Advertisement
Published: July 13th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Placa de Catalunya
Nicky like da birdies... Barcelona is fucking beautiful. Pardon the French, but the statement warrants the language. While the city's modernist architecture and layout play a big role, its beauty extends far beyond just the orientation and look. The arts play an enormous role in the flavor of the city; more so than I had known before we decided to stay here. The city's old center, Ciutat Vella (which is where our hostels for the our three night stay are located) is full of museums, sculptures, and street artists who not only have an obvious passion for their craft, but also have a meticulous level of talent that was impressive to say the least. Every square is teeming with easels and artists creating and selling their works.
The locals' sense of fashion is overwhelming. Everyone dresses well, from the teenagers to the middle-aged men and women, and their level of style in clothes and accessories is something I have flat out not seen anywhere- lots of colors and designs. The trainers (tennis shoes) are really very stylistically different than the one's sold in America, and much more aesthetic appeal in addition to function. If my budget and packing space had been a bit larger,
Alley in Vella
it seemed like every street and alley was beautiful I might have come home with a lot more clothes and shoes.
The architecture in the more modern parts of town is extremely interesting, almost to a level of flamboyancy. But the risks taken pay off well. The newer parts of town look fabulous, and in many ways make the city seem much more advanced than anything I've seen in my experience.
And lastly, but certainly not least, the women in this city are undeniably the most beautiful I've ever seen in my life. Nick and I both caught ourselves staring a bit too much and had to really cut back quite a bit. And not only were the women extremely good looking, they were everywhere. There were more hot chicks per square foot than I've ever experienced in any city...anywhere. It was very intimidating.
When Nick and I woke up, we grabbed a quick lunch and checked into a hostel a bit closer to La Rambla, the main street in Ciutat Vella. After strolling through a couple of shopping districts and stopping through the park in the Placa de Catalunya, we decided to spend a few hours scratching our heads while trying to decode the odd
works of Salvador Dali in a museum devoted to his life. The collection was made up of a few hundred sculptures, figurines, watercolors, sketches, and etchings. While the works were the focus of the museum, the tour also included pictures of Dali from various moments throughout his life. It was an interesting sight, and I found myself having gained a much greater respect for his work when we'd left.
We then walked to the waterfront to have a look at the Mediterranean and enjoy the very futuristic boardwalk the city had supposedly been built very recently. On our walk back toward the city, we passed by the Monument de Colom, Barcelona's towering tribute to Columbus. We then stumbled upon La Rambla, which has quickly become a trip favorite thus far. As I mentioned, this is a main street in the center of Barcelona where the median has been widened, leaving the cars to deal with narrow, one-way lanes on both sides. The median serves as a walkway and is sprinkled with loads of artist, craftsmen, performers, magicians, musicians, human statues, outdoor cafes, and tons of visitors. To walk from one end of the 15 block stretch to the other
would take an entire day if you tried to take in all that there is to see. And at night time the performers put on the after-hours shows to the bar-goers and cafe patrons. Here we saw breakdancers, gypsy acrobats, and performance artists.
For dinner, we headed to a very old restaurant a few blocks from our hostel called Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats). The restaurant is magnificent on the inside, and boasts being a favorite hangout of Pablo Picasso during his Barcelona period. The food was light, extremely delicious, and well presented. And even the cheap wine tasted great.
From there, we walked to Molly Malone's, an Irish pub that is embraced by the locals, which also had a relatively large English-speaking crowd. We'd hoped to find a group to hit the clubs with - no luck. After a few pints, we went back to the waterfront to go to club that overlooked the Mediterranean. Although the place was empty when we arrived, it filled up quickly and the Spanish locals and the European tourists combined to make a huge dancefloor. The music was great - a lot of typical European club music, peppered with a
few American pop hits. It seemed like everyone in the place was dancing by the time we left, which was around 4am. We were pretty tight at that point. The club was a blast and definitely one of the best dancing outings I've had to date.
Nick and I stumbled home. I have no idea how we found our hostel...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0206s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb