We're (Temporarily) From Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona on a rainy afternoon with instructions to call our host when we arrived so that he could bring us keys. Easy enough, we thought. Then we realized we didn't write down the phone number. Or have a working phone. So after finding the apartment, we walked around the block to find WiFi at the only open restaurant, a Colombian bar, where we ordered our first Estrellas and two empanadas. We looked up the phone number and walked back to a pay phone we had seen earlier. We read, understood, and followed the instructions but once the number was keyed in, the phone did nothing. Joe was growing increasingly frustrated and we were losing more money with each attempt. We finally gave up and asked the grocery store underneath the apartment to borrow a phone, which they said they did not have. Likely story. We walked back to the Colombian bar and kindly asked to use the phone explaining our predicament, and the owners were nice enough to dial our host up for us. The host sent his friend over with the keys, who works at a bar a few blocks away. After letting us in, he told us that it was Catalonian National Day in the city so all the stores were closed for the holiday. Bad timing on our parts but it certainly explained the lack of operating businesses. We found another bar with WiFi, where we shared a pitcher of sangria and made our plans for the stay. After a dinner of leftovers from Valencia, we walked to the Parc de la Ciutadella, where the festival was taking place. We bought beers from a guy on the street, wandered around, and listened to a few songs from the main act. The Catalonian presence is overwhelming and you see a lot of information regarding their desired secession from Spain. Even Gaudi hated Spanish and refused to speak anything but Catalan throughout his life. They are pushing for a vote in 2014 but the referendum itself is banned under Spanish law, so it's very unlikely to happen.

Joe being defeated by a pay phone

The Arc of Triumph and the Catalonian flag

The next morning, we took the advice of our friends and headed to La Boqueria for breakfast. Do not ever go into this market on an empty stomach. Delicious looking pastries, chocolates, bocadillos, meat, cheese and fruit are everywhere. It took us awhile to decide, but after a few laps through the stalls we settled on a few items each and a bowl of fruit to share. We found a bench on Las Ramblas and devoured the food amongst a half dozen men with incredibly annoying whistling mouthpieces. I would have offered to buy one just to make it stop if it would have done the trick. Just around the corner was MACBA, the contemporary art museum, where the current theme of 'd'Art, Dos Punts' was supposed to make you think about how art affected you and encouraged the use of social media throughout the museum to check in at points to give your opinion. You were also supposed to take a picture before touring the museum and then after as an example of your impressions from the art. We failed to do this so took both our pictures back to back before leaving the museum. I'm not sure they would have looked any differently anyway.

'Burrito' from La Boqueria

After the museum, we strolled down Las Ramblas to the Christopher Columbus statue on the coast, passing La Boqueria again and agreeing that we should pick up some chocolates for a snack. We got fleeced on the price and I wish that I argued it more but we didn't really calculate it until we were well on our way. The chocolate was good, of course, but definitely hurt the wallet a bit. We made our way to Barri Gotic and took a coffee break, then wandered through the ancient medieval streets until entrance to the Cathedral was free. This neighborhood makes for fantastic exploring, some walls and streets dating from the Romans! On our walk home, we passed by the Palau Musica Catalana, a gorgeous music venue that we contemplated going to a show at, but unfortunately couldn't find tickets for less than €30 apiece. So we made our way to the grocery store and then home to make dinner.

Gaudi, not Goudy (but seriously what a good font)

We had reservations for a free Gaudi walking tour with Runner Bean Tours in the morning, where our guide took us to Guell Palace, Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, and La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi as a person is just as interesting as his architecture. He hated the elite class and their excess of money, but tried desperately to make friends with them so that they would hire him. He also spent very little of his own money, instead donating the majority of it to the church, while always going over budget on his projects. La Sagrada Familia is an epic still in progress that is estimated to be done in 2020, but our guide was skeptical of that timeframe. We didn't go inside any of the Gaudi buildings but Joe did win a Chupa-Chups for knowing that Salvador Dali was the artist who designed the logo.

The only thing better than a Chupa-Chups is a free Chupa-Chups

 After our tour, we went back to the apartment for lunch and a siesta - I could get used to the Spanish lifestyle. Fully rested, we hiked up to Parc Guell, a large park that was designed by Gaudi and commissioned by the same person as the palace that bears the name. The park is hilly and expansive, looking out over the city of Barcelona. The street vendors are eager to sell you anything until the police roll by and they grab their sheet or umbrella full of treasures and run for the hills. Joe decided it would be a great prank to run through the park (or any street, really) with a bundle of something yelling 'policia,' just to watch everyone scamper. 

