We are still in Spain, but now in Catalunya! You may have heard the slogan - “You’re NOT in Spain - You’re in CATALUNYA!” We will find out today when the President of Catalunya announces his intentions to stay or separate!
After we left our travel colleagues in Madrid, we rented a large 7 passenger van, which was one way to get us and our luggage from Madrid to Barcelona!
We could have taken the fast train, but that would not afford us the luxury of driving by the seaside!
The drive to Barcelona was uneventful. It was when we entered the city that things got interesting! I mentioned the narrow alleys above. Well, our hotel was on a street that most readers would only consider a walkway. Trying to get a 7 passenger van around was interesting to say the least! We were continually cut off by motorcycles, which was disconcerting at first, but situation normal after awhile.
We tried to get to our hotel for over an hour, but every time we got close, google maps kept changing the direction to the hotel. We finally gave up trying and tried rushing to the car rental place before it closed - no luck there either! We contemplated trying to go to the hotel again, but Sonya vetoed that with a strong expletive! We made it to the Sants railway station well after dark and dropped off the van. A reasonably short taxi ride later, we understood why we could not find our hotel. It was on a street only accessible by taxi or delivery truck!
Next time, take the fast train!!
But - it turned out to be a quaint historic hotel - well worth the harrowing experience getting there.
The next day we jumped aboard the hop-on hop-off bus tour to orient ourselves to the city.
We drove by all of the major attractions in the city and soon figured out that we had driven around and around them all night before trying to find the hotel.
First stop was the Casa Batllo, the home of renowned architect Antoni Gaudi, most well known for the design of the Sagrada Familia Basillica (more later).
Casa Batllo is one of the strangest houses in Europe - Gaudi at his hallucinatory best. Locals know it as the house of bones or the house of the dragon (for its rooftop dragon). Even the balconies look like the jaws of some bony beast - you be the judge!
Next was the indescribable Sagrada Familia. No amount of pictures can do this place justice, but we have a few to give you some idea.
Here we are making a tight descent through the Nativity tower.
With his all consuming obsession, Gaudi saw the completion of the edifice as his holy mission.
It began construction in 1883 and has been under construction ever since. Gaudi knew that his dream would take several generations, as he is quoted as saying, “Don’t worry, my client (God) is in no rush, he has all the time in the world.”
The present estimate for completion is 2026, 100 years after Gaudi’s untimely death as a result of being struck by a tram car.
Our next foray was a day trip off to Montserrat, a dramatic mountain top monastery about an hour out of town. It is considered Catalunya’s most important pilgrimage site for the last 1,000 years.
The black Madonna that is in the monastery is reputed to have been found in a cave near by. The priests that found it, planned to bring it back to Barcelona, so they packed it carefully and started the trek back. As they were walking with the statue, it became heavier and heavier, to the point that it was too difficult to carry. The priests determined that this was a sign that the Madonna wanted the Statue to remain on the mountain, so they built a monastery and church at the site where the statue is now situated.
The statue has apparently darkened over the years (hence the Black Madonna) due to the varnish used and being touched by so many pilgrims. The day we were there, there was a long line up (over an hour) to touch the Madonna, a procession that continued through the morning until the boys choir started to sing.
One of the star attractions of the Monastery is the boys choir. The boys are aged 8 - 11, and they sing in prayer to the Madonna every day for 10 minutes at 1 pm. Get there early though! We went into the Basilica at 12:25 pm and we were lucky to get the last few seats in the pews, very near the rear of the church.
The voices have an angelic quality to them, and we were sad that we could only hear them for 10 minutes, but definitely worth the wait.
The next day was Monday - the international wash day, or so it seems.
As with other cities and countries, wash day is Monday. We are told that Monday was designated as wash day, as the burning of garbage was banned on Monday in order not to have the soot and the smell of burning garbage infused into the wash as it hangs out to dry!
We were off to La Boqueria market, a historic market that has been there since 1217, and locals continue to come here to shop. It is a cornucopia of sights, smells and sounds that comes close to overwhelming the senses. Here you can buy avocados for as little as 1.99 euros per kilo, or Iberian ham for 220.00 euros (C$ 330) per kilo! Sorry Steve, sorry Jeff, no Iberian ham coming back to Canada for either of you!
Now that’s a knife!
Dianna and Sonya both did buy authentic Spanish Saffron so that they can make, among other things, Paella!!!
Next we were off to to the aquarium, with its 80 meter shark tunnel, one of Europe’s largest aquariums.
Even old kids like us were delighted with the experience of sharks gliding above us as we walked through. The aquarium has a collection of 11,000 fish, 450 species from as far as the Red Sea, the Caribbean and the Great Barrier Reef.
The last two days were devoted to shopping - Gord and I could not hold them off any longer.
Here Gord and I are in the men’s section of the shopping area, holding up the ancient walls as the women did their damage to the bank balance!
That evening, five bomberos (fire trucks) and an armoured vehicle went whizzing past us on La Rambla. Huh, what’s up, we wonder?? The next morning, we were greeted by three police officers outside our hotel with machine guns!
Now we really wonder what is up!
Later that evening, Gord and Dianna were fascinated by the flying light flares, as they were shot 50 feet into the air and then gently helicoptered down to the open hands of the seller. Dianna bartered 4 of these for 10 euros for her grandchildren (sorry for the spoiler), then proceeded to buy another 6 from another vendor. He was emphatic that she bought 4 for 10 euros and the others were a gift, as he did not want to be known to sell these too cheaply!!
Having purchased so many of these, Gord thought it a good idea to get some lessons on how to properly launch them into the air.
We happened upon a Spanish Guitar concert in an intimate little chapel in the Santa Anna church. This church is a 12th century gem that used to be part of a convent.
The two guitarists were very talented and delightful.
They finished their concert with a wonderful song for a 4-handed guitar, as shown here.
They even came out to chat with us after the performance - where we learned they had been to Detroit, Germany, England but not Canada (yet). She kept shivering at the thought of visiting Canada - “so cold”!
What a wonderful way to end our visit to Spain.
And so we say Bye Bye Barcelona, and adios to Spain as we get ready to jump on our plane to Amsterdam and then to Edmonton!
It has been a great trip - we put on countless kilometers traveling by Bus and by car, we walked more than 146 kilometers over three weeks according to Dianna’s Fitbit and iPhone.
Update - Sounds like we may spend the night in Amsterdam as French air traffic controllers are on strike and we need to fly through French air space! They are providing specific time slots and ours is late! (Oh no Gord, perhaps one more museum or church in Amsterdam!!). P.S. We made the plane with 7 minutes to spare!!
Vaya con Dios!
Dianna, Gord, Sonya & Paul
