Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Day 6: Accidental Discoveries
We spend our first day in Girona relaxing, but also going on a long walk without even meaning to.
Tuesday 1st November, 2016 - Girona
Eesh! We have gotten so lazy since we got to Girona. It's been great, sat on the couch in our cozy little flat, playing 3DS and watching Brooklyn 9-9 before going out for tea. It does mean that I am now two days in arrears for the journal, but it's been nice to relax a bit.
The first day we had in Girona started with the usual morning ritual; Kara stayed in bed while I went out hunting for food. I followed the instructions that the local guy gave me the night before. After a bit of an extended outing where I overshot my target and found myself wandering in alleyways, I brought home more bread and chocolate croissants. I also had spent a long time attempting to track down a can on Heinz beans for Kara, fearing that a croissant wasn't going to cut it, but with no joy. I had a nice breakfast with my fresh cheeses and sausage along with the fresh bread I'd bought.
Breakfast of champions! (We split these, I should state for the record.)
Girona is full of quirky little places like this creperie with a van parked inside it.
Once we were ready to go out, it was past noon, so we ventured out into the old city part of Girona. Our first stop was at a church hall on the cobbled streets leading up to the cathedral that has been featured in Game of Thrones. Inside the hall was an exhibition of model soldiers, but the strangest thing was that alongside the brilliantly pained miniatures of Napoleon and Spanish soldiers, there were Star Wars dolls, models of Asterix & Obelix, as well as an entire Warhammer fantasy Skaven army. It was quite surreal to find them in a church hall. It turns out that this exhibition was our first glimpse at the festival that takes place in Girona at this time of year.
It was utterly bizarre to find this collection inside a 12th century church.
As we proceeded through the old town, we found ourselves at the start of the wall that enclosed the medieval town. Without meaning to, we'd set out on quite a long walk, surrounded by other tourists on a very warm afternoon. The view from the wall gave us some spectacular shots of the town and the surrounding area. Girona is way bigger than I thought it was!
The gardens and old wall of Girona.
They even had cacti! Very cool.
More of the gardens and walls.
Views of Girona from the wall are brilliant!
After a quick descent through the University area, we found some snacks for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out in the flat. While the food we've had in Barcelona was very good, our reluctance to try Tapas has hurt our options in Girona. We've been "playing it safe", sticking to Italian and western cuisine, and Girona has an understandably thin range of decent eateries that cater to our "child's menu" palates. We set out to go to "Marylin's Diner" and when we arrived, I was already getting the feeling that the food wasn't going to be great. It was basically a burger van where you go in and sit down, but at least we didn't have to pay too much.
The night picked up on the way home, as we walked back via and enormous fun fair that was set up for the festival. I had noticed a giant ferris wheel from the wall in the morning, but the trees had covered the rest of the amusements. The fair was set up along boulevards, with a police presence to deal with traffic. Besides the (often copyright infringing) rides, there were weird lottery or bingo stalls that had the tackiest crap for prizes. There were also shooting galleries, pizzarias and churro stands. To make up for a disappointing dinner, we shared a pizza and tried churros for the first time. They taste quite bland, but they have a nice and crispy texture. I think we'll stick to crepes.
As we chilled out in the flat that night, we heard bands nearby, saw drumming processions and just before bed, a horde of cyclists flew past, ringing their bells and singing. It looked like Girona wasn't such a quiet little place to visit after all.
Girona really was the turning point of the holiday, with Kara and I just deciding that we'd still see all the cool things we could in Girona, but the pace could slow, allowing us to relax and not do very much at all, relatively guilt-free. Of course, this meant sleeping in, watching Netflix & generally just lounging around, but on our first day, we really just wanted to "get a feel" for Girona.
It seemed that we were on the right side of the river, as we were close to the "old parts" of town, with the modern shops and things being across the river. Kara was still quite exhausted from the previous day, and I was at the mercy of my stomach, so I went out for quite a long time to explore the narrow, cobbled streets of the eastern side of the river Onyar. It was a nice sensation to be able to wander around, not looking to buy anything but breakfast (and maybe some Heinz beans) and just get to know the area. While Barcelona is a metropolis, the area we were living in was conveniently placed next to some little shopping marts, as well as little bespoke shops, owned by local artists etc. It was nice to walk along a high street that didn't make me think of the homogenised high streets I've seen so much of on my travels. Girona has personality in spades, and that made the act of just randomly wandering seem much more enjoyable. I know I would have spent longer walking around if it wasn't for the language barrier that stopped me looking in book shops, as Girona has some lovely ones!
