Barcelona
Patty, Rose and I were hanging around last July all kinda depressed. My cure for depression is planning a trip so I suggested we figure out someplace to go. Patty said "Barcelona" and Rose and I were both immediately on board because it is a place we both had long wanted to see. We looked and looked for dates we could all make it and then cheap flights and a hotel. We ended up setting it up for October with Rose and I taking a late flight on Saturday night from Frankfurt and Patty coming really early on Sunday, fun day.
Rose and I took a bus from the airport to Pl. Catalunya and then wandered to our hotel in the Gothic quarter. It was night and we got a bit lost on our way to Hotel Regencia Colon but it wasn't a big deal and we never felt threatened whatsoever. It is a nice hotel, better than I usually stay at with a fabulous location just about a stone's throw from the cathedral. After dropping our bags we asked the guy at the hotel reception where we could go for a drink and he said there was an Irish Pub not too far away. Ahem, we found this suggestion rather humorous so went out and wandered around the cathedral plaza for a bit looking around almost making a circle back to our hotel when we found a small, local bar essentially next to the hotel. (Does the reception guy not look around when he walks in the door to work? We later told him we went to the place next door and he actually looked surprised like he didn't know it was there. Maybe he gets a kickback for sending people to the Irish Pub.) This was a GREAT bar called La Bambia on Sagristans and became our regular nighttime haunt for our time in Barcelona. Small, intimate, and pretty much only locals. Rose was impressed I could order two beers in Spanish. It's because KH is proud of being able to order beer in MANY languages and practices at home so I've picked up this practical information.
Patty showed up early on Sunday. It was a perfect day, weather wise. After a quick bite to eat, we hung out on the plaza in front of the Cathedral waiting for the locals to start dancing the Sardena which our guidebooks said is the national dance. The tourists trying to watch the dancers outnumbered the dancers at least two to one. It is one of those circular folk type dances but this one has pretty complicated footwork. I like to folk dance and normally would have given it a shot but this was WAY too hard. It is also apparently not exactly catching on with the Spanish youth since most of the people dancing were middle aged and up. A small group of musicians sat on the Cathedral steps to play live music for the dancers. The musicians were mainly geezers with one young kid in the group. The music was a bit odd. It was interesting to watch particularly as the weather and the setting was so nice.
After we got tired of watching the dancers, we walked over to Las Ramblas. The Gothic quarter where we were staying is old with small curvy streets similar to the old part of Prague, and the Latin Quarter in Paris. These lead us to the very famous Las Ramblas which is a large boulevard with a pedestrian walkway in the center. We had read you need to be careful of pickpockets and con artists there so I was a tiny bit apprehensive. I thought it might be tough in a port city kinda way with flimflam artists and and rough types around. If they were there, we sure didn't see them. The street is lined with beautiful Spanish "colonial" buildings and the walkway is full of street entertainers, merchants, cafes and tourists. The street entertainers either did the "living statue" bit or played music or danced which is all fine with me. It was simply lovely and not at all run down or sleazy. I was starting to really like this city.
At the end of Las Ramblas we hit the port on the Mediterrranean and there were palm trees too which always make me happy. Naturally there were tour boats which go out into the harbor. I like boats, at least ones that don't go TOO far out, and it was a beautiful day so suggested we take a boat ride! Yeah! So we did! It was only 10 Euros. And it was great until we got out of the harbor. And hit the waves. Head on crashing some over the tops. Which I kinda liked but Rose did not. And she freaked because they were letting a 12-year-old drive. And Patty got seasick. Not the best experience although I had a pretty good time but kinda felt guilty about it since my freinds were in distress. Well, I guess we won't be booking a cruise anytime soon, huh ladies? We did get to see what the city looked like from the water and it is a nice city indeed.
After our boating adventure we needed something to eat. One or more of our guidebooks recommended a little restaurant down by the port in an area called Barcelonetta. It was a cute, cheap place where I had mussels and Rose had many extremely fried things including octopus. I don't remember what Patty had. Patty needed a nap (she had had an extremely early flight) so Rose and I took a tram up to a park on Montjuic and basically got lost but had a nice walk and a cable car ride with beautiful views of the city out over the Mediterranean.
