Barcelona, Spain (Part 2 of 2)

I've got a 10:00 AM ticket for a guided tour of what is called the Monumental Zone of Park Guell

The park is easily walkable from my hostel but I have come to learn that I'm absolutely directionally challenged even when using Google Maps.  Not to mention that it's walking all up hill!  Therefore, I walk up the street 5 blocks and get on the bus which drops me off right in front of the meeting spot for the tour.  Can't get any easier than that.

The Diagonal

Unfortunately it's a fricken hot day today.  It's 32 C. with 78% humidity.  It's already frustratingly too hot for me and I've only just started my day!

I like this tour.  We all get bluetooth-like earpieces which is so much better than holding an old-fashioned walkie-talkie thing around your neck.  There are about 15 of us on the tour and it lasts one hour all the while the tour guide is trying her best to stop  only in shaded areas and she comments that there isn't a cloud in the sky and it'll get a lot hotter as the day goes on.

Park Guell is a public park that is free to visit but if you want to go in to the Monumental Zone then a ticket purchase is required.  It was only about $12 or $14 and I thought worthwhile.  The premise of this interior zone is that it was where, in 1885, Gaudí's patron, the industrialist Eusebi Güell, acquired the terrain on a mountain ridge, with a fantastic view of Barcelona. In 1890 Güell instructed the architect Antoni Gaudí to build a garden city, in which nature and housing would co-exist.  The grand plan was to build a "subdivision" (as we would now refer to it) of 600 homes overlooking Barcelona.  Three homes were built and that is as far as this plan got off the ground.  It seems that it was just too far away from the city back in the days of horse and carriage.

Looking out over Barcelona from Park Guell
 (the ocean is off in the distance but you can't see it for the haze).

This is a pillar holding up the ledge/"balcony" above it. 
See below photo for the overall structure that this pillar is holding up

Due to the extreme heat and humidity I don't spend more than 90 minutes at the park and I don't actually see any of the park at all with the exception of this Monumental Zone.

I decide to walk leisurely back to my hostel (seeing as it's all downhill).  It's Sunday and the streets are very quiet. I pass by a few plazas where people are sitting, drinking and eating, a few shops are open but the vast majority of shops are shuttered.  

Quiet streets of Barcelona on a Sunday afternoon

It's so weird to be in a country that is not focused on consumerism and non-stop shopping 24/7.

I relax a bit in the lounge of my hostel and chat with Daniel from Germany.  He plants the seed in my mind of doing a Hop-on Hop-off tour.  Hmmm... might be a plan for tomorrow.

I'd better do some laundry.  The hostel has a washer and dryer but I've heard mixed reviews.  A wash is 3 Euros and a dry, well my roomie dried her clothes for 6 Euros and they came out damp.  The laundry is a very popular room at the hostel.  There's often 2-3 people waiting for the machines.  One night when I was walking back to my hostel I noticed a "La Wash" kitty-corner to the hostel.  It has only 4 washers and 3 driers and is completely self-serve as no one works in this tiny hole-in-the-wall.    Laundrymat

Laundromat & vicinity

It ends up being a very expensive load of laundry.  4 Euros to wash and 2 Euros for 15 minutes of drying (4 Euros does the job), so for $13.50 Cdn I have clean clothes!  

I go for dinner just down the street to a Mexican burrito place that I had heard chatter about in the hostel.  The great thing about hostels is you can pretty much find out where to eat simply from overhearing conversations or asking others.  

After dinner I go walking (and get super lost) back in the direction of  La Sagrada Familia so I can take some more photos in the evening light. Sunday night walking down what is known as "the Diagonal" (because it's a street that runs diagonally through Barcelona) is interesting.  Lots and lots of family out sitting on benches, kids playing in the little parks scattered on every block.  I get it now.  Because they all live in apartments this is their "backyard" so to speak.  It's where they go to catch up with their neighbors, let their kids play, and just get out of the house.