I had read quite a few tourist guides that had recommended the city walls as a good thing to view while you visit Girona, and with me being a fan of nice walks and historic sites, it seemed like a no-brainer, but Kara was wearing footwear that wasn't cutting it, and by the time we realised we were on a long walk, as opposed to just a recce around the town, it was too late. It's probably just as well as we saw the wall when we did, as the weather was nice, and although it was quite busy with lots of people milling around, it was never that uncomfortable. The pictures above really speak for themselves in how beautiful and well maintained the wall is around the town. We got very close to parts of the cathedral, including the other side of a curious door half way up a wall, which we eventually got to see the other side of when we visited the cathedral itself a few days later.
The evening was a great experience, with us being quite ill-prepared for the festivities that Girona was putting on. We wandered over to the other side of the river to find food, and discovered that the market stalls extended way past the Placa dei Indepencia, with so much foot and road traffic present just outside the immediate centre of the city. We continued walking towards a loud and well-lit area to discover that there was an enormous fun-fair that had set up across a considerable patch of land. It was much the same sort of thing that you'd get at "the shows" in Scotland, with naff teacup rides, dodgems, haunted-houses & quite a large number of air-rifle and darts-based games.
Prizes at the fun-fair were suitably naff.
Despite a rubbish dinner, we enjoyed wandering around the fair. It actually made me think of American teen movies, where the guy and the girl eat at a diner and then go and do something free and cheap. I don't know if it's the weird hormones they pump into whatever animal I'd just had a burger made from, but I recall being profoundly satisfied with things, just wandering round a strange town with its traditions that I didn't know with the woman I love. When the time arose, Kara decided to try churros, and I decided to buy a pizza from what was presumably a band of travelling folk who set up a three-sided booth where you can see them roll out the dough and make the pizza in a wood-fired oven. It was quite a unique sight, so I decided to give it a go, having my second dinner and firmly underlining how much I was eating on this trip. Still, it didn't matter, as long as I was spending time like this with Kara, I was happy.
Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Day 5: Home Away From Home
A frantic morning and afternoon in Barcelona gives way to a relaxing and peaceful evening in Girona.
Monday 31st October, 2016 - Girona
So I missed a day, but I was so tired last night that there was no way I would be able to stay awake and write. Yesterday was a bit of a mess, all-in-all, so it explains why I was so damn exhausted by the time I made the mistake of lying down on the bed last night.
My back pain woke me up at around 6:30am, and I could tell that my constant turning to relieve it was disturbing Kara's sleep, so I was fully awake in our apartment, with nowhere to comfortably sit and relax as I didn't want to disturb her any further.
With an early start and shower, I headed out into a grey Sunday morning in Barcelona, looking for a bit of breakfast. It was very quiet, and so I had to hunt for a short while before I could find a place that was open, so that I could buy some pastries. So far, I've started every day in Spain with a chocolate pastry, and I'm pretty happy with that. We've done so much walking that I don't feel bad about how well (un-healthily) we've eaten on this trip. While most people on holiday will spoil themselves by drinking beer or wine, I've been enjoying drinking proper Coca Cola without guilt. I'm sure the guilt will kick in once I get home, but for now, it's all good! Kara is still really enjoying the peach iced tea that seems to be popular in mainland Europe.
Because yesterday was our last morning in Barcelona, we took care to pre-pack as much as we could before we left to see the Barri Gotic's sights. Our suitcase and bags were good-to-go by the time we stepped out, and it's just as well this was the case.
Barcelona Cathedral. A lovely backdrop.
On the Cathedral steps, a Catalan folk band.
As we wandered down "Laietana", we noticed that the police had blocked off the whole street. We knew that something important must have been going on, as the street had previously been super-busy. When we entered the plaza that holds the main entryway to the Cathedral, we noticed that a small crowd had gathered around a little band of musicians. They were playing what sounded like traditional Catalonian folk music. After a few minutes of watching them play, we followed the crowd into Barcelona's Cathedral.
Some lovely old fountains in the courtyard.
Just got to fight through the crowd to get in
Ever since visiting Rome in 2014, I've found most churches to be a bit of a let down. The only exception to that rule is the "Sagrada Familia" in Barcelona, but we're hoping to see the building properly on our last afternoon in Barcelona on Thursday. The Cathedral was just finishing mass as we entered, and as it was a Sunday, there seemed to be a large number of the faithful, but the horde of tourists easily outnumbered them. The courtyards around the building were especially lovely, with working water fountains and geese wandering about. One odd thing we spotted was that instead of "lighting" a candle, visitors put money into a machine that would turn on a light in a box of LED candles. While it's more energy efficient than real candles, I found it odd that an institution that relies so much on theatricality would do this.
After a short ramble around the courtyards, we went in search of "Manna Gelats", an ice-cream parlour in the old city that I'd read about for its great flavours and catering to allergy sufferers. We found it and Kara fell in love with their dairy-free chocolate sorbet. I had an ice-cream that tasted like a Kinder Bueno, as well as a scoop of a somewhat disappointing milk chocolate. I love milk chocolate, so I was quite surprised to find myself not enjoying it as much.
