Sunrise here is just before 8 AM, and it takes a few more hours to peek over the buildings, so we were up before it was really light out this morning.
After a light breakfast in our aparthotel (technical term), we hopped the metro down to the gothic quarter to find the meeting place for our bike tour, in Plaça de Sant Jaume.
The sun was finally above the building tops, barely, at 10 AM.
We eventually got some bicycles, and walked them through a few narrow alleys, around the corner to the cathedral.
The cathedral was nicely backlit by the morning sun. We did not go in, but learned the history of the building.
The next stop was at the Palau de la Música Catalana, where we briefly walked around the lobby area. We have tickets to a show there, tomorrow night.
After that, it was a bit of a ride over to the Arc de Triomf, built for the 1888 World's Fair.
Allegedly, the other proposal being considered for this location was some tower by a guy named Gustave Eiffel. He built it in Paris instead, though.
It was a short ride down the promenade in front of the Arc, to the middle of Ciutadella Park, where we stopped for a break at the large fountain. The park has an interesting history, and also a small castle. The fountain was not... fountaining? Not operational. The tour guide explained that all of the fountains in the city were shut off, due to an extended drought. (I think he said "year three of the drought".)
We didn't have time to go see the castle, though, because we had to leg it over to the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, where we took a short break to grab a light lunch and walk around for a bit. We didn't go in, but will be back there on Monday.
After lunch, we rode down to the waterfront and stopped on the pier by Port Olimpic, built for the 1992 Olympic Games. It was a bit hazy in the distance, but the beach was crowded (it was about 80F and sunny all day).
We then rode through La Barceloneta, along the waterfront, back toward the Gothic quarter. I snagged this amazing mirror selfie / photo of sequinned C-3PO on a skateboard. I guess he was a street performer, just having a stretch in the mirror before work.
Once the tour ended and we returned the bikes, it was around 2:30 PM. The tour had been almost 4 hours, for a total of approximately 7 miles (according to the FAQ on their website).
Our next scheduled event wasn't until 6:45 PM, so we had about 4 hours to explore on foot. With no particular destination, and no rush to get anywhere, we strolled around the Gothic quarter a bit more, vagely doing a wide loop that would take us to the bottom of La Rambla. At some point, we stopped for coffee/ice cream, as we were starting to feel the jet lag again.
I dragged Sabrina into the caganer store, but she didn't want me to impulse buy a mini statue of a pooping man. I really think we need one, though (not this big of course). Definitely read that Wikipedia article—it's one of the stranger ones.
We sauntered lazily up the pedestrian thoroughfare in the center of La Rambla, idly wondering how all of the booths hawking souvenirs could possibly stay in business. There were many street artists selling their work, churning out live drawings or caricatures, or busking.
It felt crowded, but that's certainly reasonable for a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Given the throng of people here in early October, I can't imagine what it's like in the summer.
Perhaps one third of the way along the busy part of La Rambla, we detoured over to Plaça Reial for a look around. The plaza itself wasn't very crowded, but the ring of restaurants and cafes was thrumming. Notably, the plaza contains two "helmeted lampposts", which may have been some of Gaudí's first commissions? Unclear.
Our next stop, on the other side of La Rambla, was La Boqueria, which is a large public market.
We wandered up and down the aisles, stopping for a few snacks and a zumo or two (blended fruit drinks).
I was thinking that we'd had enough ham last night, but couldn't resist this snack cup of jamón salamanca and manchego, with a few cracker sticks in the bottom.
We finished our stroll up La Rambla at Plaça de Catalunya, where we rested briefly to plan the next few hours.
We decided to just keep touring around on foot, continuing up Passeig de Gràcia towards the Eixample district.
Easily the longest line I saw today... was at the official LEGO Store.
At Casa Batlló and the Block of Discord, we turned off the main avenue into the square blocks of the neighborhood. Our scheduled event for this evening was a tour of this Gaudí attraction, but we were still about two hours early.
We easily filled two hours with meandering around Eixample, popping into a shop or two, and eventually stopping for hydration (water/beer) at the CocoVail Beer Hall, where we got more dinner recommendations from another random expat. Along the way, we saw the basilica and market of (immaculate) conception, the latter of which had closed several hours prior.
Eventually, we looped back around to Casa Batlló for our 6:45 PM (self-guided, audio) tour.
Side note: I was in Barcelona briefly, many many years ago (1999), and this is one of the few things I remember well from that trip (along with Sagrada Familia, Park Guëll, and some other spots, including the Hard Rock Cafe that we saw today). Some of the squares also looked familiar, and I was getting vague flashbacks throughout the day today.
We're not sure why, but our specific-entrance-time tickets also included a glass of cava (the people 15 minutes before us, or 15 minutes after, may not have gotten it, for example).
We shuffled around the house with the other tourists, listening to the audio guides. The tour included a trip out to the back patio, which I didn't remember.
It also included a walk across the rooftop area, now home to a small cafe, which was nice. The sun was just starting to set, around 7:30, as we went back inside to finish the tour.
At the end, we ended up in some sort of immersive media cave, which I definitely don't remember from 20+ years ago (I think it was added recently).
Even the floor was involved; it was all very disorienting. It's the sort of thing that would probably have to come with a "caution: flashing lights" warning for people with epilepsy, in the US.
It was dark out, by the time we made it back to the street. We continued on foot into the Gràcia district (where we're staying) to find some dinner.
After walking for a mile or so, we happened upon a neighborhood tapas bar that didn't have a long wait, and enjoyed a lovely dinner. We skipped the cheese course, tonight, but had potatoes, tomato bread (again), some type of sausage, and some chicken. I thought I got another tapas photo, but it didn't work somehow? It's been a long day; I don't know what happened.
Tomorrow we're taking a day trip (by train) to Figueres, and then will be back for a show at the music venue we visited this morning.
We walked about 10 miles today (my phone shows ~25k steps), after the 7-mile bike ride. I don't know if I can keep up this pace, but I suspect I might've already agreed to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment