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Published: April 8th 2008
Monday 21 January 2008 We touched down in Barcelona after 10pm and caught the airport bus to Plaza Catalunya, at the heart of the city centre - both geographically and spiritually. A long trudge down Las Rambles, the main walking street heading south, then brought us to Center Rambles Hostel.
Having extended our stay in Vienna at short notice, we had only had a chance to book our Barcelona accommodation at Vienna airport while waiting to check-in. Barbara had done some prior research back at the hostel and since the reviews were positive, due to the booking being less than 24 hours in advance, we were not able to book via the internet and had to ring. At the airport Barbara rang Centre Rambles Hostel and spoke to a young lady who advised a booking was not necessary as they had plenty of room so Barbara confirmed the price and advised an approximate arrival time.
Well, when we actually arrived it was a whole different story. It was after midnight and the young lady refused to check us in as it was the end of her shift so we had to wait for over 20 minutes in the
Center Rambles Hostel
Disgusting bathrooms - what a dump!foyer for her colleague to show up, find a refreshment, and stooge around for a while before checking us in. The young lady promptly left when he had arrived. He requested upfront payment for the room, which was unusual but would not normally be an unreasonable request. However, the price he was charging for the room had increased from 15 Euros per person per night to over 20 Euros per person per night. We disputed this as Barbara had on hours earlier telephoned and confirmed the price. The attendant would not budge and stated that the prices he was charging were the prices to be paid and that it wasn’t the hostel’s fault if the ‘hostel mafia’ mess with the pricing on the website! Of all the absurd excuses to make! He also refused to charge Barbara the Under-26 reduced price in his declared price list of 16 Euros without giving reason. He told us to pay or walk. With it being after midnight and Barbara still having an injured toe which was now being aggravated by the long walk, we accepted the price but requested to speak to management in the morning. So we collected our sheets and headed
up the dark stairs, through narrow corridors and found our room. Well, to add insult to injury, we had been overcharged for the worst dump of a hostel we had stayed in thus far! The room was a tiny dungeon with rickety beds, mouldy walls, paint flaking off the ceiling from damp, holes in the walls (photo). But that wasn’t the end of it! The bathrooms, oh, the bathrooms! Barbara miserably opened the door to the bathroom to find that the toilets were backed up with sewerage and had stunk out the whole room - she gagged and almost puked! She covered her face, did her business, refused to have a shower and headed back to the room in tears. Michael tried a different bathroom and found it to be mouldy and unhygienic also (photo). Barbara the discovered they hadn’t given her a full set of sheets so Michael kindly went downstairs to amend the situation because Barbara, by now, wasn’t in any state to be having a conversation with the attendant. We miserably tucked in for the night and tried to get a couple of hours of sleep.
Tuesday 22 January 2008 Grumpy and sleep-deprived, we awoke
Sagrada Familia
still under construction early to sort out the mess with the hostel. We had certainly decided that the place was uninhabitable and we wee moving on but needed to wait to speak to management about fixing the issue with the overcharge. Management weren’t available until a bit later so we made use of their internet facilities to find a new hostel.
When management were available to speak on the phone, at new attendant (the day shift) negotiated with the manager in Spanish and agreed to reimburse the difference in price. Credit to the daytime attendant for fixing the money issue, but the place was still a dump!
We promptly took our luggage and walked a couple of streets away to Barcelona Mar Hostel where we were politely greeted and presented with a clean room.
Barbara then contacted her cousin Laura to advise our new location and arrange for a meeting that evening.
Despite our exhaustion we wanted to start enjoying Barcelona so we caught the metro north to see the La Sagrada Familia, the Cathedral of the Holy Family (photo). It was nothing short of amazing - an architectural marvel! The cathedral was designed by Antoni Gaudi who died
Sagrada Familia
- science behind the beauty - one for the 'hard hat brigade' before construction completed - in fact it’s still not completed (photo). The design is truly unique, not only in terms of its appearance with beautiful ornate carving, but in terms of its structure also. This building is definitely one for the hard hat brigade! The cathedral structure is such that the roof shape does not require supporting columns in the way that standard ones do, leaving a large open area inside (photo). The testing procedure for its weight bearing capacity was even quite unique (photo). The columns and other features are formed from prisms of all different geometric shapes. It is quite remarkable!
After visiting the exhibition describing its construction, we caught the elevator up one of the spires to admire the view. There were stairs leading to the very top of the spire which we climbed (photo). It was a lovely clear day so the view was stunning! (photo) Perched on the roof were various icons (photo) and we could see clearly the unique roof of the school also designed by Gaudi (photo). When Michael had finished drooling, a long flight of stairs took us back to the bottom.