Kara was delighted with her sorbet.
Our next stop was the museum of the history of Barcelona. This place was fantastic, with most of the museum being an audio-guide tour through walkways that overlook the remains of the old Roman colony of "Barcino", telling the story of the city's development and evolution from Roman to Visigothic culture and the introduction to Christianity. In traditional Kara style, she told me that her favourite part was a spot where excavators had found a pair of bodies. I was not surprised to hear this.
After our trip to the museum, we visited "Dunne's Irish Pub" so that Kara could get her "fix" of gravy and potatoes. Food service was a bit slow, so we had to sit through quite a lot of an English crowd shouting at the Premiership football on the TV. That showed Kara's devotion to gravy and mash! After lunch, we went to pick up some gifts for family back home. I had read about "Cageners" after hearing the guys on The Comedy Button talk about them. These extremely tacky and poorly made figures are a take on traditional Catalan nativity sculptures that depict a shepherd with his trousers down, taking a dump. The shop we went into had a wide range, from Donald Trump, Lionel Messi and Fernando Alonso to R2-D2, Mario and Darth Vader. We picked some out and I almost had a heart attack at the price. If you ever receive one, count yourself lucky, as they are super expensive for a joke gift.
Between our long wait for lunch and the grumpy guy in the Cagener shop taking ages to serve us, we were running late when we returned to the flat to grab our stuff. Kara's been suffering already after all the walking and daily trips up and down the stairs. I carried a bunch of stuff, as well as our large suitcase as we set out for the train to Girona; the town where we'd be spending our actual anniversary. Between our slight lateness, our slow pace and the labyrinth of "Catalunya" and "Sants" metro stations, we arrived at our platform gate bang-on when we were supposed to depart, only to find an enormous queue of people. I was disgustingly sweaty, having carried our luggage at a marching pace as soon as we got off the metro. As we stepped into the line, our train disappeared from the board, leaving us stressed, standing at the back of a long line of people who didn't speak fluent English, making it hard to listen in to see if they were having the same problem. Despite all the stress, when the guy took our tickets, he just waved us through, allowing us to board a train I'm fairly certain we weren't meant to be on! Despite someone else being sat in the seats that our ticket indicated, we found some seats and nervously glanced around, hoping we'd just get this one as a freebie. Girona was the next stop, so we knew we didn't have to hold on for too long, but I was anxious about being hit with some kind of fee or fine. Fortunately, we made it to Girona without any troubles; in fact I played Zelda OoT almost the entire journey!
After another luggage-laden march through Girona, we met "laura" in front of our apartment in a busy street, teeming with tourists. She led us up a mercifully small number of steps and opened the door to our home away from home for the next week.
What a lovely surprise we got! Arriving just before the sun went down, we found the flat warmly lit, clean and with a gift of a bottle of red wine waiting on us. The bed was soft, with extra pillows and a desk beside it. The place is so tastefully decorated that it feels so wonderfully cosy compared to the functional but bare setting we had in Barcelona. It really feels like the kind of place you want to just settle in and relax, which is the change of pace that we'd been looking for.
After a quick and refreshing shower, we headed into the part of Girona where there's a large number of restaurants; just across the river in the "Placa dei Indepencia". We had a pretty mediocre meal at a place called "Dolce Vita" which was a surprisingly large Italian restaurant. The food was reasonably priced, but not great. Kara's bolognese was mostly tomato, while I made the mistake of trying Roquefort cheese for the first time. The pungent cheese totally overpowered any other flavours, so it was hard to tell if my pizza was any good or not.
On our way home, we walked through a pop-up market, full of stalls selling cheese, meats, breads and jams. I bought a pepper-crusted sausage and some cheeses to enjoy for my breakfast. One cheese is a "Bufala" much like mozzarella, while the other is a goat's cheese. Both are really creamy and mild, but they're both very tasty and distinct.
It was dangerous to have a Creperie across the street. We behaved...mostly.
As we returned to our flat, we stopped off at the creperie across the street; "Crepdeque?" While we waited to be served, we spoke with a local about the local festival and where to get the best food. He recommended some places, one of which I visited this morning and was very pleased with his recommendation. Upon my return home, I ate my nutella and coconut crepe, before collapsing onto the bed, putting it beyond all doubt that I was going to sleep before I even considered opening my journal.
There was definitely no way I was going to stay awake for long after day 5. Between the early start, stressful journey to the train station and time spent hauling a suitcase around, I was so pleased to find that our accommodation was a: only up two flights of stairs and b: cosy and comfortable.
