Advertisement
Published: June 17th 2011
Edit Blog Post
May 31st, we were experiencing major culture shock traveling to four very different countries within the day. We left Tanzania at 2:15am. 5 hours later we were flying over one of the wonders of the world, the Egyptian Pyramids, arriving in Cairo, Egypt. From the air, Cairo looks like it was built on another planet. The expansive dessert city with buildings set in carved out sand plots was like an ant colony. The airport was busy with groups of men in cloaks and women in headscarves with some in head to tow black cloaks only revealing their eyes through tiny slits. I noticed that interestingly many of the women did have colorful shoes. People were sitting in groups on beautiful prayer rugs on the airport floor. They had us check in again in Egypt where we found out our direct flight to Barcelona had been the day before (an oversight by Travelocity – oops). Luckily they did get us on a flight leaving at the planned time but with a few hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany. When we arrived in Frankfurt to many signs we were back in the “modern first world”: European architecture and orderliness and strict rules: we
had to check a bag with the liquor we purchased at duty free in Africa what a pain We went to the market at the airport to pick up a few German delicacies: Cheeses, pretzels, chocolates and German beer “Prost”. We arrived at our final destination, Barcelona about 6pm. Barcelona airport has an artistic and funky European vibe. The airport has warm and modern décor, colorful shops and vibrant Latin flavor. Best of all, Europe is light until 10pm this time of year so we had plenty of daylight to get to our destination and find a hotel. After comparing our options in pouring rain, we settled on Hotel Lloret. They hooked us up with a large apartment with a balcony right on the popular La Ramblas Street in the Bario Gotic. We bought some cheese and wine and relaxed on the patio to the sounds of the rain.
June 1st marked our first full day in Spain. The scattered showers did not impede our day of exploring the city. We started by strolling the narrow streets of the Bario Gotic. We adored the charm of the architecture and the many shops and restaurants. Being the “cultured couple” we
are we bought the Museum Pass. Good for 7 of the top museums. On this rainy day we visited the Picasso Museum and the Barcelona Museum of Modern Art. Both were very interesting. We really enjoyed learning about Picasso’s methods of interpreting a classic painting into his own abstract version (much of his inspiration came from viewing famous paintings in Madrid’s Prado Museum). In between art culture we found time for a delicious lunch at Rou Teller. John had roast chicken and I had spicy octopus.
June 2nd -6th, we took in the beauty of Barcelona. The sun shined as we visited museums, walked to the waterfront, and enjoyed tasty tapas and Tempranillo at outdoor cafes. We found the best way to see the city was on bikes. We rode our way around the many neighborhoods taking in the beautiful architecture on our self-guided Gaudi & modernist tour. We were able to see most of the city in a few days by packing a lot in and taking advantage of the 10:00pm sunset. Our favorite surprise favorite museum exhibit was the “La Trieste de Magris” at the Center of Contemporary Culture. The exhibit was an interactive adventure learning about
the culture of the dynamic melting pot of Trieste, a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. Trieste is located at the head of the Gulf of Trieste and throughout history it has been influenced by its location at the crossroads of Germanic, Latin, Austro-Hungarian and Slavic cultures. One room had headphones playing all the different languages of the region. Another room had powerful fans to imitate the “Bora” winds that gust through the region at up to 140 miles per hour. We had such a great last day riding around the city. A highlight visiting the incredible Segrada Familia cathedral, still a work in progress planned to be complete in 2020. We explored the cathedral then marveled at it from the park across the lake as we picnicked. Another the best days was riding in the rain to visit the Park Gruell. After a downpour we arrived to sunshine the music of local musicians. After a long last day we arrived back to the hotel and asked the receptionist if we could still make it for dinner at the restaurant she had recommended days earlier. It was nearly 11:30pm and she told us the last seating was 11:45. We jumped
on our bikes and cruised through the narrow streets of town arriving just in time to make the last seating and enjoy seafood paella and some Cava to celebrate our last night in town.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0275s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb