Just don’t do it. I know you’ll be tempted… Museu Picasso on a Sunday is free after three! But unless you get there at noon, to stand in line for three hours to get in for free at three, then you’re better off just going another day… Because chances are the line will be long and you won’t even have enough time to stand in it allowing you enough time to actually see the museum once you get inside. It’s bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Our plans foiled, we did what we do best: wandered around town, searching for street art, ducking into churches, people watching, and in general soaking up the city du jour.
Our day didn’t start off the smoothest. Perhaps I should backtrack to us finding out a few nights prior that we couldn’t stay in the same place and had to frantically find another place at the last minute. Europe in August (aside from our wonderful few days in Burgundy) was proving to be difficult. Couchsurfers were either fully booked or out of town. Hostels were expensive. Hotels were even more expensive and/or full. It was stressful to say the least. We finally managed to find a place on Air BnB (not our favorite site) had to pack up our things, move across town, and were very warily welcomed into the house of a stereotypical Frenchman (i.e. the complete opposite of all of my lovely, welcoming, warm French friends) and his overly sweet Columbian girlfriend. It was strange, and even though we looked forward to exploring the city, we didn’t exactly look forward to returning to our rented room at night… It’s a great thing Barcelona is such a wonderful city to get lost in!
I don’t know what it is about light fixtures and this trip, but for some reason I keep finding myself drawn to them! I saw this one in the window of a restaurant and thought it was so clever! Note to self: I want to figure out how to make this for my future kitchen!
We snuck inside Santa Maria del Mar thinking it would be calm, cool, and quiet. It wasn’t exactly cool nor quiet, but it was beautiful and the stained glass was impressive. Despite the heat, Andrew and I sat inside for awhile taking the architecture in.
Party in the street! Now, where are all of the people? I couldn’t get enough of this festive street! We then remembered the Museum of History was free today as well, so we thought we’d give it a shot, knowing we might walk away from it just like we did at the Picasso Museum. I guess not as many people are interested in history as they are in Picasso because there was no line and we were able to walk around freely! Unfortunately, the museum offered few descriptions in English- most were in both Spanish and Catalan and we were at a bit of a loss looking at some of the exhibits. It surrounded (and was under) Placa del Rei, so it made for a nice entry and exit past the same steps I mentioned during our Old City walking tour.
We walked around town some more, heading towards a restaurant for an early (by Barcelona standards) dinner. I’m not sure what this sign means in English, but thought it was pretty regardless if I understood it’s meaning or not.
