Barcelona - Why did I leave Thee?

Partly cloudy. That was the consensus of the weather prognosticators for the weekend in Barcelona. Apparently, for the fortunate denizens of this fair city on the coast of the salty Mediterranean, partly cloudy means a completely clear sky in the morning and a few whispy clouds lazily drifting about in the afternoon. Yes, it was a glorious weekend in Barcelona.



First off, the pics. Click on the link on the right hand side of the page to go to My Picassa Web Album. The pics are all there. La Sagrada Familia has changed significantly since my last visit to Barcelona 7 years ago. All the clean stone wasn't up at that point. Also, the little chapel area with the excellent stained glass wasn't open then either. I also got to visit Parc Guell, which I missed last time. Its located on a rather imposing hill and offered some spectacular views of the city. I was loving my 10X optical zoom as I got some 'close ups' of the castle (Palau Nacional) on Plaza de Espana and La Sagrada Familia while several kilometers away..


I arrived early Friday evening and my buddy Bryan who lives in London joined me shortly thereafter. Our hostel, well kind of hostel, more like a hotel/hostel. Bryan claimed that he was 'getting to old' to bunk up in a dorm with 10 other people, so we settled for a place that had private rooms with two beds and a private bathroom. All in all, probably a good call, as sleeping was a fair bit easier than in other hostels I've been in. Right, where was I? Ah yes, our hostel was right off Las Ramblas - the main tourist drag with a multitude of over-priced hawkers of silly shit and mediocre food at exorbitant prices. But, its still a pretty cool street to walk down. So, we took a bit of a stroll around the town, got lost a little bit in the small winding streets littered with shops and restaurants, and basically just kept on commenting to ourselves: "Damn, its perfect here." While I've been fairly blessed with nice weather in Erlangen, Bryan lives in London - I think he appreciated the weather a bit more than me. But, the lack of clouds also became a bit of a bane to his existence as well, dude is pale. We grabbed some tapas at a couple of different places, but honestly we were much too close to Las Ramblas for them to be that good, but still, a hell of a lot better than most English fare.

We eventually ended up heading to an area know as El Born. We immediately recognized our mistake in our choice of dining establishments as the food and atmosphere were far superior in this area compared to what we had just experienced. Regardless, we made the best of it by visiting a couple of different bars and enjoying the night. We also hit up a club for a bit, and yes it was a proper club, as was evidenced by the weak 10 Euro Jack and Cokes. The music was crap and we were getting a bit bored, and Bryan wouldn't give in to my constant ribbing to go talk to some girls. He claimed there was a 'language barrier' - ok, so he doesn't speak Spanish, but come on, most of the girls in the club would speak English. I of course then, had no excuse, I had to go chat some girl up, and in Spanish, you know, just to keep up my cred. So, I did. I'm not saying it was the smoothest opening I've ever executed, but, it was my first attempt in a different language. I deserve some slack. I believe it went somewhat along the lines of 'I know the music is lousy, but I think you're pretty, and so I would like to know if you would dance with me.' Yeah, that's about the best I could do. We ended up talking with her and some of her crew for a bit, but yeah, nothing doing there. She used the lousy music as an excuse not to dance - which I can't fault, as often, if I don't like a song, I just stand in the middle of the dance floor with my arms across my chest, pouting, in protest.

Hmm, I apparently need an editor, that was much to long for one evening. Speeding things along...

Saturday, woke up about 11, more tapas for brunch, walk towards Parc Guell, pass a couple of Gaudi's most famous houses, continue walking to Parc Guell (it was about 6 klicks I think). Wait, what am I saying. That's not what happened. First we went to the beach. Ah yes, la playa. That was only about a 2.5 km walk, and it was mostly along the harbor, and I kept on saying, 'Damn, that's a big boat.' So first, I love water, whatever city I go to, I always have to go to the water (this led to me walking 8 km to the Danube and then back in Wien). So, of course on a crystal clear day, we going to the beach. Bryan made fun of me for wearing my sarong, but I think I look sexy in a skirt. And its nice and cool. So yes, the beach. I had read that the beach closest to us was Barcelona's only 'naturist' beach. Hmm, wonder what that could mean. We shortly found out. All in all, in what a perfect day there. Vendors walk around selling ice cold beers out of their bags for 2 Euro (and apparently Hashish as well - but I declined the offer - although I did thank him for asking - it was very considerate - although I'm sure if I had, it would have been rubish anyway). And yes, I will agree with the conventional wisdom that after a very short while, the fact that its a nude beach doesn't mean anything. Although, in the area we were in, it was just the ladies who did away with part of their clothing, so I can't say of CW holds true for me for a full nude beach. Oh, and did I mention that even my skinny ass is buoyant in the Mediterranean? That's just weird.



Right, so then we walked for a long time to get to Parc Guell - took lots of pictures - started walking back. Stopped for some beers and olives. Hmm, after the cured ham, and the mussels, olives might have been my favorite tapas. Sooooo tasty, and with little tiny, baby onions and pickles - oh and this was at 21:00 and there was no one in this bar - I was loving the late dinner style. We then found ourselves a proper tapas bar. We gorged ourselves. The table wasn't big enough for all the tapas and sangria. Definitely one of the best meals I've had. And well, the hunger built up from 16 or so km may have contributed. As we left the place at about 23:45, they were still setting up places for new customers. We were spent, so we just hit up a spot for a quick beer and then crashed.


Sunday involved more walking to La Sagrada Familia, a metro ride to Plaza de Espana, and then of course, another trip to the beach. Bryan was getting to be a bit of a lobster due to the sun (at this point I'd like to thank my Croatian ancestors for passing their Mediterranean type complexion down to me), so we went for a bit of shade at one of the beach front bars and had some absolutely delicious mojitos (I will slap the next person who makes me a mojito with refined sugar instead of cane sugar) and a wide assortment of tapas (and yes, olives featured prominently again). Bryan flew out on Sunday evening, so, that was about it for the evening. I saw him off and then returned to my new hostel (one of the 12 bed in a room varieties). I walked around the area a bit more, popped into a couple of places for a beer and a tapas or two, then went back to the hostel to see if the US vs. Mexico final of the Gold Cup was on at 23:00 (yes - I was going to watch a soccer match in Barcelona - and yes you can start making fun of me now). But, it wasn't on - and despite my mind telling me I should go explore more, I'm turning into an old man and I was tired - and I had to get up at 7 am for my morning flight. So, I just hung around the hostel talking with various folks, which is always fun.

So, that's it. That's my Barcelona weekend in compressed (well - not all that compressed) format. Next weekend I'm off to Berlin to meet my friend Lucas for some good times.