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Published: September 16th 2008
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Walking tour of the Gothic quarter
Here´s the walking tour group. The lady in purple was our guide. I set my alarm so I would get up early enough to take a shower before breakfast. So I did that and went down to the common room for some breakfast and to hoard some more free food. Yesterday I made reservations with this place to do a walking tour of the gothic quarter, they said they had sent a fax with our reservations to our hostel, but the front desk says there wasn’t any. So we just walked to Plaza de Catalunya (one of the biggest plazas in Europe!) to try to find where we were supposed to meet, but we were already late, and the plaza was so big, we couldn’t find it, but with my reservations, they took my credit card number so I knew they already charged me for the trip. So we found an information booth and they told us where to go, but I wasn’t sure if they were waiting or not since we were late…luckily they were. With our tour, we got an English-speaking guide, a 2 hour tour of the gothic (medieval area) of Barcelona, and these ear pieces that were connected to the guide so we could hear better…but the batteries on
The 4 Cats
This is the famous cafe where Picasso had his first exposition. mine were old I guess. So we started out. We learned about the buildings, some history, we saw the famous café where Picasso used to hang out and where he had his first exposition. We learned about Barcelona when it was a roman city and saw a few actual columns and streets from that period (the streets are actually under the streets of Barcelona today!) We learned about Las Ramblas, the most famous street in Barcelona - it used to be a river, but when it dried up, it became a street that leads to the sea. We saw the cathedral - which was HUGE (not nearly as big as Sagrada familia, but still…) There was actually a service going on at the time. They almost didn’t let me go inside because I was wearing shorts, but they eventually let me. The cathedral is made up of 20-something chapels. There were many gargoyles and pictures of animals or plants that all mean different things that were there because so many people were illiterate at the time. For instance, we saw a place that used to be like a “law-firm” more or less and on the door there were birds, a
Seafood Paella and Cava
This was my lunch on the beach! It was really good, but not all that it has hyped up to be. turtle (which if you rub it, it’s supposed to be good luck…so I gave that turtle a massage! 😉 ), and a ivy vine, which all meant something about justice and law - like it can be swift like birds, or take forever like slow turtles, and I can’t remember what the ivy meant, but anyway. We also saw the Palacio Real, which is where a royal family lived. It’s now a museum, so they had a 3D display of the entire city of Barcelona, how it used to look many years ago, and how its changed. They had their own chapel there with a private entrance for the king and queen straight from their bedrooms. Also, this is where they welcomed back Christopher Columbus after he discovered America. It’s also where the first “American = Native American” got baptized! The tour was neat because I would have not known where to go in the gothic quarter without someone taking me there. I probably would have just gone in circles.
So after the tour, Prathiba and I walked over to the Picasso museum. It was really cool. It’s set up so that the paintings are in chronological order, so
La playa
There´s the beach behind me...and there were a lot of sail boats to the right of me. you see how Picasso progressed during his life. The beginning and the end were SO DIFFERENT! I didn’t realize Picasso spent so much of his life in Spain! I really liked his paintings that were influenced by Valesquez’s paintings.
Next, we took the Metro to the beach!!!! I was so excited. It’s been forever since I’ve been to a beach! So first we looked for a restaurant. We found one close to the water that wasn’t very expensive, so we ordered some seafood PAELLA and CAVA (which is Champaign, and in Barcelona, it doesn’t have to be a special occasion to drink Champaign). I really liked both! The paella was good - and I tried mussels for the first time, not bad. And the Cava was really good…I think I like Champaign better than wine. So after lunch we headed to the beach. It was pretty…but not that pretty. Beaches in Mexico and Florida are much better! but it was nice to lay out for a couple of hours. My chest and stomach got a little pink, but not bad. There were A LOT of topless women there of all ages and all body types! Not the best picture!
Christopher Columbus
Here´s old man, "Colón", pointing to America in the WRONG direction!!! And some of the men were pretty strange too. It was definitely nice to just lye there though.
After the beach, we took the metro to the top of Las Ramblas (which starts at that Plaza de Catalunya). It’s a mile long and very famous and full of people. As you walk, there’s a section for plants, there are a lot of souvenir stands, restaurants, and people dressed up in different extravagant costumes. Personally, I didn’t like it. The rest of the city was much better than that. I wish we had time to go into the food market. It’s very famous and I would have like to see it, but we didn’t have time. We ended at the sea at the port of Barcelona. This is where Christopher Columbus (Colón) returned from his trip to America. There was a statue dedicated to that very event, but it’s funny because he’s pointing to America…but in the wrong direction!
It was getting late, so we decided to go back to the hostel to get my stuff and then find a café and have some coffee and dessert before I left. So we took the metro to our hostel and
The Port of Barcelona
This is where Las Ramblas ends. then I packed and we walked down Pasieg de Gracia to find a café. We found one, but the entire menu was in Catalon, so I just picked something. It ended up being really good. I got “café con leche” and this apple pastry thing. By the end of dessert, I was really cutting it close, because my train departs at 9pm…and it was already 8:20! So I said ‘bye’ to Prathiba, and got on the Metro. I was very nervous! But I got to the train station at 8:40, and they hadn’t called for my train yet! So I relaxed a little, but right then they called my train, so I went to the platform…went through security, and got to my seat. And there was nobody sitting next to me! I read a little and then they showed Rush Hour 2 in Spanish, so I watched that. Then we stopped in some city and picked more people up…now I have someone next to me. But it wasn’t very far from there to Madrid. We arrived in Madrid at around midnight. So I just caught the Metro from the station and headed home. Charo was awake watching TV when I got there, but I just came in and went to sleep, because I start my job at the zoo tomorrow.
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