It's weird that we waited until our last day to visit Barcelona's Barri Gotic, but I guess that ties into what I've said about me stressing out about "not seeing enough" while we were there. The Gothic Quarter is full of old buildings, some are beautiful old churches and cathedrals with impressive facades and wonderful artwork inside, while many are simply old residential buildings with the ground floor given over to tacky tourist shops. I can only imagine that living in those buildings must be like to living in the flats at the top of the Royal Mile, with constant streams of noisy tourists coming and going through the day. While I was sad that we only had half a day to see this part of town, I feel like we made the right choice in the end, as we saw just how busy the streets get and how much of the area is just shops selling "hand-made" shawls, hemp bags. beads and earrings. While it wasn't quite as "copy-paste" as Milan was, I was happy to skip right past them to look at some old stuff!
The Museum of the City of Barcelona was more focused on the Roman history of the city than I'd expected it to be, but that was fine. It was very cool to wander around the largely underground complex, with the audioguide telling me about what each room was used for. The brickwork was surprisingly well maintained, and didn't look like it had been tampered with much. Speaking of audioguides, this was the first holiday I've taken where I've spent a lot of time (and a fair whack of cash when you add it all up) on the audioguides for places. Casa Batllo, La Pedrera & Sagrada Familia all use them, and I was happy to be educated as I walked around. As someone who always "reads the plaque", it suited me to just listen to someone tell me the history behind a certain area or object. It can throw off your pacing a little bit, though. I found myself moving faster than I was intending to, then cutting back to look at something again once the voice had stopped telling me about the room.
Once we left the museum, it really was a bit of a stressful afternoon. From a long and football-filled wait for (an admittedly satisfying) lunch to being fleeced by the grumpy Cagener selling guy and sweating like a pig to get to the train (just) on time, it was definitely one of the low moments of the trip. Fortunately, it didn't last long as we got onto the next train and after sitting in what I assumed were someone else's seats, we relaxed once the train set off for Girona. I took advantage of the time to play some Zelda, which Kara had become interested in on the trip. I think the combination of an N64 game (on my 3DS) and having some spare time with few distractions was the perfect set-up for Kara, so I happily let her play for a while.
The sound of our suitcase wheels rolling along cobbled streets and pavement was definitely one of the themes for the holiday, and while at first I was a bit embarrassed to be disturbing so many people with the noise, I was so glad that I didn't have to carry or drag it in the same way I had to in Italy. It was also bright blue and yellow, making it as conspicuous as hell, but it did help both of our AirBnB hosts find us, so I guess that's a positive! Once we'd met Laura and set up in the place, I was so relieved to discover that we had a comfortable place to stay that wasn't just somewhere to sleep and eat. With all its toys and doo-dads tastefully presented around the place, it felt like our home (which is absolutely full of toys and doo-dads. In the end, we did spend a lot of time just chilling out in Girona, which was exactly the change of pace that we needed.
The market in the Placa dei Indepencia was just our first experience of what Girona was going to show us during our time there. It felt like a farmers market, much like we have in Perth or Edinburgh, with local producers coming from nearby farms to sell their cheese, wine, cured meats etc. I spotted that some of them had some from France, which made sense as Girona is quite close to the border with France. I was already feeling guilty that our culinary experience in Spain was limited to "burgers and pizza" which was largely due to us not wanting to spend a bunch of cash on a meal we might not like, so it felt like buying local cheese, sausage and bread was a good way to dip a toe into the local cuisine. Even Kara said she'd try some of the Bufala cheese.
Judging from the line of tourists and locals outside Crepdeque?, it was a sure sign that we'd be visiting them for some after-dinner treats. The art of the crepe seems to be going strong in Girona, with many places offering sweet and savoury pancakes. Our flat had two creperies right outside it, and while I felt sorry for the other one, which was mostly empty, I felt pretty good when we tucked into our pudding. Flakes of coconut and nutella are a great combo!
In the next blog, my timing is a bit all over the place. Kara and I committed to vegging out, which included not keeping a journal as regularly as I did in Barcelona, so it's going to get a little bit all-over-the-place from here, but I will do my best to recap when it comes to it. Suffice to say that we love Girona and want to go back. Read the next blog to find out why!
Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Day 3: Sleeping Cats & Circling Sharks
We spend the day looking at wildlife, from a sleepy cheetah to happy looking stingrays and a sad white rhino.
Friday 28th October, 2016 - Barcelona's Old Town
So we started off today with a plan and it actually seemed to pay off. Despite getting out the door around 11, we got a full day of being stereotypical tourists and it was a great day!
I started with one of my new favourite pastries; a "Caracola" which resembles an ice cream cone with chocolate and sprinkles at the top. It is a great way to start the day with two types of chocolate!
A chocolate "Caracola" ie: part of a "nutritious" breakfast for me in Barcelona.