That evening we took the metro over to La Sagrada Familia. The metro is another thing that is great about Barcelona. Having it means you can get around quickly, easily and cheaply. People in Barcelona seem to call this church the "Temple". I think it is to distinguish it from the Cathedral. I was looking for pictures of La Sagrada Familia on the web once we were back and found one picture of the cathedral labeled as La Sagrada Familia. I bet that isn't the only person who has gotten the two confused.
At night you can only see the outside which is nicely lit. There are two facades finished and one was done completely by Gaudi and it is very dense in terms of the statuary on it. Very, very dense. We should have had binoculars which I meant to bring but naturally forgot. If you go, take them. I liked this church more than I expected. The pictures of it always make it looks something like a sand castle, almost childish, and just don't do it justice. In person, you can distinguish much more of the various components and it makes it infinitely more interesting.
We had gotten a late start and had a very late really so-so dinner at a restaurant in the area. By the time we got done the metro wasn't running anymore and so we had a LONG walk back to the hotel but that was o.k. because we got to see a lot more of the city that way. Rose and I stopped at La Bambia for a nightcap.
The next day we took the train out to Montserrat, a monastery about an hour away from Barcelona perched on a mountain. We got a slightly late start and had to really hurry to try and hear the boys' choir which performs daily at 1 p.m. On the way to the church I also almost gave CPR to some man lying on the ground but he started talking so we kept going and entered the church exactly as the boys started to sing. Unfortunately, they only sang two songs or so which was a bit short. The church was packed so I was a bit away from Rose and Patty and Rose said someone else fainted in the church doorway. I think it must be the altitude combined with religious fervor which overwhelms some pilgrims. I've seen a lot of churches so am not easily impressed but this one was actually worth the trip. It helps that the mountain setting is so beautiful as well. There is also a tradition of different groups donating beautiful hanging lamps to the church. In a side chapel, there was a giant crucifix with handles on it and I thought the handles were there so you could steady yourself while you kissed the statue. So I grabbed it and almost knocked the statue over. I was there looking up in absolute horror as Christ wobbled and wobbled on his cross in his holder and I was so terrified I could not move or think or anything to do other than to wait until he crashed down on me and I lay on the church floor crushed under a priceless church art piece I had destroyed. I was very close to either fainting or having a heart attack not from fervor but from fear. I was also thinking it just figured something like this would happen to me since my relationship with the Catholic Church is iffy at best. It was like it was some kind of sign. Patty happened to walk into the side chapel as this was happening (thank God (how ironic!) no one else was in there at the time) and was a BIT taken aback by my cringing under the wobbling Messiah. He finally slowly settled back into his holder. Thank you Jesus for not crushing me! I think the handles are there to transport the crucifix in case it needs to be moved. However, it would take more than one person to carry it. And it could really use a more stable base. Even as I write about it my heart starts beating a bit faster, that's how scared I was.
The church also has a black Madonna statue which is revered for some reason I don't quite remember. I think she miraculously survived something. It's always something. She has a stunning mosaic alcove just for herself. You wait in line to "venerate" her and can touch her hand which protrudes through a plexiglas covering. If you are in Barcelona it is worth it to take the train over to Montserrat. It's only about an hour anyway.
Rose and Patty had both seen a tourist video about Barcelona that recommended a restaurant called El Rey de Las Gambas down at the port so we headed there Monday night for dinner after returning from Montserrat. They kept commenting that it must have been redecorated because it didn't look the same and later we discovered the original was down the street; we were at number two. We had Paella for dinner and ice cream on the way as we walked home to our hotel. Patty, the sane one, went to bed. Rose and Terry went for another nightcap at La Bambia. We were rapidly becoming regulars.
