Barcelona

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Barcelona

After leaving Montepulciano, we headed to Livorno to catch a ferry across to Spain - the ferry was supposed to leave at 11:30pm, we arrivied at the port at about 7:30pm, as we didnt really have anything else to do (and were carrying backpacks). But when we arrived there, the dude told us that the ferry had been delayed because the French navy had been doing military manouvers in the Mediterrainean and had wandered into commercial lanes and caused a fair bit of havoc. Bottom line, ferry wouldn't be boarding until at least 11:30pm, and wouldn't be leaving until about 4am. Spewing. That meant that we'd get into Barcelona at about 2am the next morning, not 8pm as planned. Oh well. We met a family of Kiwis while we were waiting - a couple who travelling for five months around with their three kids aged 7,5 and 3- a pretty good effort that (travelling with three kids not meeting the Kiwis).

Anyway we eventually got on the ferry and found a nice comfy sofa to have a snooze - it was pretty good actually, we slept pretty well until about 8am and by that stage we were in the middle of the sea. The rest of the ferry crossing was pretty cruisy - we spent a fair bit of time with the Kiwis, including teaching the kids how to play Chicken Invaders on my computer.

When we finally reached Barcelona, we had to walk to our hotel and I was slightly worried about walking around a city renowned for petty theft in the middle of the night with backpacks, but we made it quite easily to our hostel and had a really good sleep.

The next day we walked down La Rambla to the port to have a look before heading off on a walking tour. The walking tour took us around the Barri Gothic area of the inner city and the Australian guide told us some very interesting stories about how the state of Catalunya came to be and why the Catalans like to consider themselves Catalan as opposed to Spanish. He also told us the story of my new hero - a very intersting lad by the name of Wilfred the Hairy, who is attributed to having established the Catalan area. He is rumoured to have had hair on the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. I wonder what his back looked like? The tour guide also told us some stories about Pablo Picasso, who seemed to have really enjoyed a drink or twenty (including absinth) and also a woman (or twenty).

After the tour, we decided to go on a cooking class to learn how to make tapas, paella and sangria. We walked down to a little bar right on the port and we were taken into a little back room. The chef - Fernando was his name - came out with the ingredients to make traditional tapas, bread, meats, cheese, garlic, tomato and olive oil and taught us how to make tapas. It was really very simple, but it was very tasty. Next he lined us all up around the pan and proceeded to make the paella, giving us instructions along the way. While the paella was simmering, the barman came out and explained to us how to make sangria and then let us make our own (he tried everyones and said they were good, all except mine, to which he tasted it, looked at me, and said "I dont really know what that tastes like"). By the time we'd finished making our sangria, the paella was ready to eat and man it was good. Fernando told us that quite a lot of restaurants in Barcelona, particularly those along La Rambla, served frozen paella and charged a fortune. Here we had freshly made paella with sangria and tapas for a fraction of the price - once again, we had fallen on our feet. After dinner we went to a flamenca dancing show - the band played a few songs and then the two dancers came out and they were very good - I still think I could teach them the Longmore two step, but they certainly had it going on on stage.

The next day we hired a couple of bikes and rode around the city - we went out to the temple designed by Gaudi (a very famous and controversial architect), which was actaully about to be consecrated by the Pope the following day - there was quite a few people there, barricades, media and police everywhere, but the church/temple was amazing. Apparently when this bloke drew up the plans in the late 1800s, the Vatican refused to fund the buidling, as did the Spanish government because the design was so strange. So Gaudi pumped his own money into it and started building it himself. It's still not finished though - there were cranes all over it when we were there, but apparently the government is not to keen to finish it any time soon. Go figure.

Anyway, we rode our bikes to the Port, the old bull fighting arena and also to the famous Gaudi fountain, which is were I nearly got robbed. The fountain is enormous and there are steps to walk up either side to the top. We walked up one side, took some photos and as we walked down the other side, a group of kids swarmed around me trying to get me to sign some petition - but they were pickpocketers trying to distract me while this girl tried to rob me - but like Indiana Jones, that unknown danger sense kicked in, and I quickly deduced what was going on, and was able to fight off the attackers with my trusty whip. We got away unscathed with all our possessions intact - truth be known, if the stupid girl had robbed me from the pocket she had put her hand into all she would have gotten was the crappy map.

After that we headed back to the hostel and got ready to go on a pub crawl. We had dinner with a couple of Americans from our hostel and then went on the pub crawl, which was pretty ordinary. However we did meet an Indian bloke who seemed to take enormous pleasure in giving it to us about the fact that India had just beaten Australia in the cricket - but he was a really good bloke and we talked to him pretty much the whole night. On the way home, another bloke attempted to rob me - man it was getting silly! This bloke came up to us on our way home and was trying to jump up on me and would not leave us alone. We got away again with everything intact, but it was a little bit scary - probably because it was 3am and down a side street.
The next day we took a train out to another bull ring (where Laura did her famous bull face) and also to a museum which overlooked the city - we got some great photos and there was a really good busker that we sat down and listened to for a while. We also came across a protest against the Pope - there were riot police all decked out in their full kit and the protestors were all walking around with devil forks and stuff. We spent the rest of the day walking around the less touristy part of Barcelona, which was very different to the main central part. Barcelona has a really nice feel to it, similar to Florence. We walked down to the port area again and watched the men feeding the fish before heading back to our hostel for a night of tending to administrative tasks.

We were due to catch a train to San Sebastian at 7:30am the next day, so it was going to be an early start.

San Sebastian

We decided to include the San Sebastian part in the Barcelona blog because not a lot really happened there. We turned up and the weather was terrible, it rained the entire two days we were there.
That didnt stop us wandering around this beautiful little city and along the beach. Looking back, I guess there were two highlights. One was the trip to the Spanish bar where we got proper tapas with our beer. We didnt stay long but we tried quite a few tapas and ended up going to the supermarket that night to get the ingredients to make our own and had tapas for dinner.

The second highlight occured by chance the following night. We went for a wander down to the shop to get some dinner, and decided to go for a walk along the beach. There was a massive group of people all around an area that had a bridge and the entry of the river to the town, all watching the massive waves that were crashing into the bridge and the surrounding area. Some of the waves hit with such force that all the people on the bridge got washed with water - there were all these old people running around laughing like schoolkids, having a great time. We were also laughing our heads off.

That was about it though. Another early morning start to get to Paris the next day, so we had an early night and got ready for the big smoe once again.

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Photos

La Ramblas
This guy was by far the coolest dresser upperer in Barcelona

The Gaudi church
It was being consecrated by the Pope while we were there!

The Guadi Fountain
Where i nearly got robbed

Wilfred the Hairy
There is a statue of Wilfred above my head

The Sangria
Mine was still the best, no matter what the barman says