Kara was falling apart almost as soon as we started today, so we got the Barcelona Metro a couple of stops to reach the Zoo. It was an inauspicious start, as we took a wrong turn and ended up walking all the way around the Zoo itself. We saw some really good graffiti, as well as some that was bloody awful.
It was a bit strange to see political graffiti in English.
Some very cool artwork, with an almost polygonal style.
The Zoo in Barcelona is a very impressive arrangement of buildings, covered areas and enclosures, with a very diverse range of animals. As soon as we entered the Zoo, we spotted a bunch of Zebras, just hanging out, eating hay and poopin'. I immediately recalled that at Edinburgh Zoo, you have to climb a giant hill to get a glimpse at a Zebra. It only got better from then onwards, with a sea world - style show where Sealions performed tricks for bucket-loads of fish. We watched a Komodo Dragon sun itself, a brown bear snoozing, a sleeping tiger...ok so there was a lot of sleeping animals, but we also got to see an elephant get a grooming, a family of gorillas playing, orang-utans swinging around and a Chimpanzee couple having a very intimate grooming session while another ate its own poop. It was..."unpleasant". The range of animals we saw today must have rivalled the likes of San Diego. We even got to see a sad and lonely white rhino, which just made me wonder what it would be like to be a member of a species on the brink of extinction.
This komodo dragon was completely unfazed by our presence.
Not Pictured: Poop eatin' chimp.
The orangutans had 4 or 5 adorable adolescents and babies.
It was great to see a white rhino, but he looked so sad.
We also ate our worst meal of the holiday so far at the Zoo. They were able to screw up something as simple as a hot-dog and fries, but the worst bit about it all was the flocks of pigeons and pea-hens that milled around, making us nervous about what kind of animals had walked across the table or what was about to brush against my legs.
As we wandered around, we noticed that there were a bunch of families driving around in golf karts. We found out at the end of the visit that you could rent a kart to get around the whole Zoo. It's unfortunate that we hadn't considered this before, as it would have saved Kara a lot of walking. On the other hand, we were very happy to discover that Barcelona has the same system of fountains in public spaces that Italy had. It makes sense, as "Barcino" was an old Roman settlement, so it shares some cultural origins with the Italian cities that we visited in 2014. The Zoo was peppered with the small fountains, and I took full advantage.
I haven't seen elephants for years. It was nice to see the keepers looking after them, checking their feet for sores etc.
One of the zoo highlights had to be seeing the family of gorillas playing together. We stood and watched for 15 minutes.
After we finished up at the Zoo, we took a trip back to Port Vell, the quayside where the Barcelona Aquarium is located. We decided to make today all about Zoology, so we finished off the day with a trip to the Aquarium, which was in the midst of decorating for Halloween. Kara enjoyed the slightly mesmerising view of Sand Tiger Sharks and Stingrays lazily drifting around in their giant tank.After a day at the amazing Zoo, I was a little bit underwhelmed by the Aquarium, but it was still very cool to see.
This seahorse was the most amazing colour. It looked like it was electrified.
Obligatory tourist selfie by the massive tank, containing scores of sharks and rays.
Kara was very excited to see the sand tiger sharks as they patrolled their tank.
After a busy day on our feet, we walked back towards the old town, towards the restaurant I'd planned on going to yesterday for some top-notch Italian food. The name "Sports Bar" was a bit worrying, but I will overlook a bar's aesthetic if they have a proper wood-burning pizza oven.
"Sports Bar" do fantastic pizzas. Even the plain dough of the crusts was delicious on its own.
Fortunately, there was no football on the TV, and we were rewarded for our long walk with the best pizza I've had in a long time. From what I could tell, the place is owned by a family from Naples, and all the staff are native Italians. This gave me a chance to swap my non-existent Spanish for my conspicuously absent Italian. The pizza was a great combo of slightly burnt dough, wood fired and misshapen, with a light but flavoursome sauce that gave me a meal so tasty that I even ate Kara's crusts without a second thought. That means we've eaten great food every day since we arrived, and that makes me supremely happy. Tomorrow, the plan is to head North to Sagrada Familia, but it's the weekend, so God only knows what sort of crowds we'll be dealing with.
This was a great day for us. It was so exciting to see all the rare and exotic animals that live at Barcelona Zoo. We were a little bit dubious to hear about a "sea-lion show" given the "Seaworld" vibe the name had. I haven't seen Blackfish, but I would rather never be able to see an animal outside of documentaries than know that the animal is suffering just so I can see it through a pane of glass for five minutes. Because of this, Kara and I spent a bit of time googling to see what Barcelona Zoo's reputation was for this kind of stuff, and we were pleased to see that (like most modern western zoos) they take conservation and animal welfare very seriously, beyond the need to keep animals healthy for entertainment purposes. The sea-lions were very entertaining, performing tricks, diving into the water and moving so fast, it's incredible to think of how slow and lumbering they could be on land. Their trainer also had a pair of boxes, filled with small fish, that she used to treat the sea-lions when they'd performed well.
