3 years ago I went to Barcelona for the first time (really, Spain for the first time) with friends, and had my wallet stolen (relevant blog post). It was actually retrieved immediately, which I found out later -- once we were 6 hours away by train. I have a very google-able name, and the police officer who'd caught the thief had managed to track me down that way, and after some phone-tag, I arranged to fetch my wallet on the day before I had to fly out of Madrid.
So, this time, I was prepared to gird my loins and do everything I could to keep thieves away from my valuables. Thankfully, the measures I took paid off (or luck was with me), and this Barca trip was uneventful on the theft side.
We stayed in an interesting place, Hostal Oliva. The deciding factor was that *everyone* who rated it on Booking.com loved it. The building is right on Passeig de Gracia, which might be the best location in town. North of la Rambla, so fewer crowds and pickpockets, and right at the crossing of several metro lines as well as some regional trains. A 5 minute walk to Plaça Catalunya, where you can pick up an airport bus, or find something to eat (or buy).
The hotel is in a cool building with an old-school elevator made (mostly?) of wood.
There were staff around all day, as one had to be buzzed into the building and then let in the door. The bed was super high quality, the room was small but adequate, and the Wifi was good. I'd definitely stay there again.
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| elevator of wood |
[Aside on the term "La Rambla": Figueres had a "Rambla" as well. When we asked what would happen if they had to empty out all of the cisterns at the fortress, our guide said that the water would go into the river --What river? -- the river that in town was covered up and made into "La Rambla". That is, *that* is effectively the translation of that term. The part of town where they paved over the river (for purposes of hygiene ?!?) and now there's some lush trees and a nice place to hang out]
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Day 1: Walking around, Flamenco, seeing the beach
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Barcelona has a beach, which I hadn't made it out to during the previous trip (a rainy March week). Not featured in this picture is the beach-based outdoor gym setup that 20-25 dudes were making use of. One guys had some pretty awesome moves.
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| complete with smudge. I need to have my camera cleaned. |
As my companion had never seen flamenco before, I looked into what was easiest/open on Mondays and got us tickets to the 21:30 show at Los Tarantos.
30 minutes, 15 euros, and their shows cycle regularly (every week or two). Show up 30 minutes before the show to get in line for seats. I recommend the ones on the side (looking at both audience and stage), to get a good angle on both dancer and singer at the same time.
We were there opening night for the then-current act, Isaac Barbero (& Compañia) which was absolutely incredible; the main star of the show was incredibly talented. He and the singer had a really great interaction, you could really see how the dance influenced the music and vice versa.
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| our view of the crowd |
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| our view of the stage |
After the awesome show, we walked around for a while and enjoyed the cooler night air.
Near the hotel is El Nacional. It looks like a former indoor (food) market. Now it's a mixture of restaurants and bars. Very fancy.
I liked the giant carved fish which denoted the fish (sub) restaurant. Super duper expensive, but no line.
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| Fish restaurant |
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Day 2: Sagrada Familia! Gelato! Barcelona History Museum!
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Bought tickets for the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's ongoing masterpiece, way ahead of time, online, and with the Nativity Facade tower access as well, which was new for me. It was totally worth it, the views were gorgeous. This time through, the audio guide announced that there's a projected (mostly) finished date, in about 10 years. That is, they should be done with the Glory Facade and the various towers and things by then. I think there then remains work to go back and renovate the old stuff and add in some adornments and so on.
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| awesome views |
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| Barca + tree of life |
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| grapes for wine/blood, wheat/grains for bread/body |
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| More grapes. Definitely new. |
The audio guide said a bit about how Gaudi really wanted to control the light in the space; one side had glass with cooler tones (lefthand picture), the other warmer tones. Nature is a great painter (paraphrasing them quoting him)
We had lunch at an interesting self-serve place (Nostrum) that had pre-packaged (yet tasty) meals because we were in a bit of a hurry to end up at the Barcelona History Museum by 2pm to meet a friend we'd made in France, who was also passing through Barcelona.
With all the hurrying, we ended up with plenty of time to go find some good gelato. Most places had heaped-up gelato, so we kept walking, until we found Chocolat Box.
I had their incredible super dark chocolate and another scoop of hazelnut.
We then went through the Barcelona History Museum (at Plaça del Rey), which I'd seen 3 years prior. It's an interesting museum as it's excavations, piled atop and to the side of each other (i.e. you go down into the ground for Roman-era Barcino, and walk up to the Gothic church, passing through various stages of the Roman Empire, then when Barcelona became a Gothic stronghold, etc. For a good array of pictures, see the post from 3 years ago.
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| Roman street, Roman shop, Roman drainage |
After the museum, we walked around quite a bit, through the gothic quarter-- whose streets had been wide and on a grid when the Romans put them there, and over time they were made narrower and the drainage abandoned (I'm sure they've put drainage back in since the Middle Ages, though). Ended up taking a break in front of the cathedral. I have a hunch that those towers are reconstructed from the towers originally on the wall (400AD) around the city, based on this picture.
We wrapped up our stay in Barcelona with a stop of the tapas place, Divinus, that was almost adjacent to the hotel, where we had an array of Pinxtos ("pinches"? They are ridiculous mini-bruscetta things with a toothpic through them) and tapas. Very tasty.
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[[Thoughts on Spain and travel, changes in the last 3 years:]]
I think Spain has been a place people go for vacation (see: Germans on Mallorca) for a while. But I have the sense that it's gotten much worse, that tourism is the main industry, especially with the massive unemployment (20% across all age brackets, but about 50% for ``youth").
Here's a piece from a year ago on the problem:
"[A] growing number of working poor, with incomes below the state-set annual minimum wage of €9,080 ($9,830). About 24% of salaried workers are on temporary contracts; half of those quizzed by the country's Labour Force Survey say their contracts are for fewer than six months. Part-time jobs now account for 16% of the total. Young people and immigrants are leaving the country, shrinking the labour force—and making the high unemployment rate all the more striking."
One symptom of this (which was for me positive) was the large number of waitstaff and people working in the service sector who've now picked up a small amount of English.
I hope Spain recovers, rather than becoming simply another resort country, dependent on its neighbors' love of sunshine and good food.
Until next time.
We went to some of the very same places. I was shocked that the roman fish facility could still smell vaguely of fish after all this time.
ReplyDeleteWhen were you in BCN? Also, I didn't notice a fishy smell, but definitely was impressed by how long the dye had lasted in the dye trough.
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