We walked to the large park across the
Sagrada Familia
- science behind the beauty - unique method to test load baring capacity of the ceiling supports road to admire the cathedral one more time (photo) and then continued to the pub on the far side of the park. Michael had spotted the advertisement for this pub on the Barcelona Spy Map we picked up at the hostel that morning and insisted upon a visit - it was the Michael Collins Irish Pub! (photo) We sat, had a beer and some lunch and Michael had a laugh with the barman about his name. He was the first Michael Collins that had visited the pub so they even gave him a Michael Collins hat and golf towel - they have a golf team. We took photos of Michael with his namesake (photo) and then bid the staff a fond farewell.
We wandered south back towards Plaza Catalunya, admiring the decorative architecture along the way (photos) and spotting another Gaudi creation (photo).
At the plaza (photo) we met with Laura and went for a coffee at a cozy nearby cafe. Barbara was very excited to meet with Laura, the first overseas relative she had met. We all got along great - and the cafe was nice too!
Wandering back to our hostel, we stopped at the
Sagrada Familia
Up the stairs we go! Up and up.. supermarket for dinner and were pleasantly shocked at the price of Spanish wine (photo) - Master Shawn, take note! But then we spotted the wine in tetra packs which was even cheaper (photo), mmmm....classy! The local name for supermarkets does amuse us so... (photo) - sounds like a small furry creature with special powers!
Wednesday 23 January 2008 We set out on one of our famous self-guided walking tours of Barcelona and spotted the only cat we had seen thus far in the plaza outside our hostel (photo). We started with a stroll up Las Rambles (photo) and searched for some more famous Gaudi masterpieces. We found the Palau Guell (photo) and his ornamental lampposts in Plaza Reial (photo). We wandered the maze of ancient streets that is known as Barri Gotic, with its beautiful architecture (photo), murals (photo), the Cathedral of Barcelona (photos) and strangely named confectionary stores (photo).
Then we headed north to the L’Eixample district where we spotted La Pedrera (photo), another famous example of Gaudi’s architectural genius. The surrounding streets and pavements are also decorated in complementing style (photo).
We then walked down through La Ribera district, where the Palau de la
Sagrada Familia
View from the top Musica Catalana concert hall (photo), Picasso Museum (photo), and the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar (photo) are located.
We strolled past the central market which was looking very closed (photo) so we headed down to Barceloneta waterfront with its strange sculptures (photo) and replica submarine from 1862 (photo).
The nearby Can Paixano tapas bar (photo) definitely had a very ‘local’ feel. The wine was good quality and cheap - very cheap (photo) - and the tapas delicious, especially the croquettas! (photo). A few glasses of rose and servings of tapas later, we stumbled past the monument to Christopher Columbus (photo) and back to the hostel.
Thursday 24 January 2008 Our touring took backseat for the morning when we sought an internet cafe (internet at the hostel was always busy) - near the university to book our next travel plans, flights accommodation etc. Once we had worked out our next movements we sped south on the metro (photo) to Paral’lel where we caught the funicular railway (photo) and then cable car (photo) up to Montjuic. At the metro we first observed the new anti-terrorism garbage bins - being nothing but a hung clear plastic bag (photo)
Sagrada Familia
Strange bloke sitting on the roof! - much better than Sydney’s method of just providing no bins at all so that everyone drops their garbage!
Montjuic fort (photos) was quite spectacular, perched on a hill high above Barcelona. Michael even got up to some mischief with the canons (photo).
After a brisk gander around the for, we caught a train to Sant Cugat to visit Barbara’s cousin Laura and her family who were just lovely. Laura cooked a delicious Spanish - sorry, Catalan Omelette with salad and croquettas...mmmm...yum! After much wine and merriment we returned to the city.
Friday 25 January 2008 First thing in the morning we headed back to Barri Gotic to visit the Salvator Dali museum. Commonly known for his strange contemporary paintings of melted clocks and such, the vast majority of his work in the museum was surprisingly different, but still strange and some quite disturbing. One exhibition dealt with his experiments with painting with an octopus (photo)! Another exhibition contained a large series of artworks very creatively depicting the male anatomy and its functions (photo).
We then caught a bus down to Barceloneta where we strolled along the promenade and spotted a lovely whale sculpture on
Sagrada Familia
Unique roof of the chapel school top of the new casino (photo). The beach was clean and quite picturesque (photo). It was obviously quite empty because of the cold - we were certainly not dressed for a usual day at the beach (photo) - although that did not stop the locals from baring all in the hope of a suntan. Back along the promenade was a very nice garden dedicated to the Barcelona 1996 Olympic games (photo), however we found a strange sign attached to the commemorative fountain that we couldn’t quite understand (photo)?!
On another bus and up to the north of the city to Park Guell (photos), another creation by Gaudi. Park Guell is a large ‘green space’ with sculptures, walkways, bridges, buildings and monuments designed by Gaudi. In the park there is even the Casa Muesu Gaudi, a house where he once lived (photo). It was quite an adventure exploring this park and discovering interesting creations in all of its nooks and crannies.
Exhausted after a busy day, we returned to the hostel, cooked dinner and hit the sack in preparation for our journey the next day.
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