The layout of the Zoo was pretty good, too. A lot of the more "impressive" animals (sorry birds) were in the central area of the park, but there was always something cool to see, just around the corner. I think my personal highlight was the great apes. Seeing chimps, orangutans and gorillas was such a treat, as they behave in such a familiar way, and unlike many of the other animals in the park, they were active and interacting with each other, as opposed to sleeping!
The reptile house was also very cool, with snakes, turtles, caymans & even some small crocodiles to look at. There were some carp swimming around in with the crocodiles and I found myself thinking "they must be on constant lookout" because there was nothing between them and a hungry croc.
The Aquarium was good fun, but Kara was beginning to get quite sore and tired from all of the walking around. She hung around in the gift shop while I went to find the ticket kiosk and buy our way in. It was already getting fairly late by the time we got in, but it was still quite busy, especially as the staff were busy putting together some decidedly amateur but well considered halloween decorations, including a creepy corridor with a flickering TV showing static reminiscent of Poltergeist (which was the movie Kara and I had a late-night feast to the night we got married).
Of course, I end the journal by gushing about how much I enjoyed my pizza. The "Sports Bar" may have a very different vibe at a time when they're showing sports, but from what I could tell, their evening crowd is couples who want to drink wine (or in our case - fizzy juice) and eat amazing Italian food. The staff are lovely and friendly and the food is reasonably priced. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants Italian food in Barcelona.
Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Day 2: On The Buses
We get out and see Barcelona from the top deck of a bus. A reconnaissance mission, you could say!
Getting Our Bearings
Thursday 27th October, 2016 - 21:00 - Barcelona's Old Town
So today felt a bit more like a "holiday". We started the day at a respectable hour, waking up at 9 or so and getting some food before our first proper day of "adventure". I tried my best to have what I recalled was a "proper European breakfast". This basically means "bread, cheese, sausage and something with chocolate in it." Upon trying to warm up my pain au chocolat, I discovered that our oven doesn't bloody work! This somewhat diminishes the good feelings I had about our "home-base". It feels like this place with its 6 flights of stairs, bed on a stack of wooden pallets, broken oven and the smallest shower I've ever turned off with my back, may be a bit of a disappointment. That being said, it has air-con and wifi, so it's swings and roundabouts!
A curious pigeon, and the narrow streets criss-crossing the old town.
Our little roof-terrace.
We started today with a trip to a small bakery, so that Kara could eat a little "Tarte Poma" before we boarded the bus. We perched on a bench in Placa de Catalunya so that Kara could eat in comfort. I took in the open square with its many statues and pillars. Barcelona's open spaces often seem to be saturated with beautiful embellishments that make the most of the space and exist in a widely diverse range of styles. When we got to the bus stop to board the "Bus Turistic", we realised just how popular the service was going to be. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the front of the line, but once we were aboard, it was a very pleasant experience, as we cruised down Passeig de Gracia, the audioguide speaking about the incredible "Modernisme" inspired buildings, as well as the marvellous lamp-posts, which were designed by Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi's influence is undoubtedly prominent throughout the whole city. Our first bus trip took us along a street with many Gaudi-designed buildings and features, past his magnum opus; La Sagrada Familia, which is the biggest church I have ever seen. I am very much looking forward to seeing it in more detail, but I'm not sure what day that'll be.
A strange and upsetting tradition of throwing your tour headphone away.
Gaudi's Lamp-posts lining the Passeig de Gracia.
We finally stepped off the bus and ascended the hill to "Park Guell", originally designed by Gaudi as a residential area set amidst a British styled garden complex, the park is quite a striking feat. It's a maze of criss-crossing stone paths, set amidst palm trees, cacti and numerous other exotic plants. We didn't end up going into the Gaudi museum there, as we had started quite late and wanted to get as much done as possible while we had the bus ticket.
Gaudi's designs seem natural and unnatural at the same time.
Park Guell is as surreal in its design as any other Gaudi creation.
On the way down the hill, we stopped to get an ice-lolly. There are small stalls and cafes that sell these fantastic lollies, made from 100% fresh fruit juice. I had a multi-coloured lolly, made with kiwi and mango. The kiwi segment still had the black pips in it! Fresh fruit and veg seems to be a prominent part of the cuisine in Spain, with markets and stalls all over. I have read that the supermarkets are seen as an expensive alternative to eating fresh produce. This is something I'd love to see making it across to the UK.
