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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Grilled Hake Fish |
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.
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| I've seen quite a bit of these displays of opinions around Barcelona |
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| Our guide Alberto explaining the meaning of the symbols on the plaque |
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| These figurines show us that no matter who you are we all shit the same. |
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| 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.
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| Cuttle Fish |
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| My hostel mates: Valeria(L) and Gabby (R) |
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The pastry was hard as brittle and had a hint of licorice taste. Delicious. |
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| 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.
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