Tuesday we got tickets for the hop on hop off bus. The weather was nice enough we could sit on the open top level. At one point we were parked under some trees and there were canaries in them we could almost touch. We got off at House Battlo which is one of Gaudi's famous houses in town. I don't remember what we paid to get into the house but it was completely worth it. There are several levels to look at and the architecture is wavey and blue. There are lots of mosiacs on the roof chimneys which is also open to tourists. It is very cool. Even cooler may be Parc Gruell which we also hopped off to see. The park was also designed by Gaudi and was supposed to be a housing development which never materialized. There are a few interesting buildings there and some nice outside installations like the famous lizard and the extremely long mosiac bench.
That night we tried to have dinner on a boat restaurant we had seen in the port but unfortunately it was closed. So we just went to another random restaurant where Rose and I accidently got giant beers the size of the ones you get at Octoberfest here. Patty was good and went to bed. When Rose and I showed up at La Bambia the bartender waved and smiled and asked "Dos Cervesas?" O.K., now we were definitely regulars so decided to celebrate it with brandy as well as our beers!
Wednesday was our last day and Patty had an early flight out. Rose and I had time to kill before our late evening flight so we went back to La Sagrada Familia in the daylight and went in. A different guy at our hotel had told us it wasn't worth going in because it was just a construction zone. He was completely wrong and I will henceforth be extremely skeptical of hotel desk workers. We got the audio tour and loved this place. A good portion of it is already done and you can see some of the stained glass windows and the spectacular ceiling that mimics a forest. It was started in 1886 is supposed to be done in 20 years. We are hoping to get back before then. Rose and I had lunch sitting outside the Temple across the street watching cranes working on it.
Barcelona far exceeded my expectations. What a great town! I definitely want to go back. We liked the hotel but it was a bit pricey and there is a hostel nearby that looked nice called Itaca http://www.itacahostel.com which would have the same great location right near our La Bambia bar but would be cheaper. We can fly down there from Germany for about 100 Euros round trip if we go at off times so it is clearly affordable for a short trip from here. Patty and Rose liked it as well, Rose so much she now wants to learn Spanish. I'm going to Nice with Jessi in March and I'll be curious how these two Mediterranean towns compare. I'm beginning to think that almost anyplace on the Mediterranean is nice.
Terry
Rose and I took a bus from the airport to Pl. Catalunya and then wandered to our hotel in the Gothic quarter. It was night and we got a bit lost on our way to Hotel Regencia Colon but it wasn't a big deal and we never felt threatened whatsoever. It is a nice hotel, better than I usually stay at with a fabulous location just about a stone's throw from the cathedral. After dropping our bags we asked the guy at the hotel reception where we could go for a drink and he said there was an Irish Pub not too far away. Ahem, we found this suggestion rather humorous so went out and wandered around the cathedral plaza for a bit looking around almost making a circle back to our hotel when we found a small, local bar essentially next to the hotel. (Does the reception guy not look around when he walks in the door to work? We later told him we went to the place next door and he actually looked surprised like he didn't know it was there. Maybe he gets a kickback for sending people to the Irish Pub.) This was a GREAT bar called La Bambia on Sagristans and became our regular nighttime haunt for our time in Barcelona. Small, intimate, and pretty much only locals. Rose was impressed I could order two beers in Spanish. It's because KH is proud of being able to order beer in MANY languages and practices at home so I've picked up this practical information.
Patty showed up early on Sunday. It was a perfect day, weather wise. After a quick bite to eat, we hung out on the plaza in front of the Cathedral waiting for the locals to start dancing the Sardena which our guidebooks said is the national dance. The tourists trying to watch the dancers outnumbered the dancers at least two to one. It is one of those circular folk type dances but this one has pretty complicated footwork. I like to folk dance and normally would have given it a shot but this was WAY too hard. It is also apparently not exactly catching on with the Spanish youth since most of the people dancing were middle aged and up. A small group of musicians sat on the Cathedral steps to play live music for the dancers. The musicians were mainly geezers with one young kid in the group. The music was a bit odd. It was interesting to watch particularly as the weather and the setting was so nice.