La Sagrada Familia doesn't disappoint.  Even more beautiful in the evening light than it was in the morning.  So glad I went back.  I get lost trying to find my way back to my hostel.  I circle La Sagrada Familia a few times trying to get my bearings.  Told you I'm a failure at Google Maps.

I have to check out of my room this morning and move to a co-ed room.  That's what happens when I decided to add an extra night to Barcelona months ago but all the female only rooms were already spoken for.  I had been checking daily for cancellations with the hope I can stay in my current room but no such thing.  I pack up my stuff and check it in to the locked room by the reception desk.  I can't check into my new room until 3:00 PM.  

I decide to do a Hop On Hop Off bus tour.  It's my last day in Barcelona and I really don't know what else to do so it's a way to pass the day.  It's possible to purchase tickets directly from the driver at any stop.  30 Euros for a one-day pass that goes on three different routes.  

As it ends up, the weather is decent. Not a scorcher, it's gray and cloudy and it actually spits rain for a bit.  Not enough to make any of us move from the top deck of the uncovered bus.  Here's some sights from the tour.

Montjuic.
All cordoned off for the huge fireworks show tomorrow night.

Montjuic

Fountains and gardens at Montjuic

Subway entrance

Beautiful mosaic benches throughout the city

The tour being over I head back to my hostel, check in to my new room and go to the lounge for a bit of relaxation before dinner.  There is a French family with three young girls I would estimate to be aged 3, 4, and 6.  It's the cutest thing (I would never take a photo of them without permission).  The girls were obviously freshly showered, their hair still wet.  They all had on knee socks, no shoes and were sitting side-by-side on the lounge covered in a pink fuzzy blanket watching a Disney show. Quiet as mice they were.  Sooo cute. 

Lounge of the hostel.

My new roommates  in my new room are two guys from Brazil.  Very nice men.  They are relaxing on their beds and tell me about the Swiss "Pig" (their word), who is in the other bunk.  His stuff was spread all over the place so the woman who just checked out of this room so I could have it - she took all this stuff and threw it in a big pile in the corner.  I kid you not, it was a mountain of stuff.  His suitcase had literally exploded and was opened up with stuff pouring out of it.  Apparently he had a penchant for putting his stuff on her bed and she would put him in his place.

I've heard some talk in the hostel of a really good tapas place just down the street.  As has become my custom here, I always do a Google review before I eat at most places.  This place comes well reviewed Le Pepita

I'm there right at 8:00 PM and it's already lined up to get inside.  It's a small place and jam-packed.  I get a seat at the bar.  I order a glass of wine and some tapas:

Shrimp croquettes and Tuna Pepita.  It was sooo delicious.

The Floridian couple seated to my right were very friendly and chatted me up for a long while.  He was here on a conference and his wife came along for a vacation.  They have been to Spain multiple times and it's a place they keep coming back to over and over again as they are turned off of Mexico (Los Cabos) due to the violence.

Eventually, the two women seated to my left wanted to strike up a conversation when they overheard I am from Vancouver.  I have found that in Europe, moreso than in Asia, that once people know you are from Vancouver they become very friendly.  It makes me proud to come from such a beautiful city that everyone has heard of and either has been there or wants to go there.  As it turns out, one of the women is also a Floridian.  However, her husband has a EU passport and she basically lives in Spain most of the year. Her adult kids are dual-citizens and live in Spain.   She tells me about the neighbourhood and how much she loves Spain, its people and the lifestyle.  She told me of a huge protest that happened just a couple of weeks ago (if you see the Yellow ribbons in some of my photos - that shows support for the protest - it has nothing to do with Cancer).  So she tells me that 10's of thousands of people took to the streets and for 15 minutes straight they were clanging spoons against the railings of their windows and balconies.  She said the sound was really something.  She added that it was so peaceful, no police letting it get to their heads and becoming all authoritarian with the people.  These two ladies finish their meal and leave.