At Parc Guell

Gaudi at his finest

We hopped on the Metro and went back to Barri Gotic to find La Cerveteca, a craft brew bar Joe had looked up. We tried a few beers and browsed the bottle inventory, which included some interesting Norwegian beers that were hybrids of popular styles. We would have stayed there all night but the price tag on each pint was a little bit steep, so we walked around the neighborhood to find something more reasonable and drinkable. A bar was just opening up as we walked by and we decided to get a pitcher of sangria and some nachos to share. The nachos arrived with beans and melted cheese and salsa and guacamole, a very welcome improvement from those in San Sebastian. With a clock on the wall was set to Mexico City time and the Mexican items on the menu, we inquired to discover that the owner was from Oaxaca. I can definitively say that I prefer Mexican nachos to Spanish nachos.

So Many Sports

The next morning, we were off to Parc Montjuic and made a long and winding journey to the MNAC, National Museum of Catalonian Art. The temporary exhibit was Tàpies, a bizarre and kind of boring mixed media artist, and that's considering that Joe and I normally like the 'weirdo art' (as one TripAdvisor commenter called it). We were burned out on medieval art before we got to the good stuff so it was kind of disappointing. We walked back through the sloping park with waterfalls and fantastic views, through a garden, to Fundacion Joan Miro. The collection is extensive and exclusively Miro with the exception of a few friends and collaborators. We climbed through the park a bit more and stumbled upon the Olympic Stadium and grounds from 1992. The grounds are connected to a major square with a bunch of outdoor escalators, which Joe found incredibly amusing. This square houses the Magic Fountain as well as a modern building designed by Mies Van Der Roe, which we only learned later on at our visit to the Bauhaus museum in Berlin.

There was some event the NBA was hosting that was not very well attended as we passed by on our quest to watch the FC Barcelona game at a bar in solidarity with our host city. Every bar on the street (4 in a row) had their flatscreens turned outward so people could watch from the patio. I've actually watched a lot of soccer. The team allegiances, however fleeting, might have helped with my football withdrawal, which is a real thing. I skip a season of Broncos football and it's this one?! We left about 60 minutes into the game with FCB up 1-0, the patios now completely full, to go watch the Magic Fountain, a huge fountain that was built in 1920's for the World's Fair. On the weekends, it lights up and does a water show while a variety of songs play. We got to hear the always wonderful 'Call Me Maybe' amongst others (but really I do like that song). We found out on the crowded Metro that Barcelona had won the game (3-2) and made it home to eat a very late dinner on the couch.

Joe and D. Rose just hanging out in BCN

Watching FC Barcelona from the street

It was grey and cloudy on our final day in Barcelona and it started raining just as we were leaving the Parc de la Ciutadella. We walked over to La Barceloneta, a fishing village where the beaches are. We wandered through a small market that had only a few tents, one of which was Simanya, a local brewery. They gave us samples of their IPA and we talked about the difference between beers in Spain and back in Denver before buying a bottle of their Belgian style to take with us. Despite the rain and chilly wind, there were plenty of people surfing, including a group of young kids taking lessons. We followed the sound of music to a Honduran festival of sorts that was just getting started, then found a restaurant to warm up in with some coffee and beer before we went to Museo Picasso. The line for the museum was super long and even wider than normal with everyone's umbrellas. A local lady was cursing the tourists for not allowing people who live in Barcelona to walk their own streets. On the one hand, yes, it is very annoying for all these people to be in your way when this is where you go every day. On the other, you should know better than to walk down the street where the Picasso Museum is, and on a weekend no less - one block over and it would be empty.

Luckily, the museum ticket we had purchased allowed direct entry to the museum so there was no need to wait outside in the rain with the rest of the peasants. Much of the museum is Picasso's younger work and the layout is very confusing when you suddenly skip from pre-Cubism to post-Cubism in one room without any explanation of the 20 years in between. The highlight was the collection of his Las Meninas study. Having just seen the original work by Velasquez in the Prado, it was amazing to see Picasso's total transformation of the painting and all of the various sketches associated.

Parc de la Ciutadella

We had a few hours to kill before El Xampanyet opened, the tapas bar that we were planning on patronizing for dinner. We stopped by the CCCB, a contemporary art space that was due to close the next day for total renovation. We bummed around the exhibits and then made it to El Xampanyet to discover that they do not reopen after siesta on Sunday. Damn you Google and your incorrect hours! Super disappointed, we retraced our steps to find a guy we had seen multiple times handing out flyers for 1€ tapas and headed straight there. We ordered a variety of things that weren't great, but that is to be expected when your food costs less than a shot of espresso. No complaints from us but still a little left to be desired for dinner, we picked up two more empanadas from the Colombian bar and a bottle of cava to share while we packed our bags for our return to France.

So sad

Ending Barcelona exactly the way we started