After we got tired of watching the dancers, we walked over to Las Ramblas. The Gothic quarter where we were staying is old with small curvy streets similar to the old part of Prague, and the Latin Quarter in Paris. These lead us to the very famous Las Ramblas which is a large boulevard with a pedestrian walkway in the center. We had read you need to be careful of pickpockets and con artists there so I was a tiny bit apprehensive. I thought it might be tough in a port city kinda way with flimflam artists and and rough types around. If they were there, we sure didn't see them. The street is lined with beautiful Spanish "colonial" buildings and the walkway is full of street entertainers, merchants, cafes and tourists. The street entertainers either did the "living statue" bit or played music or danced which is all fine with me. It was simply lovely and not at all run down or sleazy. I was starting to really like this city.
At the end of Las Ramblas we hit the port on the Mediterrranean and there were palm trees too which always make me happy. Naturally there were tour boats which go out into the harbor. I like boats, at least ones that don't go TOO far out, and it was a beautiful day so suggested we take a boat ride! Yeah! So we did! It was only 10 Euros. And it was great until we got out of the harbor. And hit the waves. Head on crashing some over the tops. Which I kinda liked but Rose did not. And she freaked because they were letting a 12-year-old drive. And Patty got seasick. Not the best experience although I had a pretty good time but kinda felt guilty about it since my freinds were in distress. Well, I guess we won't be booking a cruise anytime soon, huh ladies? We did get to see what the city looked like from the water and it is a nice city indeed.
After our boating adventure we needed something to eat. One or more of our guidebooks recommended a little restaurant down by the port in an area called Barcelonetta. It was a cute, cheap place where I had mussels and Rose had many extremely fried things including octopus. I don't remember what Patty had. Patty needed a nap (she had had an extremely early flight) so Rose and I took a tram up to a park on Montjuic and basically got lost but had a nice walk and a cable car ride with beautiful views of the city out over the Mediterranean.
That evening we took the metro over to La Sagrada Familia. The metro is another thing that is great about Barcelona. Having it means you can get around quickly, easily and cheaply. People in Barcelona seem to call this church the "Temple". I think it is to distinguish it from the Cathedral. I was looking for pictures of La Sagrada Familia on the web once we were back and found one picture of the cathedral labeled as La Sagrada Familia. I bet that isn't the only person who has gotten the two confused.
At night you can only see the outside which is nicely lit. There are two facades finished and one was done completely by Gaudi and it is very dense in terms of the statuary on it. Very, very dense. We should have had binoculars which I meant to bring but naturally forgot. If you go, take them. I liked this church more than I expected. The pictures of it always make it looks something like a sand castle, almost childish, and just don't do it justice. In person, you can distinguish much more of the various components and it makes it infinitely more interesting.
We had gotten a late start and had a very late really so-so dinner at a restaurant in the area. By the time we got done the metro wasn't running anymore and so we had a LONG walk back to the hotel but that was o.k. because we got to see a lot more of the city that way. Rose and I stopped at La Bambia for a nightcap.
The next day we took the train out to Montserrat, a monastery about an hour away from Barcelona perched on a mountain. We got a slightly late start and had to really hurry to try and hear the boys' choir which performs daily at 1 p.m. On the way to the church I also almost gave CPR to some man lying on the ground but he started talking so we kept going and entered the church exactly as the boys started to sing. Unfortunately, they only sang two songs or so which was a bit short. The church was packed so I was a bit away from Rose and Patty and Rose said someone else fainted in the church doorway. I think it must be the altitude combined with religious fervor which overwhelms some pilgrims. I've seen a lot of churches so am not easily impressed but this one was actually worth the trip. It helps that the mountain setting is so beautiful as well. There is also a tradition of different groups donating beautiful hanging lamps to the church. In a side chapel, there was a giant crucifix with handles on it and I thought the handles were there so you could steady yourself while you kissed the statue. So I grabbed it and almost knocked the statue over. I was there looking up in absolute horror as Christ wobbled and wobbled on his cross in his holder and I was so terrified I could not move or think or anything to do other than to wait until he crashed down on me and I lay on the church floor crushed under a priceless church art piece I had destroyed. I was very close to either fainting or having a heart attack not from fervor but from fear. I was also thinking it just figured something like this would happen to me since my relationship with the Catholic Church is iffy at best. It was like it was some kind of sign. Patty happened to walk into the side chapel as this was happening (thank God (how ironic!) no one else was in there at the time) and was a BIT taken aback by my cringing under the wobbling Messiah. He finally slowly settled back into his holder. Thank you Jesus for not crushing me! I think the handles are there to transport the crucifix in case it needs to be moved. However, it would take more than one person to carry it. And it could really use a more stable base. Even as I write about it my heart starts beating a bit faster, that's how scared I was.
