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Published: December 28th 2011
16TH DECEMBER 2011 - Barcelona We stayed at the Mirror Hotel Barcelona which was a small but trendy boutique hotel situated in Corsega, just minutes away from Las Ramblas. If you like the minimalistic type of design where everything is designed using white or mirrored surface – this is definitely the hotel for you. The only issues I had with this hotel – 1. see through shower (especially if you share the room with a friend); 2. technical problem with the lights – the lights in our room could not be switched off and had to be reset from the main switch board every night.
Our best meal in Spain was our lunch at Cinc Sentits. It is more of a fine dining restaurant but the food and service was impeccable.
The rest of our afternoon was spent shopping on the high streets of Barcelona
17TH DECEMBER 2011 - Pyrenees We had booked a full day tour at the Pyrenees with Viator online. There were only 3 of us on the tour and we had the 2 guides all to ourselves. I
Cinc Sentits
truffles with mushroom on potato puree with truffle oilhave to say these 2 guides were informative, humorous and witty which made the entire trip very enjoyable.
The first stop was the town of Vic (pronounced Bic) which is said to be the heart of Catalonia. We arrived at the town at 10am in the morning and at first sight, the town appeared like a ghost town – but oh we were so wrong. The moment we entered the square where the market was, every corner was buzzing with people. We were probably the only tourists there. The market sold a lot of local produce including this particular Rovellones mushrooms we were trying to hunt down the entire trip. Spain has a lot of Arab influence on its language and architecture brought about by the Moors. We also visited the St Peter’s Cathedral in Vic which had a crypt inside
Next we went to the village of Queralbs just at the base of the Pyrenees Mountain. There is said to be only 100 permanent residents in this town. Queralbs is all but 1 of 100s of small villages in the Pyrenees. It is a small and pretty village lined with cobblestone walls and walkways. There
lunch at Cinc Sentits
slow cooked suckling pig is even a small cathedral in the heart of town which was destroyed by the anarchist (but subsequently restored) during the Spanish Civil war.
From Queralbs, we took a tram/train up to Valle de Nuria. Up there the temperature was biting cold, -8.4 degrees Celsius and it was snowing very heavily. We took a short hike up the mountain to admire the view but the blistering cold made us retreat to the crater base where there was an artificial lake and many small cafes.
By the time the tour ended and we got back into Barcelona, we were all so exhausted, we ended up having dinner back at the hotel (Mirror Barcelona). Food was good but not in the same league as what we had for lunch at Cinc Sentits.
18TH DECEMBER 2011 – whole day tour of Barcelona Again we had booked the tour with Viator.
First stop was Monjuic hills where a lot of theatres are situated. We had a panoramic view of Barcelona from the hills and also passed by landmarks including the Barcelona Stadium and Casa Batllo (work of Gaudi).
The highlight
Cinc Sentits
chocolate fondant drizzled with olive oil and ice cream of this tour was definitely the Sagrada Familia which was astonishing and leaves you admiring Gaudi’s work in awe. The guy must have been a mad artist to be able to design something so ludicrously beautiful and defying. The entire church had no foundation and instead had a lot of columns/pillars inside to support the building. Gaudi gets his inspiration from nature and whatever pictures you see just does not do this church justice – you have to see it in person. Nothing about this church spells ordinary. Just the shape and waves of this church is enough to make your head spin in exhilaration.
The Sagrada Familia has 3 entrances representing the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and has the capacity to support 12,000 people over 3 floors. Gaudi sacrificed his lifetime working on this church and spent his remaining years as a poor homeless man residing in the church. Gaudi died in 1926 and as a tribute to him, the Sagrada is scheduled to finally be completed in 2026 – 100yrs after Gaudi’s death.
Gaudi represents the New Gothic or New Modernist architecture, a move away from traditional Roman Gothic influences.
To denote this contrast, our guide took us to the Cathedral Barcelona which was a classic example of Gothic architecture and the Cathedral looked so boring in comparison to Gaudi’s Sagrada. Also behind the Cathedral was the Gothic Quarters and is unique because it is the centre of 3 influences – Jewish, Christian and Muslim. Our guide who was Greek told us that the very first discovery of Roman architecture was not in Greece but in Spain. To prove this, he took us to see the first Roman Pillars! We then stopped for lunch near the quarters where there were a whole string of Tapas bars.
After lunch (nearly 4pm!!!), we proceeded to Parc Guell where we saw more of Gaudi’s work. Our last stop was La Predrera which was originally commissioned to be build as a residences by Gaudi. It was then sold to Caixa de Barcelona. La Predrera is outlandishly beautiful but probably a developer’s nightmare as there is no signs of efficient use of space - something crucial in today’s crowded urban living where land is scarce. Everything is built in circles with a common courtyard in the middle. I can stare at
and admire the waves of this building for hours and not get bored, that was how fascinated I am with Gaudi's style as an artist.
The tour ended up at 6pm outside the La Predrera where we then took a slow nice stroll to Port Olympico but found out it was completely dead in the winter and on a Sunday night.
We then strolled through Barceloneta before stopping by a Paella restaurant for dinner.
19TH DECEMBER – Madrid Madrid here we come! We boarded the high speed train at Barcelona Sants for a 3 hr journey to Atocha Madrid. I have to say the train tickets were very pricey but at least the journey was comfortable.
Our biggest mistake upon arrival in Madrid was to walk to our hotel lugging our luggage. We were not aware that Madrid had steep slopes and lugging 2 hard cases of luggage uphill was a quite a feat. But it was all worth it when we arrived at the ME Melia Madrid, a very luxurious hotel located in Plaza de Santa – a fantastic location littered
with restaurants and shops. Our room was small but very cozy but again we experienced technical problems with our lights??? Why!!!??? This time, our lights could be switched off, but it would turn on by itself in the middle of the night. Freaky!
Our first place of visit was the Sofia museum which housed some very abstract heavy type of art.
We spent the evening tapas bar hopping, eating and drinking merrily to iberico ham and sangria! And I love Spanish wine, easy to drink and affordable!
20TH DECEMBER – Madrid More eating and shopping and dinner was at the highly acclaimed Sergi Arola where we were all left very disappointed with the overpriced and very mediocre meal.
21st DECEMBER – Madrid Visited the Prado museum which had a large collection of art from Spanish painters.
22ND DECEMBER – back to Barcelona This time in Barcelona we stayed near the Spanish Village, at B Hotel Barcelona. This hotel was chic and comfortable and cost about 64 euros a night which was
a very good deal. Yet again - more technical problems with the light! My bedside lamp could not be turned off and the only remedy was to remove the light bulb! geez!
We went to the Pablo Espanya in the evening to catch the Flamenco dance at Tablo de Carmen. The whole village seemed like a tourist trap, a recreation of the whole of Spain in 1 small village. We were apprehensive about the Flamenco dance when we entered the village and were expecting some touristy tacky entertainment but were left speechless at the end of the night. The dance was so beautiful and the accompanying music embodied all the emotions the dancers were trying to capture. The dinner was very average but the show left me craving for more. I would definitely return to watch a flamenco dance again.
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