Beautiful Barcelona

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I didn't know that I was going to Barcelona until the day before Easter Friday. Suddenly I found myself not working for the easter unexpectedly. So I took the following four days from Tuesday to Friday holiday. That gave me 9 days altogether ! I wondered where on earth I would go. Thought Spain would be nice. And so I found myself in Barcelona on Saturday. Oh Boy, hadn't I made the right choice.

I looked for the flight and found that Ryan air had one for 200.00 for one way !!!(normally perhaps 60 sterlings). Well, last minute tickets are not easy to come by and so is the easter holidays. So took it. But then I didn't know Ryan air would leave me 100km away from Barcelona in Jean airport. Their site said Barcelona Jean. But its a con job - They fly to Jean NOT TO Barcelona. But then what to expect Ryan air. Every time I had to take that awful Ryan air I cringe.

>From Jean airport I took the bus to Barcelona. Happened to meet Rubin, an English gentleman on bus. Lovely man. Had some wonderful chat on the way. He had his family with him and his wife gave me some tips of what to see in Barcelona. The bus reached Barcelona at 5 pm. To my surprise NOBODY, I MEAN NOBODY speaks English in Barcelona !!!. I had enormous difficulty just to find my way to the hotel which was 20 km away from city. You wouldn't believe it - I had to take a taxi in the end as I could not make head or tail out of what people were saying when I asked for help. They all were very helpful but just that I couldn't understand what they were trying to say. Well, it turned out that the tram stops right at the door step of my hotel and would have cost me 1 euro but paid 40 euros for the taxi. Thought to myself - first 200 for the last minute flight and now 40 for not knowing the language. Oh well, such is life.

I stayed in Hesperia hotel in SanJust. It is quite a bit away from the station. But a nice 4 star hotel to stay. Tramvia (tram in Spain) is quiet handy. Best thing to do in Barcelona is to buy the T10 ticket which provides 10 journeys by train, tram and bus. After 10 journeys you have to buy one more. It was only 7 euros. Buy one if you ever find yourself in Barcelona. You will save money. The trams run from San Marcia station to SanJust. The underground metro is also well connected in the city.

First day of arrival was all spent on travel and hassel to find my way to the hotel. So went to bed straight away. The next day took the tram to Paulo royale(Royal palace) where I was able to catch the hop on and hop off Barcelona tourist bus which runs all day up to 7 PM. Barcelona bus has got three circutes - the north one which covers the Gaudi gardens and his Church Sagrida familia church. The South ones cover the Barcelona rambla walk and the beech areas. It costs me 26 euros for 2 days. Thats the best way to see Barcelona. They take you everywhere and if you have more time in hand then simply step out and spend time in the areas you like.

My initial feeling was one of pleasant surprise - the city is really a beautiful Meditaranian city indeed. All the buildings were beautiful and competing with each other for my attention. Its true the whole city is full of charming and quirky buildings. It all started with this one man called Gaudi, Anthony Gaudi, and architect who lived in early 1900s. He has built a number of beautiful buildings including a church called Sagradi familia which took 40 years to finish just one phase. They are still building it. He had a great eye for an unconventional designs. His professor once told him that 'either you are a genius or completely mad' !. Perhaps he was bit of both - all his buildings are unique, unusual and quirky. Guadi had once said 'Barcelona will be known for my buildings' and it turns out he was true. Gaudi's buildings dominate Barcelona.

Barcelona sits on the Eastern side of Spain close to the border with Italy. It has a lovely weather with warm but not hot sunny days most of the time. Barcelona had a face lift for hosting its Olympics in 1991. So lots of new buildings and architectures everywhere. They even have the so called 'horizontal sky scraper' - so called because the building is like as if a sky scraper had been placed on its sides, covering the whole block for several hundred feet ! The streets are all straight and lined by 8 stories buildings. Most of the buildings were designed very well to fit with the city's unique atmosphere of beautiful buildings.

Barcelona has a wonderful aura to it - people were laid back, relaxed and rather nonchalant. Not so frantic as in London or in New york. I especially enjoyed the 'rambla' walk st which starts from the city plaza. The city plaza is another one beautiful little park with lovely and wonderful statues. I kept staring at them for quite a while as they were all so beautiful and pleasing to look at.

Rambla street, a long street which leads to the Columbus statue at the beech. Its full of odd characters busking with weired and wonderful costumes - one was acting the Atlas with his world on his shoulder(balloon world, of course!), another one dressed himself as the demon barber with very long scissors in hand to chop unsuspecting ladies hair off and some how he had found the best way to amuse teenage girls and get some sumptuous kisses out of them, another one was running around in clown's costume while yet another chap busied himself as a fruit tree. Great place to take a walk in the salubrious meditaranion evening.

I got down from the bus to see the national gallery which houses several Roman and Gothic paintings which was touted by the guides as one of the best. But I found it to be utterly mediocre collection of paintings indeed. None of the paintings in the gallery could compare with the ones in London or Paris. In fact, I would advise you to spend your time better in other places than wasting your time in this gallery. The same goes for Picasso museum as well. Of course there are many of his originals - but none of the famous ones such as Guirnica. They do have some good ones but nothing to write home about.

On the other hand the views from the national gallery over looking the city of Barcelona is spectacular. Its a great location to build a wonderful edifice and great statues. You can gaze at the city below which sprawls underneath your feet all the way up to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Just behind the gallery is the Olympic stadium with beautiful tall slender tower in front. The tower has become one of the best known structures in Barcelona.

The second day I visited the Sargosa familia - the church designed and built by Anthony Gaudi. The work is still going on and the whole interior was being rebuilt when I visited. Its an amazing church architecture indeed with full of Gaudi's inimitable style - of lots of curves, rounded edges and wavy patterns. His original work on the church can be described both as beautiful and ugly at the same time !!! Its captivating with all its busy and rather mesmerizing designs in detail and yet can look ugly when it is seen on the whole.

When you compare his work with the churchs of northern countries where the church spires are always blank and bare, devoid of any sculptures or designs due to cold weather preventing architects working on the outside braving the bitter chilly winds - Barcelona has a lovely warm meditaranian weather allowing Gaudi to run riots with his imaginations and designs. On the whole Saragosa famillia is a marvel in architecture and unique in its design both on the outside fasade and also inside the church with its 'rain forest' design providing the visitor a vicarious feeling of being inside a rain forest !. Great work indeed and its rightly recognised as world heritage architecture.

And then I visited Gaudi Park - a meidtaranian palm tree and cactus park designed by Gaudi. The park entrance has two medieval looking stone houses with twisted roof laid with bathroom tails ! Its beautiful, quaint and unique. When you go in there is a large hall supported by many pillars where people can relax. Yet again the all these buildings have curved or rounded edges and wavy patterns of Gaudi. The park is situated at a small hill top providing a wonderful panaromic view of sprawling Barcelona underneath it. One can see the blue Meditaranean sea at a distance. The other famous iconic building - the cylindrical sky scraper of Barcelona stands tall and majestic in among the flat topped houses. Lots of palm trees and cactus on a rugged mountain landscape. Excellent park to walk around and relax.

Then I visited the hill top of Barcelona. A little winch pulled tram takes you up the steep hill. On the hill top there is small church and a theme park with all sorts of thrill seeking machines like roller coaster, twister, swings etc. The hill top provides a wonderful view of the city. A great place for family outings.

I only had 2 days in Barcelona so I had to rush things up. 3 days would have been ideal. But still I managed to see the most of Barcelona. Its a magnificent and beautiful city - somehow everything falls into place to make it look lovely and charming !. Its a city well worth your visit.

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