We rejoined the bus tour after a short wander around Park Guell and continued on to "Monestir Pedralbes", but unfortunately it was closed for the afternoon. After a quick tour of the 14th century facade, we rejoined the bus tour and finished up at the bottom of the Barri Gothic, where we left to go and seek our dinner. We are most definitely still getting used to the schedule that Spanish shops and restaurants keep, especially when it comes to feeding time. Since we'd eaten out at a burger place yesterday, we had set out to eat at a place in the Barri Gothic. The place is somewhat ominously called "Sports Bar". Our timing was off by at least 2 hours, it seems, as we arrived at 5.30 and found the staff cleaning up in preparation for the late shift. We decided to take a wander around the old town for a while, and I was disappointed to find that it's often the same copy and paste design, with places selling tacky souvenirs, overpriced hippy clothing, shoes, belts and handbags.
After a somewhat disappointing ramble, we decided to stop at a bakery that had been calling to us for a while, called "Macxipa". According to the paper bag that the food came in, the company has been baking since 1903, and our experience suggested that they've put the time to good use. The food was very cheap compared to the other bakeries that we'd seen, and it's super tasty. I brought a chocolate croissant style pastry called a "Caracola" home for breakfast, and it's tough to resist it. I feel like it will become a frequent stop as it's virtually on our doorstep.
Kara's burger from "Little Bacoa". Her favourite burger of all time.
Kara didn't feel like walking to Sports Bar, so we decided to go to "Bacoa"; a burger bar that I had read loads of reviews for, and I was quite happy for a chance to compare it to La Central. We bought it and brought it back up to enjoy. We are 2 for 2 when it comes to tasty burgers! I can definitely recommend anywhere that makes a burger that Kara will finish without ketchup.
Tomorrow will possibly involve a trip to the Aquarium and one or more of the museums in the Barri Gothic. With any luck and a bit of planning, we'll have another exciting day and lots of great food.
Yes, yes. I know I talk about food a lot, but as someone who doesn't really drink, I find myself enjoying the simple things, instead of local wines and beers. The food in Barcelona is great, especially the burgers we had. It wasn't all good eatin' on this trip, but the first two times we went out for food were great. It really is a big deal for Kara to eat an entire burger sans ketchup, so we'd both really recommend Little Bacoa. La Central was still my top-pick from Barcelona, but that's enough talking about burgers for now.
The bus might be a stereotypically touristy thing to do, but Barcelona is a big city, spread out over a large area. The bus helped us realise where major streets meet, and how we were placed in relation to a lot of the places we'd planned to visit anyway. At 28 Euros for a ticket, it's not cheap, but if you're smarter than we were and get up early enough to make the most of your day ticket, you can take in a lot of sights without worrying about the time slipping away. I was quite sad to have missed out on seeing the Monestir Pedralbes, but the outer building was still gorgeous, and it was nice to have a little bit of peace and quiet at the edge of the city before we boarded the bus back in.
I'm glad we had the respite, because on our bus that took us around the hills, we had to share a confined space with a little English kid who was yelling questions back to his parents who were sat three rows behind us. At first it was kind of endearing, but it quickly became so irritating that I just wanted to get off the bus and wait for the next one!
This day was also our first experience of Gaudi's work, with a drive-by of Casa Batllo, La Pedrera, La Sagrada Familia and a trip to Park Guell. I was impressed by the surrealist visions that jumped out of his work, but this was just a taster of what was to come, later in the trip.
Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Day 1: Mucho Gusto Barcelona!
Kara and I set off on our anni-moon, or is it our honey-versary? Either way, we are excited to escape together for a while.
Pausing For Breath
So anyone who's read the last blog or has spoken to me in the last few months probably knows that the latter half of 2016 has been a real kick in the butt for me. I have been able to get a toe-hold on life by grabbing a job that I am still learning the ropes at, but beginning to enjoy. The downside being that I am only seeing Kara for around a day or so per week. This really sucks, but it meant so much to me (and hopefully Kara too) that we got time to escape things for a while. All the money that we had been putting aside for our trip the USA suddenly became our honeymoon/1st wedding anniversary fund, so we decided to book Barcelona and the small city of Girona in Catalonia as our destination.
Anyone who read my travel blog for Rome will be familiar with the format. I kept a journal of our time in Barcelona (and most of Girona) so I could put together a travel blog that was an accurate and timely representation of our time over there. I will post what I wrote at the time, then add some notes or thoughts that I had while I reflected on our time abroad.
Wednesday 26th October, 2016 22:00 - Barcelona's Old Town
"So we're on the road again! We've planned this trip months ago, and given the amount of stuff going on at home, I'm so pleased that I've had the chance to escape with Kara. Between feeling like the world is slipping away fro me as I hunt for a job and not being able to live with Kara, I've felt so out of my comfort zone that being away from home seems like the last thing I want to do. Fortunately, it seems that it's more important to be with Kara than in our own home, so I am looking forward to leaving my concerns behind as we explore Catalonia.