At the end of the bar to my left are two Spanish women.  Obviously they've overheard my conversations as one says to me "Come sit over here with us", and I say "pardon me", she repeats herself and says "you can come out with us".    I reply that it is very nice of them to invite me but I am not going out. She says "You can't go out".  I say "I can go out but I am not going out".  This conversation would NEVER happen in Vancouver.  So cool.

I finish up my wine, pay my bill and go back to the hostel.  I have to be up early in the morning to be on the 8:30 AM train to Cordoba.

My Brazillian roomies have gone out.  The place stinks of aftershave and bodycare products.  Holy fricken toledo!  I'm not impressed.  Can't open the window of the hostel (in the late afternoon they lock them shut for some reason).  It stinks so bad that I have to sleep with my folded towel over my face the entire night.  The smell never does dissipate by the time I get up at 6:45 AM to check out.

Next stop Cordoba, Spain.

Barcelona, Spain (Part 1 of 2)

I've got a 7:20 AM train out of San Sebastian. I depart from a different train station (Renfe) than the one I came in on (Eukostren).  Just to alleviate any stress this morning, I took a walk yesterday, after the long leisurely lunch, to find the train station.  It's only a 15-minute walk from the hostel.

I barely slept this last night in San Sebastian... waking almost every hour afraid I would oversleep.  I am up at about 5:45 AM and try my best to be quiet and get ready with only the light of my little flashlight (thanks to my friend Keith who sent it to me and now that flashlight has traveled the world with me a few times!) so as not to wake my 5 roomies. 

Packing up the last bits and pieces by flashlight I realize, once I unzip my suitcase in Barcelona, that I left my full-sized microfibre, quick-drying bath towel hanging on the hook in San Sebastian.  That sucks!  Now renting a slow drying terry towel from the hostel for 2 Euros.

I bought my train ticket on line from home so don't need to do anything except to wait for the control area doors to open at the Renfe station.  When they do, my ticket is scanned and I am told that my train will depart from line #2.  I splurged (not really as it wasn't a lot more $$), on a first-class "Preferente" ticket.  In hindsight it was probably a waste of money as I'm on an old beater of a train.  No Wifi, and I only found the plug-ins when I saw one woman pointing out the whereabouts of the plug in to another passenger (it was hidden underneath the seat my butt was sitting on!).  The SNCF train from Paris to Hendaye was definitely superior to the Renfe train.  I bought a croissant with ham & cheese from the train station.  It was very good and only a few Euros.  So far I've been really lucky with the train station food as it's been good value for the dollar and tastes good.

The scenery in Spain isn't as beautiful as what I saw in France. I didn't see any landscape or buildings that impressed me.

I doze for a bit, go to the "cafeteria" car and buy a "coffee" for 2 Euros which in actual fact is an espresso.

The  older Aussie woman seated in front of me decides this would be a good time for her to polish her nails.  I kid you not!  The stench is pissing me off so I move across the aisle and up about six rows.  When I think surely she should be done with her manicure I head back to my seat but she's only at the point of putting on the top coat.  I mean really!  You're on freaking vacation.  Treat yourself and go to a salon.  Why in the hell any person would think public transportation would be an appropriate place to pull out the nail polish is beyond me but human beings never cease to amaze and surprise me with their thoughtless actions.  Given her age, I'm holding her to much higher standards than a 20-something.  This old woman should definitely know better!

