on Flickr, if you follow the link at the right hand side of the blog), but the only thing you hear about is Gaudi. The buildings remind me very much of a Lord of The Rings set and while he was very courageous to build the buildings he did, I can’t say that I find them particularly visually appealing. I think if his ideas had taken off, everybody would have very quickly got tired of it and it would all have just gone away. None the less, everybody here seems to love his work, and we still have several of his famous creations to visit, so I’ll reserve final judgment until I’ve seen all that there is on offer.
The walk for today was really just round one large city block. From the hotel, we went up La Rambla to Placa de Catalunya (Large square at the top of La Rambla) and then over to the opposite corner of the Placa and up Passeig de Gracia. The Passeig is one of the main shopping streets, with lots of designer shops. Being the first of July, all the sales have started, so there were people everywhere. We discovered later in the day that all the shops were staying open for the start of the sales season and the whole area was busier than it had been a couple of nights earlier when the football final was on.
The Casa Battlo and La Pedrera are both on the Passeig. There was a concrete mosaic seat with an elaborate wrought iron lamp holder on the corner opposite La Pedrera, so we sat there for about half an hour admiring the building and people watching.
We came back down a parallel street called La Rambla de Catalunya. There are lots of Ramblas here – this is the third one we’ve mosied up and down. Basically it’s the Kent / Cambridge Terrace thing all over again, but with trees lining either side of the pedestrian precinct and a variety of attractions – usually the outdoor seating areas of restaurants, which is really cool. We had a two hour Tapas lunch, with a bottle of rosé watching the people go by.
In the evening, we went to Placa Reial for a couple of beers outside and more people watching. We then discovered that Anne’s V mobile wasn’t working, so spent some frustrating time trying to sort that out, before discovering that “there’s a know fault that we’re working on – aaaaah”
Breakfast at the market today – we plucked up the courage. We were conspicuously tourists however, because who else would have coffee in the Barcelona heat – at 9:30am. The locals preferred there drinks at room temperature (red wine) or cooler (Rosé, beer, spirits over ice) and what better time than to get the first one under your belt than 9:30 in the morning. For breakfast, we had the Tortillas (potato pancake, with cheese and zucchini) and coffee. It’s a change from the usual weet-bix and peaches.
The walking today was all quite local, as we headed off to visit some Gaudi buildings. Firstly, Casa Battlo and La Pedrera. Everything here is all about Gaudi, but I’m not convinced. There’s some beautiful architecture in Barcelona (I’ve put some pictures up on Flickr, if you follow the link at the right hand side of the blog), but the only thing you hear about is Gaudi. The buildings remind me very much of a Lord of The Rings set and while he was very courageous to build the buildings he did, I can’t say that I find them particularly visually appealing. I think if his ideas had taken off, everybody would have very quickly got tired of it and it would all have just gone away. None the less, everybody here seems to love his work, and we still have several of his famous creations to visit, so I’ll reserve final judgment until I’ve seen all that there is on offer.
The walk for today was really just round one large city block. From the hotel, we went up La Rambla to Placa de Catalunya (Large square at the top of La Rambla) and then over to the opposite corner of the Placa and up Passeig de Gracia. The Passeig is one of the main shopping streets, with lots of designer shops. Being the first of July, all the sales have started, so there were people everywhere. We discovered later in the day that all the shops were staying open for the start of the sales season and the whole area was busier than it had been a couple of nights earlier when the football final was on.
The Casa Battlo and La Pedrera are both on the Passeig. There was a concrete mosaic seat with an elaborate wrought iron lamp holder on the corner opposite La Pedrera, so we sat there for about half an hour admiring the building and people watching.
We came back down a parallel street called La Rambla de Catalunya. There are lots of Ramblas here – this is the third one we’ve mosied up and down. Basically it’s the Kent / Cambridge Terrace thing all over again, but with trees lining either side of the pedestrian precinct and a variety of attractions – usually the outdoor seating areas of restaurants, which is really cool. We had a two hour Tapas lunch, with a bottle of rosé watching the people go by.
In the evening, we went to Placa Reial for a couple of beers outside and more people watching. We then discovered that Anne’s V mobile wasn’t working, so spent some frustrating time trying to sort that out, before discovering that “there’s a know fault that we’re working on – aaaaah”
Day 2 – Monday 30th June - Barceloneta
Woke up at 7:00am. The only food we had yesterday was a small roll on the flight from Milan and then a Baguette before the game started – oh, and the beer and the Sangria of course. By now of course, we are famished, so time to head off and find somewhere for breakfast.
First stop on the way down La Rambla is the Mercat de la Boqueria – the local market, with an amazing array of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, fish. There’s also a couple of breakfast bars, with lots of locals sitting round the bar having breakfast, reading the paper and drinking thick black coffees (atleast that was what we thought they were drinking – more on that in tomorrows installment). Being our first day, it looked a bit daunting, so we headed down La Rambla to find a little coffee shop for breakfast – coffee, orange juice and a salami roll.
Breakfast was followed by a walk down to the waterfront (Christopher Columbus’s statue) for a Walk around the marina and over to Barceloneta. Barceloneta is an old part of the town, with lots of narrow streets, surrounded on both sides with balconies draped in washing. It’s where the fishermen used to live, but is now quite trendy with lots of bars and restaurants by the marina. The apartments in the area seem absolutely tiny if the ones in the real estate agents were anything to go by – 35 to 40 square metres was normal and over 50 was big and most of those were two bedroom apartment. After several hours of wandering round the marina, the beach, Barceloneta, it was time for lunch and as the temperature was now 36 degrees (billboard by the marina), we took a couple of hours having Carpaccio, anchovies and paella – all washed down with a bottle of wine. Dinner was Tapas at a small restaurant off La Ramblas, just round the corner from the hotel. The Hotel has a restaurant, but I don’t think we’ll be eating there – it has pictures of the food in the window
First stop on the way down La Rambla is the Mercat de la Boqueria – the local market, with an amazing array of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, fish. There’s also a couple of breakfast bars, with lots of locals sitting round the bar having breakfast, reading the paper and drinking thick black coffees (atleast that was what we thought they were drinking – more on that in tomorrows installment). Being our first day, it looked a bit daunting, so we headed down La Rambla to find a little coffee shop for breakfast – coffee, orange juice and a salami roll.
Breakfast was followed by a walk down to the waterfront (Christopher Columbus’s statue) for a Walk around the marina and over to Barceloneta. Barceloneta is an old part of the town, with lots of narrow streets, surrounded on both sides with balconies draped in washing. It’s where the fishermen used to live, but is now quite trendy with lots of bars and restaurants by the marina. The apartments in the area seem absolutely tiny if the ones in the real estate agents were anything to go by – 35 to 40 square metres was normal and over 50 was big and most of those were two bedroom apartment. After several hours of wandering round the marina, the beach, Barceloneta, it was time for lunch and as the temperature was now 36 degrees (billboard by the marina), we took a couple of hours having Carpaccio, anchovies and paella – all washed down with a bottle of wine. Dinner was Tapas at a small restaurant off La Ramblas, just round the corner from the hotel. The Hotel has a restaurant, but I don’t think we’ll be eating there – it has pictures of the food in the window
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