Once upon a time, there were 3 girls who decided to go to Europe for the first time ever, backpacking around various countries together. They had never gone before, and amongst them, spoke lots of English and Chinese, a bit of French and nothing of Spanish, Greek, or Italian. However, with English, enthusiasm and lots of courage they thought they could conquer the world and so set off across the waters to explore a new continent.
After about two weeks making their way down from London through various French towns, they came upon Barcelona, the much-talked about Spanish city that isn't quite so Spanish as a mix of various cultures, backgrounds and commercialism. The dazzling works of Gaudi impressed them, and along with the other half a billion tourists, they made their way around town, admiring the legacy he left behind.
On the second to last day, they decided to go up to the Olympic park in Montjuic and that's when their innocence was shattered. While waiting for the bus, a suspicious looking figured lurked around, but they didn't think anything of him since he was just a young guy probably waiting to go somewhere. Within a split second, everything changed. The sketchy fellow raced around the shelter, snatched the bag off one of the girls and raced down the street. She screamed, and chased after him, while the other two suddenly realised what had happened. They sprang into action but the boy had already started running down the steps and into the forests below. The victim tripped and fell in her flipflops while racing down after him, and within a minute, had lost sight of the attacker.
A few hours later, the girls were in the local hospital waiting for treatment for the girl who fell and injured herself while chasing the thief. The other two had accompanied her in the ambulance, after some help from two tourists who translated to a local woman who called the police. The girls spoke to a pair of cops up by the mountain, and then another set outside the hospital, in rough French, since one of them said he spoke French. In fact, what he spoke was Catalan and communication was far from smooth. While the victim was waiting for treatment from non-English speaking medical staff, the other two phoned the Canadian embassy and the family of the third girl to tell them what happened.
About 15 hours later, the morning had arrived and the girls set off to the Canadian consulate to sort out paperwork that the girl required, since she no longer had her passport or her Canadian student visa. In the end, she flew to London to get all this organised at the Canadian embassy and then ended up going home because of the complications in paperwork, and her injuries. The other two continued on, having had their enjoyment shattered, and were left with a poor image of Barcelona and an intense desire to leave the city, after meeting quite a few other tourists in the hospital who were robbed and injured that same day.
TAKE 2:
The second time to Barcelona after a few years of hiatus ended in a much better way, resulting in a look a Parc Guell, which was skipped in the hurry to get out of town during the first trip, and lots and lots of walking around with two wonderful guides who knew a lot of history and told me cool stories. The city is an interesting mix of artsy types, hippies, tacky tourist shops, hoards of tourists and a strong, passionate Catalan-presence.
Ahhhh...a fitting quote for the boy from the north coast!
La Rambla del Mar at night
Christopher Columbus pointing to.....that's not the way to America, Chris!
We rented a shared apartment in the Gothic neighbourhood, right smack-dab in the city centre. The location was fantastic, the room was huge and it was new, but just a wee bit noisy at night....earplugs did wonders though! :)
The shared kitchen was fabulous and only one other couple used it and they didn't do so much cooking. Money saved with some good home-cooked meals, enjoyed out on the terrace right outside of the glass doors.
One of the coolest street performers in Las Ramblas--we never did see him set up in the mornings, so my curiosity of his little floating seat is still not satisfied! We also saw a Messi impersonator, and a Ronaldinho busker--both had great techniques and dazzled the crowd with their tricks.
And now, the works of Gaudi.....his works make the city much more cheerful, and brighten up the town with the colours and whimsical styles:
Walking along the sidewalk is so much more fun with these patterns to look at!
Casa Batlló
La Pedrera (Casa Milà), an awesome building inside and out (we saw a program on tv about it, and this woman who lives there has a flat with 6 or 7 rooms, many cool windows and a kitchen with 4 entrances!)
Does anyone know what this says?? It was hard to see up so high, but looks like "please" even though it really can't be....now I'm very curious!
The streets seem so much cooler with decorative lights like this
The entrance of Parc Guell--as you can see there are swarms of tourists....
I want this on my ceiling!
I love the colours and curvy patterns!
Touches of Gaudi pop up amongst the skyline
Panorama of Barcelona from Parc Guell
This continues from above because I don't think you can stitch them together on here....
The famous Sagrada Familia....a church with cool whimsical touches
Another funky Gaudi lampost in the park near the Arc de Triomphe (yes there is one in Barcelona, but it's Modernist-style with many colours!)
We were in town during Easter, and there is a big Andalucian (southern Spain) presence here in Catalunya, so the festivities were big and plentiful.
The crowd listening to the mass in front of the cathedral (don't know why they weren't inside....)
Leading the procession, and followed by their clean-up duo....
The typical garb is unusual and shocking for some people...
Barefoot in the procession means you have something to confess to, and therefore need to sacrifice and show your dedication, or something like that....
The famous Boqueria market, which sells everything from fruits and veg, to fish and meat, to random bits and pieces of ethical food. The unfortunate part was the mounts of tourists that made it impossible to walk around, let alone look at or shop for anything. I can't imagine how the locals get in there to do their daily shopping (we saw some but felt sorry for them having to push through the crowds of photo-taking foreigners....like me!)
Elbow to elbow with the other 4 million (just a random exaggeration..it seemed like millions....) tourists inside the famous Boqueria market
Mmmmm...lovely offerings of fungi! :D
Fresh juices for sale at the fruit stands--what lovely colours!
Time for food, music and the beach:
We ordered two "pan tomaca" (toast with tomato puree and olive oil-- a Catalunyan specialty) thinking that it was two slices, but this was the first order that came through......luckily we caught them in time to stop them from making the other one....
This funky South American group playing near the beach had the crowd eating out of their hands! They played great music, were funny and full of enthusiasm!
Skaters chilling out by the beach
Palau de la Musica at night....
A cool band playing in Parc Guell
