In the Land of Gaudi

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Ola,

The next morning, Steffen and I got up early and the hostel for the station. He was taking the bus up to the Pyrenees, and I was taking the train to Barcelona.

I got off the train at Sants, the main train station, and I decided to walk to my hostel which did not seem like it was that far a walk. It only took me half an hour, but it was 32 degrees and humid so I was dripping by the time I got to me hostel. It was a massive hostel, with over 400 beds, but it was in a great location on Passeig de Gracia near Placa Cataluña and it had amazing air-conditioning! Three Irish girls, Aoife, Grace and Fiona arrived shortly after me and we were in heaven in the air-conditioned room.

I left the hostel and went over to the bus station to get a ticket. From there, I walked past the Spanish Arc de Triomphe (which was infinitely less cool than the French one), and through a massive park that I don’t think I ever knew the name of. I continued along the waterfront for a bit before heading into the narrow, winding streets of the Barri Gotic (the old town of Barcelona). I walked past the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar, and wandered through the narrow streets before getting to the Cathedral. It was a beautiful building with ornate carvings throughout, but I strongly disagree with paying to enter a religious building so I did so under protest! I continued through the Barri Gotic to the Palau de la Musica Cataluña, which had a lovely ornate façade. I then headed back to the hostel through Placa Cataluña.

I went to Andorra for the morning (see other posting) before coming back to Barcelona for the afternoon. I walked from the bus station to the Plaza de Toros, and then over to the Torre Agbar, which looks much like the gherkin in London. The building is really cool, and it lights up all sorts of different colours at night. I then walked down to La Ribera and the waterfront area before heading over to Las Ramblas on the water. It’s an elevated boardwalk out over the water in the harbours and it takes people to a large mall. In the distance, I was the towering edifice of the W Hotel. It is located right on the beach in Barcelona and must have an incredible view as well as an incredible price-per night!. I saw the statue of Christopher Columbus, oddly enough pointing towards India and not North America once again, before heading past the Museu Maritim and on to Las Ramblas.

Las Ramblas is a wide, mostly pedestrianized street that is lined on both sides with trees. I visited many sites of the street including the Placa Reial, Licieu, Mercat de la Boqueria and the Museu d’Arte Contemporie. Las Ramblas was cool, and there were many things to see off it, but I found it ultimately over-rated. I then got back to the hostel and relaxed by enjoying a beer over-looking the city from the roof-top bar at my hostel.

Finally, a full day in Barcelona. I slept in, had breakfast, and then joined my roommates Aoife, Grace and Fiona on the bus up to Par Güell. I’m glad they talked me into bussing it because the hike would have been insane! The Par was designed by Gaudi and it was very pleasant wandering around the stone archways and porticos before arriving at the promenade where there were many different tiled designs on the benches and a spectacular view to boot. We walked down through the porticos and alcoves to the entrance to the market area where Gaudi’s famous statue of a lizard was shrouded with people. Somehow, the crowds parted and I was able to get a photo with no one near it, which was cool because it was like ants at a picnic there!

I then left the girls and walked down the hill, much better than up the hill, to Gaudi’s famed Sagrada Familia. The building is a massive constructions site, with cranes everywhere and several towers erected to their full height. It is still unfinished, obviously, and it will not be completed until 2025. Gaudi believed that straight lines did not occur in nature so he tried not to incorporate them into his construction. As a result, the façade of the building looks a bit like it is melting in the heat. It was cool to finally see the building, but I still think it is over-rated.

I continued from there over to more of Gaudi’s creations and I saw La Pedreda and Casa Batllo. Both were built during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are good examples of Catalan Modern. They are gorgeous works of art with bright colours and flowing lines, but they are very expensive to enter to I merely appreciated them from the outside. I met up with the girls for dinner, and we went to a Basque tapas place where we had sangria. It was fantastic and I could have eaten all 50 items on the men if time allowed! We then headed up Passeig de Gracia because a festival was being held. There were streamers and beer vendors everywhere and there were people rapping, in Spanish. It was nice, happy rap and not the insipid angry stuff that is produced in North America. We also got to see people building human pyramids to a height of at least 5 metres so that was really cool as well.

The next morning I woke up early because I was going on a daytrip to Tarragona (see other posting). I got back from Tarragona, and I felt a little masochistic so I walked from Sants station past Parc Miro and the Plaza de Toros, which is being converted into a multi-purpose concert hall, to Placa Cataluña. It is a massive roundabout with huge statues and towers surrounding it. I then proceeded up the Montjuic Hill to the former palace that now houses the Catalan Art Museum. The views overlooking the city were fantastic. I continued further up the hill to the Torre Calatrava and the Olympic Stadium from the games in 1992 and then along to the Fundacion Miro before walking to the viewpoint overlooking the harbour. I walked down from the hill and along Las Ramblas where I picked up some fantastic strawberry coconut juice at the market.

When I arrived back at the hostel, I picked up my stuff and walked over to my next hostel where I would be staying closer to the train station. It was a long walk with a heavy bag in the heat but it only took me 40 minutes or so to the Sants neighbourhood. I had a heavenly shower before grabbing some dinner and wandering past the Camp Nou, which is the stadium with FC Barcelona play. The place was massive! I then wandered around my new neighbourhood, and they appeared to be setting up for a festival, much like they had on Gracia. The only difference was that the people near Sants had put much more effort into their decorations than the people on Gracia had. One street had painted cards strung across the length of it where as another one had gone with an Indiana Jones them, complete with a bi-plane, submarine, rickety bridge and runaway mine car. The amount of effort in the displays was amazing! I then headed back to the hostel and went to bed because I, surprise surprise, had to get up early the next morning.

Hasta lluego,

Pedro

Things I learned in Barcelona:
-Strawberry Coconut juice may be the best drink known to man
-Swass is now a verb
-I didn’t get robbed in Barcelona!!!

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Comments

[Teija]

Congrats on not getting robbed! Perhaps your height intimidated the little pickpocket children lol