Cerveza? Beer? Smoke something?

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I have been a little homesick as of late. I miss a lot. I miss my friends and family; I miss lying on a couch watching reruns of Frasier; I miss living out of closets and drawers with multiple outfits instead of a backpack with 4 shirts and two jeans. Both jeans have holes in them, and two of my shirts are in the same condition. We haven't done the apartment thing in awhile; I miss cooking for myself. We have been traveling for over two months now, and have less than two months to go. I have in a way become a bit desensitized to what is going on around me. I've seen a lot of old buildings and a lot of old churches. Hold on... I am in Europe, for goodness sake. I had to remind myself the other day that drinking a beer on the beach, staring into Mediterranean, is not normal.

I have been craving a week off - to return to Canada, chill out, and head back over to continue our European adventure. I obviously didn't get that, but I do feel refreshed. We just spent a week with our friends Christine and Mike in Toulouse, France, and before that we were in Madrid and Barcelona. When we were in Madrid, I didn't want to do anything - I wanted to sit in the park and sun and read, which is exactly what I did. I saw a palace, some nice buildings, and that's it. Barcelona and Toulouse breathed some new life into me. This blog will be about about Barcelona.

We planned on staying 2 nights; we ended up staying 4. Who knew Barcelona was going to be so much fun? Barcelona is the kind of place that I wish I could say I come from. Do you ever visit a city and wish you could live there? Not just live there, but be accepted - be a local. I want to be a local in Barcelona. I want to know its ins and outs. Barcelonians are proud. They know that they inhabit the pickpocket capital of Europe, and don't really care. Anyone I have met They go to the beach on the weekend and truly know how to party. They know and love their city... and they love their football.

On my to-do list was to visit Camp Nou, the largest football stadium in Europe, mostly because our friend Sam had said we must go. What I did not expect was having the opportunity to actually go to a football game - a Champions game at that. But we did, and we cheered with the locals - Barcelona-Arsenals, Quarterfinal, 4-1 victory. Messi scored all four of Barcelona's goals. We scalped our way in, in a way - we bought our tickets from two season ticket holders who had two extra seats because their wives couldn't make it. The deal was that we could walk in the stadium with them and pay them when we got to our seats. Sounded about as good as it was going to get.

I was grateful to learn before going to the football game that they only serve non-alcoholic beer at the stadium. I don't know how much it cost, but I am sure that Tim and I wouldn't have known the difference looking at it, and could have spent 10 euros or something. The explanation given to us was that the crowds are crazy enough; alcohol just makes things worse. But the stadium still acknowledges that people like to have a drink in their hands, so they serve what they hope will satisfy the masses. I was also told that it's easy to sneak in a flask, which I didn't do, but could see how easy it was. There wasn't much of a bag check at all.

While people can't easily drink at the game, they can certainly show up having consumed a few drinks at home, at the many pubs nearby, or in the street, because every 10 feet was a guy selling beer out of a green plastic bag. There were policemen everywhere, which proved to not deter anyone, as practically everyone was drinking outside the gates. The street beer sales make a lot of sense, particularly before a football game. What surprised me was seeing these sales for the next three days everywhere we went. As drinking outside is legal in Europe, it seems to make good business sense - I don't know why this doesn't happen in other European cities. It's obviously illegal to sell the beer, as I saw salesmen scramble on more than one occasion in the presence of police officers, but it does make it easier for the average tourist to take advantage of the relaxed European frame-of-mind.

Beer sales are prominent at the beach. In fact, you can buy anything at the beach. You can't go 5 minutes without someone approaching you with sunglasses, shawls, coconut, beer, or my favorite, offers of a therapeutic massage for only 5 euros. The massage girls had Tim pegged - they wouldn't let up! It was funny to watch. The beer sales were also fabulous. “Cerveza? Beer?” No thanks. “Smoke something?” No, thanks again! We must have been approached at least 15 times, and we were only there for an hour.

Ah, Barcelona... I will return. We had the honor of seeing Maceo Parker in concert at one of the most ornate concert halls I have ever seen. We walked La Rambla, drooled in the open market, visited the Gaudi sites, and spent time at the beach. It was a breath of fresh air much needed.

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Comments

[Nick]

how much were the tickets

[TimandSarah]

Hi Nick, The cheapest tickets at the box office were 76 euros, for the nosebleeds. We paid only 80 euros to sit right behind one of the nets!

[Harry]

barca
Wow great post! I randomly came across this trying to find out if they served beer at Camp Nou. I'm from Victoria, BC and just got to barce last week and I'm here for a couple months. I know what you mean about how this is a place you would like to live, I have been here less than a week and I already want to stay! Good luck in your travels!

[Synnott]

Thanks! I will be around after the world cup. I always wanted to see a game.