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Another cracker today. Sun shining. Not a cloud in the sky. And ready to give it one last heave as we near the home straight.
Kaspar showed preliminary signs of crawling today but ended up repeatedly overbalancing and donking himself on the head no less than 3 times before deciding that sitting in the same place still has its perks. By midday he had 3 noticeable bruises, but again these will be good ground work for headering practice when we get home.
We were up early and were rearing to go and catch the first bus from Catalunya Place, which left at 9am. Unfortunately our washing machine had other ideas - what’s with it with these front loading machines, the quick cycle took about 90 minutes. So we ended up getting to the bus stop to find a hundred or so other people in the queue already! But we sensed this was part of a classic Amazing Race test…flag the tourist bus altogether and catch the metro or wait it out. What would you do?
We waited, and in fact we waited only about 10 mins before getting on a bus as they were arriving thick and fast,
but more importantly they were arriving empty. In the end we actually waited less than we had yesterday with only 10 people at the same stop.
First stop, Park Guell. The park was commissioned by a wealthy local patron of Gaudi, named Eusebi Guell, as a residential garden city it was ultimately unsuccessful and only one house was built. The park was later donated by Guell to the city, and the locals have enjoyed free access to it since the 1920’s.
Neither of us really knew what to expect here…maybe a nice door or two and a few Gaudi treats, but as we made our way to the entrance we we’re just blown away by the fantasy land before us. If we were thrown a curve ball by La Sagrada yesterday, then this was the absolute flipper that cleaned us out completely. Park Guell is about as close as you will get to Wonderland. This is Gaudi at his absolute best in our opinion, blending man made structures with the natural environment that inspired him, in a way that you cant really tell where one starts and the other ends. From the Hansel and Gretel inspired house
at the entrance to the waved and flinstonesque arcades, to the mosaic outdoor booths. We could easily have spent the entire day here lapping it up, but instead we walked around for an hour or so, checked out the awesome panoramic view of Barcelona, and then moved on for lunch at Sarria.
Sarria is an old town that was subsumed into Barcelona in the 1920’s as the city grew. It has a quaint old square, and cathedral (naturally), but it is more famous for its decadent desserts and cakes. We grabbed lunch from a 103 year old bakery, and then in an attempt to walk it off stumbled across quite possibly the mecca of sweet lovers - Forn de pa Sarria - who had been killing people with cholesterol since 1886. Gabor went for the tiramisu encased in rich dark chocolate fondant, while Sarah opted for the alcohol laced (or rather, based) thick chocolate ganache served in a dark chocolate cupcake. These babies hit hard, so don’t think you can do more than one. The high was so high, but the low was just as clinical, and as we grabbed the bus and headed for Camp Nou we both
came close to falling asleep on the bus.
Arrived at Camp Nou eager to give Kaspar his first taste of real football and to marvel at the hallowed turf. Gutted! They had closed for the day (thanks for telling us, Mr Tour Guide on the Tourist Bus!). What do you do, but have a good cry and move on. I guess Kaspar will just have to wait until we’re back in NZ and cheering on Rae’s Raiders to see some REAL footballing class.
So with the late afternoon rapidly moving past us we had one more must see - the underground foundations of the city. Gutted! They had closed for the day! Early! Another quick tear and we parked up with a beer to reassess. We were buoyed by being able to give some Canadians directions (we are THAT connected to this city already), and being entertained by some superb buskers along the way, one who sounded great but didn’t really know the words, and another group of aged ragtimers who were really cutting a rug with their edgy horns and keys.
Given we are leaving tomorrow and have done absolutely no shopping we thought this must
be a sign to finally cut loose and spend some cash. With gelato in hand we entered the shopping precinct. Gutted! Everything’s closed! So we grabbed a couple of beers to cry into along with some dinner from the Indian corner dairy (it just seems weird in Spain, but no different to NZ really) and wandered back to the apartment through quite possibly the dodgiest part of town. Kaspar has been a legend and won the hearts of the locals, and so has Sarah, so no harm in calling it a day after a good honest attempt. It really was a day of two halves, some huge highs and some disappointing lows.
Tomorrow’s going to be a mission. We have luggage for about 4 people plus a car seat and only two sets of hands to carry them. It’s about a 20 minute walk up to the airport bus stop. We’ll see how we go, but I know that we’ll get there.
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