Barcelona Sants train station is massive.  Holy cow!  I'm overwhelmed. When you buy a Renfe long distance train ticket, it includes a complimentary local train ticket to your destination in that city.  I have printed the instructions.  I exit the terminal and ask a young man where do I find the L5 line.  He sends me back inside the station. I find the line but my train ticket won't work.  I flag down an employee.  He doesn't speak any English but I understand him enough to know that my Renfe ticket will not work and that I need to buy a ticket for the L5 train.  From things I read on line, I know to buy the T10 ticket for 10.20 Euros.  This single ticket is good for 10 trips within Barcelona.  I know I'll use most of it while I'm here so I buy the ticket and get through the turnstile.  I get on the L5 and it is jam-packed.  It looks very much like Vancouver's skytrain but with much less seating.  On each side where you sit sideways, there are only 4 seats.  I show a passenger where I want to go and they ask their friend, who asks another friend who speaks English and she tells me it's the end of the line.  I continue to analyze my printed instructions and looking at the map of the train stations.  About 3 or 4 stops from Barcelona Sants, as the train doors are already open, I realize that I am in fact at the stop I need:  Verdaguer.  I quickly jump off the train and move to the side to sort myself out and double check my directions.  In hindsight, I'm guessing the "free" Renfe train ticket would have taken me way out of my way and then eventually would have taken me to the Vergaguer stop.  I exit the station and lug my luggage up two flights of stairs.  I'm not sure which way I need to go.  I ask a lady on the street and she points me in the direction.  My hostel is only about a 2 blocks walk away.  Thank goodness!

I check into my hostel.  It's huge!  Six floors!  A swimming pool up on the roof and lots of activities going on.  Breakfast for 3 Euros.

I am in a 4-woman shared room.  My room key is an actual bracelet that you wear.  It's looks funky and you can shower with it on and never need to take it off until you check out.  You just hold your wrist to the door and it unlocks.  I lock all my stuff away - my locker is underneath my bed and it is so huge that I just pick up my entire suitcase and put it inside the drawer along with my day pack.  Other hostels could learn from this set-up.  It's fantastic.

My bed @ Yeah Barcelona Hostel

The hostel gives me a fantastic map and circles for me all the "must see" sights.  I decide to walk to the famous La Boqueria market and am told it's about a 25-minute walk.  Well perhaps if you know where you're going but it took me about 45 minutes.  The thing with Barcelona is it's hard to find any street signs.  The street signs are actually small plaques the size of a dinner plate found on the corners of SOME buildings.  Plenty of streets / intersections don't have any signage at all.  It's really not well thought out in that regard.  Oh, and it's flipping hot today too.  It's around 30 C. and way too hot for my liking.

Street sign on the side of a building

I finally find the market and ask someone if I'm at La Boqueria because the sign actually says St. Josefs...  she tells me that's what it says but it's also known as La Boqueria.  Lots of stalls are closed.  It's just got a weird vibe to the place.  I wander up and down the aisles and am underwhelmed really.  It reminded me of Vancouver's Granville Island in a way but multiply it in size.  I buy a coconut/mango juice for 1.50 Euros.  It's delicious.  There's lots of stalls selling hamon, lots of fruit and juice stalls.

There's also a couple of "bar" type restaurants. They appear to be very popular so I Google and realize the one place has very good reviews. It serves strictly seafood and there isn't a spare seat to be had.   I circle a few times and finally find a stool.  I order the hake fish for 15 Euros (because the hake fish at the Michelen Star restaurant was so delicious).  It was an average meal, the veggies over cooked and drenched in oil.

Grilled Hake Fish

There's not much here of interest to me so I leave the market.  Kind of a wasted trip, in my opinion.  It's already after 6:00 PM and I'm not sure what time it'll get dark but I want to be back at the hostel before darkness.  I head back the way I came, popping in and out of shops that peak my interest.

I walk back along a different route... much nicer than the "diagonal" route I initially took.   I come across a place selling churros and chocolate.  I had seen that phenomenon on YouTube.  I had to try.  OMG... so scrumptious.

I relax in the lounge of the hostel for a bit and am in bed shortly after 10:00 PM.

On Thursday, my first full day in Barcelona, I pay 3 Euros for the breakfast at the hostel.  It's fairly adequate.  Cold cereals, yogurt, make your own pancakes and lots of bread, cheese and ham, coffee, tea and juices.  Breakfast is served from 8:00 AM - 10:30 AM.  My roommate Valeria joins me.  The hostel offers daily tours, payment is however much of a tip you feel it's worth.  Today they're touring the Gothic Quarter which I had heard about previously so I am going to do this tour which is about 2.5 hours in length.  Valeria decides to join in and then our other roommate Gabby joins in too.

