Barcelona, ES (part 1)

Day 1:  Our train from Sevilla departed at a relatively early time of 9AM, and cruised through increasingly greener and more interesting landscape as we made our way east. Apparently our route took us north as well, through Madrid, but we didn’t even notice. It was a high-speed express train, so we spent most of our time cruising at just slightly less than 300km/h, and had only a few stops. The supplement charge for first class on this train was something like a hundred bucks, so we opted for tourist class instead. Our surrepititious inspection of the first class car showed that it was a wise decision, since there was not much difference between the two – unlike our overnight train, in which first class had sleeper cabins and a dining car, and our tourist class seats were basically airplane style.

We reached Barcelona in the early afternoon and immediately stopped by the tourist info desk, since we had not prepared any accomodation prior to our arrival. The girl at the desk made some quick inquiries and found that the cheapest hostel room with ensuite washroom was 80€. She did another check for hotels, and found one on the edge of the popular downtown Las Ramblas community for 65€. Needless to say, we took the hotel room.

After checking in we departed for a quick look around town, and walked through the Las Ramblas boulevard, lined with restaurants and market-style kiosks, all the way down to the marina. One is immediately struck by how many interesting buildings there are here, and when looking at the map, which shows a rigidly grid-bound layout, I was surprised at how the numerous squares and parks cleverly disguise this tightly ordered arrangement.

On our way back north we stopped by a point on our map marked as “La Catedral”, which Christina had assumed was the Gaudi Cathedral. Like her intended destination, this building was still under construction (or renovation), so sort of looked the part, but she was crushingly dissapointed to see that it was a very regular cathedral, in every way. We took a closer look at the map, and found “Sagrada Familia”, which is the proper name for Gaudi’s Cathedral, quite some distance away, so we committed to checking it out later. We made our way back to our hotel for a siesta through a fun mix of broad, open shopping areas, and tight little alleyways with buildings so close on either side that a two people standing on opposing balconies could shake hands.

In the evening we had dinner at Centfoc, after taking a walk around some of the nearby blocks and evaluating a number of menus. Centfoc had a few interesting dishes, all at surprisingly low prices, so we thought it was worth a shot. Christina had a grilled chicken and blue-cheese sauce dish, and I had veal and mushroom stew. Both were quite excellent, and together with an appetizer, bottle of wine, and dessert, our bill came in at just over 30E. Not exactly a “budget” meal, but for fine dining (and fine dining in Europe no less) that’s quite a good price.

Day 2:  Our mission for the day was to walk to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, quite on the other side of downtown.

I was fascinated by the scale of the project, in progress for nearly two hundred years already, which seems to exceed the ambitions of any similarly recent construction projects that I’m aware of. We spent the morning walking over, with a quick stop at Starbucks, both for the coffee and for the included internet access. Because the buildings and trees somewhat obscure the view, our approach from the south did not give away any hints, so when we arrived the building looked truly huge, with towers and spires that loom well above the surrounding neighbourhoods.

We got some shots (from across the street, since to get the whole thing in one picture you’ve got to stand waaay back), then got in line for the entrance. It was a bad time to go, apparently, because we waited in line for over an hour. The interior is of a modern design, and uses many stylized references from nature, a practice which Gaudi is well known for (usages in his most popular designs were showcased in a side room above the museum). I probably took a hundred shots of stained glass, and tree-shaped columns, while Christina was a little more discriminating with her camera’s memory. She was much more pleased with this building and had commented that the inside of the church looked much more modern and contemporary as opposed to the outside. We also had varying opinions on which side of the cathedral we preferred. She liked the old, realistic sculptures of the nativity scene on the east facing side, where I prefered the bible passage representations on the west facing side.

Once we were done with the cathedral, we had our fill we went to a turkish restaurant located on the nearby Gaudi Avenue, for a delicious and cheap lunch. By this time we were ready for a siesta, and took the metro back to our neighbourhood for a rest.

In the evening we went for a walk through the Born area, well known for its gastronomic offerings, and settled on Little Italy Ristorante, as the name suggests, an italian restaurant which on this night featured live jazz. I had a canneloni, Christina had the pesto penne, and we both had a good time listening to the music from the front row table that we had arrived early enough to procure.

(Continued)