We have been in Barcelona for several days now, since November 6. What a lovely city! I've taken lots of photos, but the wifi in this AirBnb (along with a few other things) is not good. It's only a place to sleep, after all. So, I will have to upload photos when we get to our Other AirBnb reservation on Nov. 11.
Our AirBnb flat is only a couple streets away from La Rambla, the huge pedestrian centered street with shopping and kiosks that starts at Plaza de la Catalunya and goes all the way down to the sea and the beautiful port. We have spent a great deal of time walking the Rambla in between our sightseeing. (In fact, I did a little bit of shopping off the Rambla at the only full department store that I have seen in all of Spain, and we have been to quite a few cities in Spain now. It is called El Corte Ingles and it is not just one store in a large city like Madrid or Barcelona. There are specialty El Corte Ingles stores: sports, furniture and appliances, clothing/shoes/cosmetics, etc. For your information, I am now decked out like every Spanish or French woman and girl (tall, short, old, young, large, small). I now have 3 pairs of skinny jeggings and they are So comfortable! I had to get advice from my far away daughter on the subject. She says they are like wearing your pajamas out in public, very comfortable. I was very surprised to discover that is true and that the store had my size. Photo to come.)
So, back to the sightseeing. When we arrive in a new city in Europe, we have developed a routine. We start by taking the Hop On Hop Off City Tour (HOHO, the double-decker Red bus - accept no substitutes!). This has been a great time saver because we can get an overview of the things to see and decide where we want to go and explore more. We have used this method in: London, Madrid, Cadiz, and Barcelona. Unfortunately, the smaller cities often do not have these tours. Avignon and Arles did not, probably because both cities are so much smaller and walkable, and there were fewer sites of interest to tourists.
The Barcelona HOHO tour has two routes. We started, on November 7, with the Orange route first, this was mostly the modern city of Barcelona. As we passed one of the many parks that ended in a huge plaza, we noticed a march proceeding up the wide central walkway. Then, we realized that everyone in the march was wearing 19th century dress, including a group of military men with horses. I'm still not sure what that was.
We were impressed with the seaport, its docked cruise liners and huge number of pleasure boats of every kind. Montjoic, a fortified mountain that was named after the Jews who occupied it hundreds of years ago, overlooks Barcelona and is the site of some former Olympic events - swimming and track, I believe. It also has a few museums and an escalator (!) down to Plaza de Espanya where the Magical Fountain resides. We started with the National Art Museum of Catalunya, a very beautiful converted palace. The tour also took us to the Avenue Diagonal to see several examples of Antoni Gaudi's architectural work. These are the buildings, mostly residential, that have the natural shaping and fantasy decoration that you just have to see to believe.
The next day, there was to be a general strike due to the unrest in Catalonia. The protests have been very peaceful so far and the Spanish government has called elections for December 21 to allow the citizens to elect a new government (after Spain deposed the original government for declaring independence). Many of the Catalonia people are showing their displeasure by striking and protesting; democracy at its messiest. November 8 was to be a union transportation strike and coordinated demonstration. Fortunately for us, the HOHO buses were still running and we were able to use our 2-day pass. The Green route was the one I especially wanted to see.
We took the Green tour the night before in case the strike made it impossible for us to do the next day. You can't really see much in the dark, though. My two favourites on the route were: Sagrada Familia, the cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi that is still under construction, and Park Guell, the residential community that Gaudi designed.
When we arrived at Sagrada Familia in the daylight, though, we discovered that the stop right in front of the cathedral was not in use that day due to the demonstrations. We literally had to get off at the next stop and take a 10 minute walk/run back to the cathedral in order to get there in time for the tickets that we purchased online. Unfortunately, the demonstrators (mostly students by my observation) had blocked every public entrance to the cathedral and no one was able to enter. Protesters were seated in front of each entrance at least 5 deep and a few police were milling around.
We grabbed some lunch across the street (yes, Subway in Barcelona; don't judge), waited, and got some great photos of the outside of the building with the protesters. Eventually, we watched many of the protesters gather and march away with banners, leaving many still blocking the cathedral entrances. The protesters were doing exactly what they should in order to get the necessary attention. Sagrada Familia is an icon of Catalonian culture. They had every right to deny entry to that icon in order to publicize their democratic protest. But, now we have 30E worth of tickets that we could not use. So, today we will be going back to Sagrada Familia to see if we can wangle our way inside with said tickets.
After that debacle, we headed to Park Guell on the HOHO bus. It was a long uphill walk/climb to the Park, but well worth the energy. Park Guell was designed by Gaudi, but was never completed. Apparently the economy of the day and lack of interest from buyers left it less than a quarter finished, but there are still 4 residences and some glorious parks and walkways. These houses are uniquely Gaudi and a delight to see and enter. Of course, only three buildings remain for the public to enter as part of the Park. Two are at the entrance to the Park; these are rather small buildings, one is a bookstore and the other can be toured. The other two buildings are outside the "Monumental area" that the ticket covers. These are Gaudi's residence, which is now the Gaudi Museum, and a building that was initially on the land purchased for Park Guell, which Gaudi remodelled slightly to give it matching touches. This last building is used as a school now and is off limits for touring, but it too is unique. What lucky students to be able to go to school in that building and play on that playground!
All in all, Steve and I set a new travel record on November 8th. We walked almost 9 miles (19, 045 steps) and climbed the equivalent of 22 floors, according to my iPhone health app. We were totally wiped out and crashed early that night.
Yesterday, of necessity, was a day of rest. We wandered and shopped a little and, eventually, took a taxi to the Picasso Museum. It was remarkable, even for me who is burned out on art museums. I love Picasso's challenge and humour. My particular favourite is La Meninas. He copied Velasquez' La Meninas that we saw at the Prado in Madrid, but as Picasso said "in my own way". His way is delightfully true to the original and yet very Addams Family and humorous, in my estimation. You have to see it to get the joke. You can see, from the walk through his periods, that Picasso was a very skilled and talented artist. He could paint and draw beautifully in any style he chose. He chose, eventually, to take his art to very basic distortion of the subjects. To me, it seemed as if Picasso was trying to make us look at things differently and at least try to see the humour in life and art.
Today, the inside of Sagrada Familia and tomorrow we leave for another 3 days in Barcelona, hopefully in a better accommodation than we have had for the last 4 days. We need a place to relax and enjoy the view. So, we are paying a little more for 3 days of relative "luxury". At least, I hope it will be luxury. At this point, it shouldn't be hard to improve on what we have. An upper story apartment with decent wifi, a shower that doesn't require mopping the floor afterward, and an elevator would be a very good start. Anything else will be gravy.
Where we go after Barcelona we don't know right now. During these next couple days a decision will need to be made. I, personally, am for tropical weather right now. Fall in this part of Europe is getting a little too cold for me, as is Tacoma, friends. For the moment, my vote is for Malta. Yes, the home of the Knights of Malta and thousands of years of European habitation and history, with Mediterranean beaches, sun (between lightening storms), much warmer temps, and relaxation.
Photos to follow.
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