I think there are about 15 of us from the hostel on this tour.  We head out and take a train from Verdaguer station and go only about 2 or 3 stops.  It's a bit of a maze underground and I'm glad that I'm not attempting this navigation on my own.  We exit right at the Gothic Quarter.  The tour is very informative and I enjoy it - again glad that I'm not doing this on my own.  Having a guide explain the sights to you is really the best way see a city, in my opinion.

I've seen quite a bit of these displays of opinions around Barcelona

Our guide Alberto explaining the meaning of the symbols on the plaque

These figurines show us that no matter who you are we all shit the same.

Look at the size of those meringues

The tour ends in the Gothic Quarter and our guide Alberto gives us the Coles Notes of which direction various popular destinations are.  Valeria, Gabby and I are going to the Santa Caterina Market for lunch.  Gabby guides us with her Google Maps and we decide to share some seafood dishes. We chip in 11 Euros each for 3 dishes:  calamari, mussels, and cuttle fish.  Never had cuttle fish before.  It was very thick and dense and pretty good.

Cuttle Fish

My hostel mates:  Valeria(L) and Gabby (R)

Once lunch is done, we three go our separate ways.  I want to go to the Picasso Museum because it's only a block or so away from where we are having lunch and it's free admission on Thursdays after 3:00 PM.  As it ends up, it's not free until 6:00 PM and I'm not a fan of Picasso necessarily so decide to forget about it.  I window shop along the way back to the hostel and find a leather shop and buy myself a new handbag for what I think is a decent price.

Gabby and Valeria want to go out tonight and invite me along.  Nothing too outrageous, just casual drinks.  Initially I say I'll go but later on once I'm back at the hostel, I change my mind.  The hostel is cooking Paella for dinner tonight.  For 12 Euros you get food, sangria/beer, dessert  for two hours.  I really want to try Paella so decide to stay at the hostel instead.

Eventually, none of us end up going out. Valeria joins me for the dinner and drink, and Gabby stops by too.

Paella

After dinner, the hostel host starts some drinking games getting people geared up for hitting up the nightclubs of Barcelona.  I have no intentions of partaking in any of that stuff but it's fun to watch the younger ones getting into the mood of it.

The next day I am up by my alarm as I need to be at Sagrada Familia for 9:00 AM for the timed entry ticket I purchased from home.  By sheer luck, the hostel is only 7 blocks from this icon.  I got up way too early as I didn't realize breakfast wasn't served until 8:00 AM.  Not even any coffee until that time.  Not impressed!  Not all of us who stay here party to the wee hours of the morning and sleep in.  At least coffee should be on even if the food isn't.

Both of my roomies left this morning.  We were only 3 people yesterday and last night, the 4th bed remained empty.

It takes 15 minutes to walk to Sagrada Familia.  I took this little video along the way because I love these scooters.  They're all over Spain. What a great way to quickly get from one place to another.

Notice that I've finally figured out how to insert a video directly instead of inserting a link?  I like this so much better.

How appropriate that as I approach Sagrada Familia church bells start to ring.

The sun was so bright that my photos don't do it justice.  I hope to get back there one evening just to take photos of the exterior.

The interior is very beautiful.  Photos really don't portray the enormity of it.

Look at how the sunlight reflects off the pipes of the organ.
Every window is placed so thoughtfully so as to allow the sunlight to bounce off the interior structure

I had planned to go to Montserrat tomorrow but talked to a guy here at the hostel who went there today.  He was underwhelmed with it.  Spent an hour on the train to get there and spent only two hours at Montserrat.  He's from Wisconsin where it's flat and he said he wanted to see the mountains but if he wasn't impressed then I think I'll skip it and find something else to do tomorrow.