The church also has a black Madonna statue which is revered for some reason I don't quite remember. I think she miraculously survived something. It's always something. She has a stunning mosaic alcove just for herself. You wait in line to "venerate" her and can touch her hand which protrudes through a plexiglas covering. If you are in Barcelona it is worth it to take the train over to Montserrat. It's only about an hour anyway.
Rose and Patty had both seen a tourist video about Barcelona that recommended a restaurant called El Rey de Las Gambas down at the port so we headed there Monday night for dinner after returning from Montserrat. They kept commenting that it must have been redecorated because it didn't look the same and later we discovered the original was down the street; we were at number two. We had Paella for dinner and ice cream on the way as we walked home to our hotel. Patty, the sane one, went to bed. Rose and Terry went for another nightcap at La Bambia. We were rapidly becoming regulars.
Tuesday we got tickets for the hop on hop off bus. The weather was nice enough we could sit on the open top level. At one point we were parked under some trees and there were canaries in them we could almost touch. We got off at House Battlo which is one of Gaudi's famous houses in town. I don't remember what we paid to get into the house but it was completely worth it. There are several levels to look at and the architecture is wavey and blue. There are lots of mosiacs on the roof chimneys which is also open to tourists. It is very cool. Even cooler may be Parc Gruell which we also hopped off to see. The park was also designed by Gaudi and was supposed to be a housing development which never materialized. There are a few interesting buildings there and some nice outside installations like the famous lizard and the extremely long mosiac bench.
That night we tried to have dinner on a boat restaurant we had seen in the port but unfortunately it was closed. So we just went to another random restaurant where Rose and I accidently got giant beers the size of the ones you get at Octoberfest here. Patty was good and went to bed. When Rose and I showed up at La Bambia the bartender waved and smiled and asked "Dos Cervesas?" O.K., now we were definitely regulars so decided to celebrate it with brandy as well as our beers!
Wednesday was our last day and Patty had an early flight out. Rose and I had time to kill before our late evening flight so we went back to La Sagrada Familia in the daylight and went in. A different guy at our hotel had told us it wasn't worth going in because it was just a construction zone. He was completely wrong and I will henceforth be extremely skeptical of hotel desk workers. We got the audio tour and loved this place. A good portion of it is already done and you can see some of the stained glass windows and the spectacular ceiling that mimics a forest. It was started in 1886 is supposed to be done in 20 years. We are hoping to get back before then. Rose and I had lunch sitting outside the Temple across the street watching cranes working on it.
Barcelona far exceeded my expectations. What a great town! I definitely want to go back. We liked the hotel but it was a bit pricey and there is a hostel nearby that looked nice called Itaca http://www.itacahostel.com which would have the same great location right near our La Bambia bar but would be cheaper. We can fly down there from Germany for about 100 Euros round trip if we go at off times so it is clearly affordable for a short trip from here. Patty and Rose liked it as well, Rose so much she now wants to learn Spanish. I'm going to Nice with Jessi in March and I'll be curious how these two Mediterranean towns compare. I'm beginning to think that almost anyplace on the Mediterranean is nice.
Terry
posted by Terry at 4:51 PM
