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Published: June 13th 2006
La Sagrada Familia
Still suffering from a touch of vertigo after my climb to the dizzying heights (170m) of La Sagrada Familia's towers.Landing in Valencia, the pilot announced to the t-shirt and shorts clad passengers that the weather outside was 16 degrees and raining. A collective protest went up from the crowd. "How rude!" Surely we´d been through enough bad weather in chilly Ireland? Fortunately, Spain is renowned for its warm weather and things all came good on my second day when I headed to Barcelona. The sun came out and the weather hotted up. For me, Spain had always conjured up images of lazy days in the sunshine, of seafood, paella, tapas, cold beer and sangria. Of suntans, beaches and nightlife. It certainly didn't disappoint.
My itinerary for Spain (I had 6 days in total) was lazily unplanned and slightly disorganised. Very much in line with the Spanish culture really! The Spanish people have a sense of cool about them that seems to come from being over-relaxed, overindulged and generally sitting around looking fabulous. The Spanish men and women are stunningly attractive in youth - a youth which ends with unsightly bulges, yellowed teeth (from chain smoking) and leathery over-tanned skin. In fact this laid back coolness is in some cases verges on laziness - which was infuriating when it came
to buying train tickets or arranging accommodation. I also found the Spanish people delightfully spontaneous - one day walking through Barcelona, I literally stumbled across a festival in the street where a band was playing jazz. An old woman in a matronly shift dress stood up from her chair at a cafe nearby and began dancing with unmistakable rhythm and complete abandon. Another character filled with energy and spirit was Miguel - the chain-smoking, old charmer who ran the guest house I stayed at in San Sebastian. He couldn't speak a word of English, I couldn't speak much Spanish - yet he was so expressive, he sang and greeted me every time I entered the front door with such enthusiasm and genuine good humour - you just had to smile! Another noticeable thing about the Spanish is that they seem to have pretty good gender equality. According to my trusty old Lonely Planet - Spain is the only country in the world led by party that has a cabinet with an equal number of men and women.
Aside from the people and the sunshine, what made Spain was the simple and unexpectedly tasty food. Take for instance tapas (called
Valencia
Shopping was the ideal way to escape the rain. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to buy anything!! pinxos in San Sebastian)which are little snacks like grilled sardines, sounds awful I know, but turned out to be delicious! The paella was sensational - what was first invented as a type of poor mans dish in the area around Valencia, has matured into a fancy seafood, rice and vege dish which was a cheap and tasty alternative to self-catering. Meal times were quite difficult to adjust to initially. Lunch is eaten mid-arvo, then tapas are nibbled on around 7ish, followed by dinner at around 11pm. With daylight lasting well until 11pm - this didn't really seem strange at all by the end of my stay. The great food didn't end there. The fresh fish, fruit and vege markets in both Valencia and Barcelona were by far the best I've seen in the world and were stocked with quality goods which were artistically displayed and smelt and tasted so good, for little more than a few gold coins!
Valencia is the third largest Spanish city - with plenty of gorgeous baroque architecture and winding little alleys you can lose yourself in. The footpaths are paved with tiles - which are a litigation case waiting to happen when rain hit.
Sangria & Paella
Enjoyed a delicious dinner of seafood paella, washed down with an icy cold sangria for dinner by Port Vell. I pressed on that first day despite the rain and my singlet tops, birkenstocks and bikini remained lonely in the bottom of my pack. Valencia´s Cathedral was a cheap wet weather option. Very ornate inside - the cathedral was rich with gold and statues, as well as some interesting/bizarre artifacts. Like for instance the only ´holy grail´ recognised by the Vatican (a chalice) and my personal favourite St Vincent's shriveled up arm displayed in a glass cabinet! Valencia is also famous for oranges and orange alcoholic drinks called agua de Valencia and apart from this is a pretty disappointing city. Barcelona was another story!
My hostel in Barcelona was brilliantly located alongside Las Ramblas - the central boulevard which was THE hub for street performers, florists, souvenir sellers, shady characters and tourists. Plaza Real was the hostel's actually address and this (the plaza, not the grubby hostel) appeared to be the centre of Barcelona nightlife. A nightlife which lasted until well after 7am - the noise was so loud it really did feel like the party was in the shabby, over-crowded 12 bedder girls dorm room. A dorm which one lonely and embarrassed guy found himself allocated to by
Nanna & I hit the Tapas Bars
Nanna, my Danish friend and I, found a fabulous little local haunt in the backstreets of Barcelona where we sampled some great tapas. Unfortunately, when we went to return, we couldn't find it ... accident! At the hostel I met Nanna, a great girl from Denmark and we hit the town together - discovering the BEST little local tapas bar where we grazed on tapas and drank beer standing at the bar like the Spanish do. Apparently the best tapas bars can be judged by the amount of rubbish on the floor and if this was anything to go by we'd hit gold! Unfortunately, it was down a tangled mess of alleyways and we never did find it again. We also hit the town with some locals - friends of Nannas' - to check out the local pub and dance scene which was great fun!