It rained a little bit here late this afternoon.  What a nice reprieve for me!  First rain I've seen since Vancouver.

The hostel tour leaves the hostel at 10:30 AM daily.  I know they're going to the Gothic Quarter today so I take the opportunity to tag along part of the way so that I don't have to try to figure out the Metro.  Alberto is leading the tour again.  Such a sweet and friendly man.  He's the perfect host.  We board the train at Verdaguer station and get off at Jaume I station.  The group takes a right towards the Gothic Quarter and Alberto tells me to go left and straight down and I will hit Parc de la Ciutadella.  Not really sure why I'm going to the park - it's recommended by the hostel - but I don't know why.  First impression is I am not impressed by the sand/gravel pathways.  I find a bench in the shade and watch some guys setting up a little area which I presume might be for their own private little picnic/party area.

Parc de la Ciutadella

I just happen to be in Barcelona during La Merce which is the largest festival of the year in Barcelona.  Parc de la Ciutadella is busy and it seems to get busier with each passing minute.  So many people coming into the park.  I do a Google search to see if I can find a map of the park.  There's a lake so I head in that direction.

Food trucks are setting up and alcohol is being sold too.  No need for "beer gardens" per se as it's permissible to drink at any of the many tables and chairs set up for the event.

Quinoa burger and potato chips

The Quinoa Burger wasn't anything to write home about.  Not the texture I was expecting at all.  Almost tasted "raw" as if it hadn't been cooked to any extent.  The texture was actually turning me off and I couldn't finish it.  The chips were good.  Homemade potato chips appear to be popular here in Barcelona.

Handing out free blue cloth bags

As I walk around the park I see a sight that fascinates me.  I see men spreading out fabric cloths.  They gather up bricks from the bushes and place the bricks on the corners so the cloth doesn't get picked up by the breeze.  I watch one of the men remove the garbage bag from a garbage canister, put a white plastic bag in the bottom of the metal trash canister and then replace the black garbage bag.  Next thing I see him hurriedly pick up all of this laid out clothes and stuff them in the bushes then he stands around looking all nonchalant.  What the heck?  Oh... the police are driving very s-l-o-w-l-y through the park.  I'm thinking that guy isn't allowed to be selling his wares in the park.  These men are all over the park selling these cloths.  They're in phone communication with one another and tipping off their buddies that the police are approaching.

The balloon selling women were evading the park police too.  It was so fascinating to watch them.  They didn't move away very quickly but there were three women selling balloons and what caught my attention is how they were walking backwards very slowly and eventually the three of them were huddled together behind a bunch of trees making it difficult for the police to spot them.

Can you see her hidden in among the balloons?

I couldn't get an unobstructed view of the Arc de Triomf due to the La Merce festivities and a stage being set up right smack in front of it.

It's hot and I've had enough of wandering among the crowds of people.  Not really sure what to do so I get on a train to Barcelona Sants station and then wander from there.  I walk, and walk, and walk.  My phone says that I am easily walking 16,000+ steps a day.  I believe it.  It's so odd this siesta thing.  It's about 3:00 PM and it's rare to come across a shop that is not shuttered closed.  It's Saturday!  I've just been presuming everything will be open on a Saturday afternoon.  Shops won't reopen until 4:30 PM so I pop into a shop, use Google translate to order an iced coffee and a pastry.  The coffee doesn't look like I imagined it would - it's very, very tasty.

The pastry was hard as brittle and had a hint of licorice taste.  Delicious.

That is one very long bench along the wall.  Great idea.
Notice how spotlessly clean the train stations are?  The trains are equally spotless.

I return to my hostel and decide to eat in tonight.  BBQ'd chicken is on the menu.  The Canadian contingent shows up for dinner. There's a bunch of us from Montreal, Toronto and I'm the only one from Vancouver.

This is long enough so I'll post this as Part 1 of 2 and post about my last days in Barcelona in the next day or so.