Barcelona, part I

Monday, September 13, 2021

After the entertainment center shut down around midnight and it was finally quiet, we had a good nights sleep. Which ended at around 6am, when the workmen for the farm started arriving. Fair enough, I want to be fed, too, after waking up.

Because check in time at the campground we had booked in Matoró, some 30km north of Barcelona, was from 2pm, my human killed some time with a bike ride around the area of our farm. Rural Spain at it's finest! Donkeys pulling carts, old men with walking sticks standing by the road side, watching the passing traffic (two cars an hour, roughly, and my human), the smell of dung in the air - wonderful!

We got to the campsite at 1.30pm, which didn't proof to be a problem. It usually isn't if it's not super busy. After picking a spot between a few other campers and caravans, mainly French and Spanish, but also a surprising number of German number plates, my human went for a cool down in the nice pool, which was kindly provided. I just had my wash, so I was still fresh as a freshly laid egg. A rusty one.

The campground also provided a bus service to and from Barcelona every day. So at 9am the next morning, Carmelo and my human bid me goodbye to go and explore the big city. The ride took around 45min right into the heart of the city, Plaza Catalunya. This is where La Rambla begin, running for a kilometer towards the ocean, connecting the center with the sea.

But first things first, La Sagrada Familia. Gaudí's masterpiece, as it is wildly known, sticks out of the city skyline like a sore tooth, surrounded by cranes, working hard to finish the building by the ambitiously set date of 2026. Not gonna happen, if you want my opinion. It's already taken them 140 years to get to where they are now. Which, let me add, is a very impressive building / cathedral / temple. Depending on the pamphlet.

It's very hard to describe what you see on the outside. Inside it's even harder. There is just so much to look at, so many details, styles, angles, colors. It's actually hard to take it all in. Maybe the photos will help. What I found quite impressive, is that the columns inside the church are made of different types of stone, because Gaudì designed it to look like a forest. And of course, in a forest there is not just one type of tree.

You can download an audio guide onto your phone which gives you some very interesting insights into the building, it's history and future, and some curious facts as well. Such as that Gaudì got run over by a tram and died of his injuries shortly thereafter. In itself, this isn't funny of course. My human nevertheless almost laughed out loud when this story was narrated. What a silly end for such a prodigious man!

One story told by a tour guide my human joined for a walk around the Gothic Quarter the next day also sticks. Apparently, when he was given his diploma of architecture by his professor, he was told: "We are not sure if we are giving this diploma to a madman or to a genius." I guess they might still be wondering today.

After the Sagrada Familia, they went to see the other iconic buildings by Gaudì, La Pedrera (Casa Mila) and Casa Battlo. Which can both be visited as well, but they didn't. Instead they moved on to Park Güell, Gaudìs landscaping project. This was a private enterprise and initially the plan was to put 40 houses on the grounds the park occupies now. Well, that never happened, the land was eventually acquired by the city and is now one of the most visited sites in Barcelona.

La Pedrera

Park Güell

Carmelo tried to charm this nice lady, but she only showed him the cold sholder

Of course, we got warned about pickpockets repeatedly, especially in Park Güell. One can not say this out loud, but one good thing Corona did for travelers is that places are way less crowded these days and it would be way more difficult to sneak up on someone to kindly relieve them of the weight of their wallets.

All of Gaudìs work is interesting and curious to look at, inspired by nature and leaves you wondering what the hell he was thinking when he designed that.

From there they took the metro to Montjuic. The metro ticket is also good for a kind of cable car, which runs upwards through a tunnel. This gets you about halfway up the "mountain". And then there is a real cable car to bring you to the top. For that they charge 9 bucks. Googlemaps offered the option of walking for 13 minutes, to the same effect, but for free. Et voila!

On top you find the Castle of Montjuic. There has been a fortification of some sort up here here since the 11th Century. The latest one is of impressive size and also offers a great view over the city as well as to the ocean side, the commercial harbor and the seafront. If it hadn't already been raining for an hour by that time, I guess they would have enjoyed themselves even more. But, rain is only water after all, and that dries, so they weren't to annoyed by it.

Which is where they went next for a little stroll, taking in some more sights before returning via La Rambla to Plaza Catalunya to catch the bus at 7pm to go back to the campsite. And already it dawned on my human that two days in Barcelona, as planned, might be cutting it a bit fine.