It was a super-early start this morning, but everything ran very smoothly, and after a taxi, train and tram; we were at Wetherspoons, eating a big breakfast in preparation for a day of travel. We flew out with Norwegian Airlines, who had a plane at about 35% capacity. This left Kara and I with a row to ourselves, and we were also given the "emergency exit" row, meaning that I had the space to stretch out, lean my chair back and play Ocarina of Time on my 3DS. I doubt I'll ever have such a comfortable and relaxing plane ride ever again, unless I become a millionaire or we get bumped up into first class. I was playing my game all the way up until the wheels touched tarmac!
Barcelona was pretty grey when we touched down, and I got the feeling that we'd be dealing with moderate heat and high humidity. It actually feels like a cloudy summer's day in Edinburgh. I feel clammy (what else is new?) and I'm not even getting the benefit of some sunshine. But it's us! We don't travel for the weather anyway, we like spending our time in nice restaurants, museums, galleries and cool pieces of architecture. Today has been a little bit slow in terms of excitement and exploration, but unlike our first day in Rome, we have eaten and we have food in the flat. I'll take a slow first day with food over a tumultuous welcome to a city on an empty stomach. Of course, the holiday tradition of carrying the suitcase everywhere is being honoured, but at least we have a "home-base" that's a bit closer to the city centre than we did in Rome!
We got the train from the airport to the middle of the city; a stop called "Passeig de Gracia". As soon as we stepped out of the station, we spotted one of the many Gaudi buildings; "Casa Batllo". We didn't get a great look at it, as we wanted to meet our host, Rosa. We had a short walk along the busy streets of Barcelona and were happy to see that despite the suitcases, we weren't the most obvious tourists! The number of overweight Americans with "sport team" t-shirts was surprising, but it was great to feel just a little bit less like the big fat "gringo" that I am.
Palau de la Musica Catalana
Palau de la Musica Catalana
We met Rosa by another architectural hot-spot; the "Palau de la Musica Catalana". I hope to get a better look at it later, when I'm not heaving luggage around. Rosa seems to be super-friendly, talking about the local area's attractions, complimenting my (piss-poor) Spanish and apologising for her English. This is a theme we found in Italy too, with us being apologised to for not speaking the local language. It mostly just makes me feel guilty for not being a font of Spanish-speaking knowledge. Kara has delegated all social interaction to me, which is actually something I thought she might start trying to do while we were just hanging out in the UK!
With our "home-base" established, we took stock of our surroundings. I had to recover from hauling our 18kg suitcase up 6 flights of stairs in the narrowest old stairwell imaginable. With a quick refresh, we headed out to find a market and a place to eat. Of course, the market closed twenty minutes before we arrived, so we went on a mission to feed ourselves. We ended up at a burger place called "La Central", where the staff and the menus are bilingual. Holy cow, the burgers are good! Kara got a bit of chicken so big that it was bigger than the bun! I get the feeling we'll be visiting there again. It's nice to have a bit of a budget for this trip, as it means we can have nice meals. Unfortunately, the € is now almost at parity with the £, making everything seem hella' 'spensive. Still, it's our "anni-moon", so we've got license to spoil ourselves.
La Central's burgers were the business.
Tonight, we are just chilling out. I am writing while Kara draws and Netflix is on. There's a surprising amount of English content in Spanish Netflix. With any luck, we'll be catching the "Bus Turistic" in the morning, giving us a good view of Barcelona and inspiring our travels over the next couple of days."
Reading it back, it's comforting to know how comfortable Kara and I are with just a peaceful night in, having seen a little bit of the neighbourhood and getting excited for what the next few days will bring. I only briefly allude to it in my journal, but the building we were staying in was renovated/rebuilt in the late 1700s, so our flat was at the very top floor of the skinniest stairwell. It was like an old castle's stairwell, winding round and round with barely any room to swing...well...I didn't need to swing a blade on this trip, but I did have to lug a giant suitcase up the steps. The stairs were so narrow that I actually felt a bit dizzy after coming down them at speed, as it felt like I'd been spinning around so fast. Having our location be so central was great of course, and despite the group of "youths" that hung around at the junction beside our "close" door, I was convinced that nobody was making that climb to rob someone.
I know I've been dwelling on it a lot recently, but my head was still a little bit all over the place for most of the trip, but I found the experience of being with my lovely wife in a pair of beautiful cities suitably distracting and comforting, enough to let me enjoy myself. Don't worry, this isn't a downer of a holiday.
Also, given how heavy the focus on gluten-free dining was in my Rome journals, the eagle-eyed among you will notice that Kara is back on gluten. Our eating habits become more of an issue later on, but at least we knew that in a pinch, we'd be able to get Kara burgers and pizzas if needed.