Storyline: Filling the gaps
While sitting through hopefully the last Covid lockdown, grab a glass of wine (coffee, tea or other favorite drink) and join us on a journey through some parts of Spain. If it weren’t for it (Covid that is) we would have spent this past winter there.
Our travels in Spain before 2016 have been through Catalonia, the birth province of Salvador Dali. We’ll visit Figueres, Cadaqués and a few more Catalonian cities later, but let’s start with Barcelona. It is my favorite city in the world and Alex’s too (after Veliko Turnovo, of course, but for different reasons).
There is so much going on for this city that no matter what I say, I’ll be only scratching the surface.
One has to immerse oneself in the city for weeks if not for months to be able to explore the beauty of its Gaudi signature architecture, its rich history, the many museums,
fresh food markets, music venues, quartiers (barri), squares (plaça), restaurants and all food scenery, hills and mountains, promenades, shopping, and beaches of course.
Like in many other big cities, if you’ve only spent a few days, running to check the most famous attractions you definitely have not experienced Barcelona. We’ve been there a few times now and we dreamt of spent at least a month there. Then over-tourism came in mode and the prices of everything (accommodations would be our main affordability obstacle) skyrocketed. Not sure what it will be like after the pandemic, but perhaps this will be one of the many dreams unrealized.
My first visit to this absolutely amazing city was in 1994, while vacationing in Platja d’Aro with the kids. At the time my ex and I were working at Brussels University and had rented an apartment in Platja D’Aro for our summer vacation. At the time, Hristo Stoichkov, a famous Bulgarian football (socer) palyer, was playing for FC Barcelona so visiting the Camp Nou stadium was a must. A day visit to Barcelona was short, and left the hunger for more. We all fell in love with this city, especially Dili, who for years after kept talking about Gaudi and his architecture.
Antoni Gaudi, the most illustrious architect and advocate of Catalan Modernism was born in 1852 in Reus, a town near Barcelona. When he first accepted the commission of the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia (Basilica of the Sacred Family) in 1883, he was involved in the design of residential and commercial structures in the city. He soon dedicated all of his time to the design and construction of the Sagrada Familia, incorporating nature, architecture and religion in one magnificent creation. Unfortunately, his sudden death in 1926 left only a quarter of the project finished. During the years I’ve observed the progress of its slow construction, the different styles of the newer parts of the Basilica yet to be finished.
Among other famous creations of Gaudi, during the years we had visited Park Güell, Casa Batlló and Casa Milà. His signature, however is present in every corner of the city.
Alex and I first visited it in 2004 and my feeling about this city just grew stronger. We spent Xmas with Maureen and Steve, Alex’s aunt and uncle, in Santa Cristina D’Aro, about an hour away from Barcelona. It was lovely to meet them and for Alex to reconnect after so many years. For those who remember earlier in 2004 was Alex’s first crossing the ocean after he left England in 1968. In May 2004 we visited Bulgaria and my parents. He had never been to the Continent before. So going back the same year was extraordinary. Dili was delighted to join us for this trip. She would also see Christelle, her school friend from Brussels. After Barcelona we’d take a train to Amsterdam, where Christelle would join us. Of course, we revisited Sagrada Familia to affirm Dili’s fascination with its whimsical architecture. And ours of course.
However, they say that the most visited attraction in Barcelona are its 8 beaches. I can believe it, given the 300+ sunny days in this city.
In June 2014 was our first experience with TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse or high-speed train). We took it from Paris to Figueres, spent a few days enjoying Salvador Dali’s environs (more coming soon in Catalonia post) before continuing to Santa Cristina D’Aro and then Barcelona.
Again, we loved it there. We stayed at the Forget-me-not bed & breakfast. It is very centrally located in Eixample district. We love walking and observing the cities. We walked from Sans train station to our home for four nights.
During this time, we filled in a few gaps, visiting Park Güell, strolling through Plaça de Catalunya, and Parc de la Ciutadella, Barri Gotic, El Raval, Plaça de l’Espanya, El Born,
Arc de Triomf among others and finally Barceloneta.
We enjoyed again visiting the Mercado de La Boqueria, but shopped at Santa Caterina Market, closer to our accommodation.
Didn’t miss the stroll on Las Ramblas, but stayed on the sides this time with our valuables well-guarded. It was way more crowded than ten years earlier. And Barcelona has earned the title of the pickpockets’ capital of the world. Las Ramblas and La Boqueria were jampacked. We even witnessed from afar how someone’s purse was snatched.
Big lineups for tickets and getting into the major attractions, too. Glad we had covered the basics on prior visits. We enjoyed the restaurants near us and many others.
We sauntered through Barceloneta with its charming narrow streets and smell of sewers.
Here we ran into a very nice restaurant, Paso Alcalde.