Site seeing in Barcelona was more like aimless wandering - with shopping to die for in endless stretches of cobbled alleys which eventually ran down to the beach or Port Vell. The local pastimes seem to be eating, sleeping and lying in parks/beaches/anywhere where there is sun. So aside from a visit to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia - a sort of Cathedral - I put the guidebook away. La Sagrada Familia was mind-blowing - so completely strange and freaky, but definitely up there with the Taj Mahal, Eiffel &
Festival Del Mar, Barcelona
Musicians played trumpets and drums whilst people danced like crazy in the streets. Sistine as one of the most impressive architectural feats I have ever laid eyes on. What was even more weird about this freaky cathedral was that it commenced construction in 1882 and is yet to be finished. I climbed the towers (the tallest is 170m) up winding staircases, through narrow corridors and over vertigo inducing bridges to little balconies. The appearance of the building is gothic, with lots of symbols of nature - like animals and trees ... a description really doesn't do it justice!
A downside of Barcelona was its dodgy characters and thieves. On my second day there I was booking accommodation in an internet cafe and two gypsy women walked in, stood on either side of me and waved newspapers in my face. When I looked down, my coin-purse which was in front of the keyboard was missing. I saw it under the newspaper one of the woman was handing, snatched it out of her hand, screamed "NO!" and threw her newspaper on the floor - feeling very pleased I'd retrieved my purse. Unfortunately, on my last day in Barcelona I was not so lucky. Weighed up with packs (on front and back) and a small
Plaza Real, Barcelona
This is what I could see from the window of my dodgy (but very well located) hostel. bag hanging off one shoulder - I pushed my way onto the crowded metro and the guy in front of me got chewing gum stuck to my pack. Whilst I was distracted and telling him to get away, the woman next to me had extracted the very same coin purse from my small bag and at the next stop they both got out and ran. I'm very lucky I only lost $10 Euros, my license and ATM card. I had my credit card, cash and other valuables in my money belt. Since then, I've met so many travellers with similar experiences. There is even a website called
"Street Scams of Barcelona" which is devoted to similar tales of woe. Makes me feel less of an idiot for falling for this ruse and quite pleased I wasn't attacked, set on fire or had my teeth knocked out like other unlucky tourists on this website.
My last port of call in Spain was also my favourite. San Sebastian, a small city by the seaside (and the French border) was heaven. It features a spectacular sandy beach that is renowned for its awesome sunsets and beautiful people. Beside the beach, the
San Sebastian by day ...
I don't have many pics from San Seb, because I didn't want to take my camera to the beach!! old town meanders with more cobbled lanes, more tapas bars, more churches and old buildings - a lazy and quiet haven. San Sebastian is not far from Pamploma - home to the Running of the Bulls (Fiesta San Fermin) which is held in July every year. I wasn't disappointed to be too early for the event - many people have died in this crazy event, like in recent times a young American backpacker in 1995. One thing about Spain, and San Sebastian is no exception, is that it is completely overrun with American tourists. One great thing about these tourists is that a lot of them speak Spanish. There are no other great things that come to mind and I know I am generalising, but American backpackers are not very popular. In fact I met three miserable lads one evening in San Sebastian who said to me 'why don't people like us'. 'It's a volume thing', I said. 'Show some respect and turn it down!'. At every tourist attraction, in every town or city in Western Europe so far, if you stop and listen you can hear an American accent - usually loudly complaining. Even now as I type (at
an internet cafe in Brussels) I can hear one.
So Spain was brilliant, relaxing and sun drenched - in fact I was probably lucky I moved on before delirium set in. I left feeling not quite cool enough, not quite tanned enough, but far more street smart.
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Jeni
non-member comment
Brings back memories
Wow the email was great it brought back memories of when Shan and I were there, espicially the beach and rain. You did all the things we did but lucky we did not get robbed!! Well you continue to enjoy as believe me nothing has changed back here, Enjoy and keep the stories coming, Love Jeni