Beautiful Barcelona

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Let me begin by saying that I love love love Barcelona! As is increasingly the case in Europe, it was cheaper to fly to Barcelona’s El Prat de Llobregat Airport from Granada than to catch the train. Vueling Air was superb and is now my new favourite budget airline in Europe.

One of the first things we noticed when we landed in Barcelona was that Andalucía seemed a whole world away from Catalonia, and really in most ways Catalonia could so easily be a completely different country. We stayed in the wonderful gothic neighbourhood of Barri Gotic, just off La Rambla. Legend has it that in a previous incarnation our hotel was a house of pleasure (it’s a very respectable hotel now though), which was visited many times by a young Picasso, and that his painting Les demoiselles d'Avignon was inspired by time spent here. 😊

We allocated a whole day to take in Antoni Gaudi’s work - an architect, designer, sculptor and artiste extraordinaire whose work we both love. We began by catching a bus to Park Guell, which was commissioned in 1900 as a garden for the very wealthy who lived on the hill. Gaudi created amazing steps, surreal walkways and a few plaza areas. The main plaza area is surrounded by that long wavy mosaic seat that is so popular on postcards. We stayed as long as we could but the tourist throng got too big, which drove us south to the La Sagrada Familia. This is the huge unfinished cathedral that is hailed as Gaudi’s masterpiece and is now being finished with some help from his plans and a lot of guesswork. We braved the crowds and queues and were rewarded with awe inspiring glimpses of beautiful craftsmanship and a huge artistic imagination that we admire immensely. There are four ‘original’ very very high towers and eight smaller new towers representing the eight lesser apostles!? We caught the lift up one of the very very old high towers and even though the view was fabulous, it was quite the vertiginous experience for Andrew and we didn't stay up there very long. We left the cathedral and stopped for lunch at a local cafe on a small residential side street, and because there was no common language to order with (our little Spanish was useless to the Catalan owner). However hand gestures and pointing ensured that we had a gorgeous fresh bread roll with very tasty ham and local cheese, and a heart starter of a coffee that kept us going for the next few hours of walking. We sauntered downhill looking at other Gaudi works, and back to the Barri Gotic via L’Eixample to look at the bizarre and fantastic collection of apartment buildings where the Modernistas went crazy. A very happy day... 😊

We spent the rest of our time in Barcelona exploring the medieval buildings, squares and laneways of the Barri Gotic and La Ribera areas; browsing the fresh produce in La Boqueria market where the fresh fruit salads and juices are out of this world; hanging out at Port Vell watching the surfers and sand sculptors, and absorbing the street/beach culture; and of course indulging in a bit of shopping. 😄

On our last night in Barcelona, we stumbled upon the most fabulous little wine bar called Bodega La Palma in a tiny laneway off a small laneway off a side street etc etc which had the most amazing ambience. Andrew had spent two days looking for this place, so we were very thrilled to finally find it. We had the choice of three very good local red wines or you could quaff slightly harsher wine straight out of the huge barrels that lined one wall of the bar. We needed the wine to wash down the huge platter of local cheese, cured ham and bread soaked in exquisite olive oil. Their speciality dessert was a cup of hazelnuts and almonds with a shot of muscatel that I could definitely get addicted to. We finally tore ourselves away, promising that we have to go back to Barcelona soon if only to spend a few days sitting at this bar...that is, if we can find it again.

Highlights: Walking the back streets of Barcelona from Park Guell back to La Rambla; Wine and cheese platter at Bodega La Palma.
Lowlights: The very loud tourist who got back to the hotel around 3am every morning; Over-priced tourist food.

Next stop: Kuala Lumpur

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