It was the culmination of our gastronomy experience for the trip. We had already experienced the absolutely delicious freshly caught dorada in Cadaqués, so we asked if they had it and was it fresh. Of course, it was.
We shared a delicious dorada plate, a salad and what we thought was a little jug of sangria, just to discover when we got a bit tipsy that it actually was a 1.5-litre jug.
We’ll be back we said.
And so we were, two years later. We repeated the Paso Alcalde menu, except that the sangria was red this time.
Below are some of my notes from the last visit
Nov. 16, 2016
Oh, Barcelona!!! We love this city! We are ecstatic about our B&B, The Conica Deluxe Bed&Breakfast. A spacious bedroom with a separate sitting room, and a large bathroom. There is a common area, a nice terrace, a kitchenette with a micro-oven, toaster and fridge, a coffeemaker and a kettle for tea.
Selection of coffee and tea, croissants and sweets for the guests is available 24/7. So is bottled water and fruits in the fridge. While buying a bottle of cava we liked from the store just across from the B&B we noticed they had wine for €1.49 a bottle! Made in Catalunya. It is really nice wine. Cheers!
Lots on our list to see, but walking on the streets this evening just gives us the feeling that we may spend all the time here enjoying the good food and wine, sangria or cava. Our accommodation was not far from the B&B we stayed the previous time.
Nov. 17, 2016
This time we slipped into hedonism. The long list of things to do is getting shorter and shorter. This is our third time here together. We have already covered the basics in previous visits and now are revisiting our favorites.
Like our favorite family restaurant in Barceloneta established almost a century ago (1921), the beach, Barri Gotic, etc. We also slipped in Spanish (or Catalan) time. Breakfast starts late and lasts long with a variety of items on the menu. In Canada, it would be called brunch. Then we wander around, visit a museum and make the use of the “Menú del diá” which is just in time for the Spanish siesta.
Menú del diá includes one selection each of appetizer, main course and desert, plus a drink (wine, beer, cava or sangria) or water, plus free bread. It’s also really cheap. In Barcelona, it is anywhere between €9 to €13. A note for North Americans that price includes everything, no additional taxes and tips! So, we order our main meal around 3 PM and stretch it to 5PM.
We explore all kinds of restaurants on Rambla de Catalunya, just around the corner from our accommodation. Then we go to the B&B, have coffee (Diana) and tea (Alex) and some cava. There are croissants, sweets and fruits available too. After our rest tonight we are heading to a free (€5 donation requested) concert in a church.
The Picasso and National Art galleries are for the weekend, when they are free after 3PM. We won’t be rushing for Monserrat and the wineries – these are for next time and a longer stay.
Nov. 18, 2016
The breakfast buffet was incredibly rich and following the Spaniards’ approach, we had a fairly heavy should we say brunch. Heading out, the host asked if we would like another breakfast.
The highlight of our stay in Barcelona this time is Casa Batllo. November is a good month to visit if you want to actually see something. Crowds are still here, but two summers ago we couldn’t think to get near this house.
Yesterday morning (which here starts about 20 min before noon) we managed to get in without any wait time, just before the guided tours arrived. (Never understood a guided tour in established cities). One can’t experience Gaudi’s phenomenon from photos.
You have to touch and feel the softness of all the surfaces to sense the magic.
We’ve been to Sagrada Familia and Park Guell before, so for this trip it was the Casa Batllo, Castell de Montjuïc with its fort, Olympic stadium and botanical gardens, the National Art Gallery of Catalunya and the ‘magic fountains’ downhill from the Gallery.
There is a cable car from the port; there is a funicular railway that will get you to the top too, and a bus from Plaça d’Espanya.
Being true to ourselves though, we walked to the mountain and hiked up and down.
After the hike to Montjuic, we visited Museu Nacional D’Art de Catalunya and decided to stay in the area for the ‘magic fountains’ show.
It was fantastic. Then we sauntered back to Rambla de Catalunya for some tapas.
The Museo de Picasso and Palau de la Musica are left for our last day here tomorrow.
Note:
We’ve never been fans of shiny, deliberately manicured areas that scream “money” anywhere we have visited. We are not disturbed if we find such in countries with good social standards, however we’ve seen them in poor countries, like in Buenos Aires, Argentina which is very disconcerting. The authenticity of real life excites us. Perhaps this is one of the reasons we love Barcelona. We’ve walked it end to end, street by street. Everywhere one can see life as it’s happening.
Be it the pigeons on Plaça de Catalunya,
be it the refugees trying to sell something on the streets or the beaches while watching their backs for a police officer,
be it the narrow smelly streets of some of the old areas, such as Barceloneta or El Raval.
Barcelona is alive and real!
We haven’t been in Spain since and we can’t wait for the things to reopen, spend sometime in Barcelona and revisits some of our favorites, restaurants including. I wonder what’s left of the later though. Will Paso Alcalde be still there? Will menú del diá still exist and at what price? Perhaps next year…
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