Sunny Barcelona Free Day

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Today was a day I had planned as a free day. The weather was so sunny and warm that I broke out my short sleeved shirts and left my jacket at the hotel. But first I needed to deal with my plane reservation for tomorrow. I was scheduled to leave Barcelona around 1, arriving in Casablanca around 1 with the time change, but when I went onto Royal Air Maroc's website, I had been moved to a 9:30PM flight without any notice. That kind of messed up my plans for Casablanca. After much brouhaha, I was able to get an agent on the phone. The best I could do was to move my reservation to 7PM. It still doesn't work well with my schedule, but at least I won't be arriving at the hotel around midnight. Still, another day in Barcelona is not a bad thing. Will see what I can find to do.

For breakfast, I went to La Boqueria, a produce market very similar to the Central Market in Budapest. It was bustling and crowded with both tourists and locals out doing the shopping. I walked around, snapped some gorgeous photos, had the best pineapple, strawberry kiwi box, which I ate standing on the sidelines just watching the waves of people bustle past me. It was an excellent way to start the morning. From there, I walked up to Casa Batllo, aka the Bone House, by Aontoni Gaudi. Like his other work, I had wanted to see this for over 20 years. Simply describing it and posting pictures of it does not do it any justice. Walking through the rooms, seeing the city through the windows and basking in the sunlight streaming from the enormous light wells are something I will not forget. Some say that gaudy comes from Gaudi, but I could not disagree more. From there I went to the other mega-famous work, the Casa Mila. It swirls, and curves and turns and is attractive on the outside, but inside the central court/light wells it is stunning. I will post some pictures, but the scale of it and the colors just don't come through. One nice thing about traveling at this time is that there aren't as many tourists, so the lines are not that long. I only waited a few minutes at each of the houses and was able to take my time and see as much as I wanted without being pushed along. Standing so tall, it is easy for me to hold the camera up and capture the view I want while avoiding most of the heads bobbing along. I had surprised myself with a new camera for Christmas and couldn't be more pleased with it. It's funny how I always know what to get myself. My requirements were that it had to be fairly small with some advanced features, but none that would require a PHD to actually use. By changing the setting to night time, or infinity, or whatnot I have been able to take some very nice pictures (at least in my mind.)

I took the rest of the afternoon as down time. Since arriving I have walked, hiked, climbed, stood, scampered, sidestepped and shuffled for hours on end. It was time for some coffee and people watching from the sideline. When I went out foraging for food this evening, I followed the advice of someone I met while here. The first place was way off the beaten track, through the "very friendly" lady section where I was pinched while being shown the wares. No sale, but thank you. When I got to the restaurant, it wasn't open. Since it was getting dark, I decided to forgo waiting for it to open. The second place had a line so long I thought they must be giving the food away for free. (they weren't) I had been told to go either early or late due to this line, but it just didn't work within my schedule. I made an executive decision and went back to the place I had gone last night. The food was good and it was close to the hotel, so that was my plan. I had the Potatoes, but with a Spicy Red Sauce, the Chorizo, Spanish Omelette, and Russian Salad which turned out to be a bland potato salad with peas. Everything else was quite good, so here I sit in my room ready to pack to tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

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Photos

Light Well
This is a light well in Casa Batllo

Great hallway
Everything is sculpted and positioned to allow light in the house.

Roof of Casa Batllo
The water towers and chimneys are all decorated and tiled with mosaics.

Casa Battlo
This is on the ground floor where the elevator is.

Casa Battlo
Had to get a picture with me in front of the place.

Casa Battlo
As incredible as the house is, it just blends into the neighborhood.

Another Courtyard Shot
All of the floors above have windows that allow light in from this courtyard/light well.

Attic
The bones of the Casa Mila. The attic is huge with these hyperbolic parabolas every few feet. This was the common area for washing machines and clothes lines.

Roof
Casa Mila's rooftop is also huge and has steps and passages and decorative elements to hide chimneys and water tanks.

Sagrada Familia
This was taken from the rood of Casa Mila

Perfectly Happy
On the roof of Casa Mila, in the sun and happy as can be.

Comments

[shannon]

i was just wondering if you by chance were able to fit a ' La Boqueria' in your suitcase. You know, as my souvenir. :) Good lord!