Day 344: Picasso and Pinchos

Picasso Museum Round Two was a success! We introduced Nat to Bo de B (and got another salmon salad of course) and then headed to the Picasso Museum to see how crazy the line was and if we were up for waiting. It was long, but it moved surprisingly fast. The museum contained a LOT of Picasso’s first works and pieces that I’ve never seen before, yet there was a huge gap of Picasso’s life and works that are obviously in other museums throughout the world that I think everyone (me included) are more familiar with. We bummed around the Born and Gothic districts again before meeting up with Nat for another round of tapas! This time, we opted for pinchos! Tapas served on bread, count. me. in.

Have I told you lately how much I love the Born and Gothic neighborhoods (districts?) because I do! Check out the latest street art sightings just around the corner from the Picasso Museum! I also looked up some recommended vintage and boutique stores and popped into “The Box” which was also right around the corner from the Picasso Museum. Suuuper cute store! Also, Can I just say for the record that I love it when owners welcome me taking pictures! The boutique was so photogenic I couldn’t help myself!

We ducked into a few other boutiques, and one was really neat and very well designed- lots of vintage signage and props scattered around the store- along with ‘No Photos’ signs. As a photographer, this always annoys me. As a consumer, it makes me not want to buy anything! The Box on the other hand, was warm and welcoming and if the picture below doesn’t make you want to stop by and buy a few bow ties… something might be wrong with you!

 These cookies looked like they were to die for in the window, we opted for the carrot cake instead. It was delicious -a bit overpriced – but delicious nonetheless.

I was kicking myself for missing a previous photo opportunity of an accordion player roaming the streets of the Gothic district. When this musician passed by us this afternoon I was so excited, Andrew was rolling his eyes. Who doesn’t love a second chance, especially when it comes to taking a photo!

We sat in a square and people watched for a little while, killing some time before we met up with Nat one last time. Directly in front of the bench I was sitting on (while Andrew went off searching for some Dr. Peppers for us) a little girl only about two or three years old walked up to a younger boy in a stroller. She was completely enthralled by the younger boy. She put her face in his and attempted to touch his hand and then remembered there were others watching and looked up. Her father was standing behind her, encouraging her to say ‘Hola’ while the obviously non-Spanish speaking tourists laughed and encouraged their son to wave back. We all watched, amused at the miniature confrontation before one of the parents decided it was time to part ways. I marveled at how brave and innocent the little girl was walking up to a “stranger” and immediately touching his face. While I recounted the event to Andrew when he returned empty handed, I couldn’t help but wonder at what point do others become “strangers.” And then I was distracted by this family walking by with children slung over their shoulders like bags of rice, and all I could think of was how much I love people.

Day 340: Barcelona Old City Walking Tour

Anxious to get out of bed, but still a bit sleepy, we headed across town to join the Runner Bean Barcelona Old City Walking Tour in the morning. It was great, but it was also very similar to other ‘old city walking tours’ that we’ve been on lately, and my attention wavered more than it should have. I tried to focus on what pretty pictures I could take of Barcelona Old City, and tried to forget that I was still a bit sleep deprived, but I wasn’t always so successful. After the tour, we meandered down by the seaport and walked around to some different eateries in hopes that our friend, Nat would be game to hopping around to a few for tapas at night. She was! We were all thrilled to see each other again (we met in Tanzania a few months ago) and spent a good deal of time trying to sort out where our respective travels have taken us since Arusha!

We met in Plaça Reial by the water fountain and soon we were winding our way through the little streets of the old town towards another square with a big church, and this beautiful still-intact building façade. While everyone couldn’t get enough of the facade and the church, I couldn’t get enough of the scissors and knife shop below.

We walked by a shrine to a young woman who refused to renounce her Catholic faith, then through the Jewish district and finally to one of the more major squares with political buildings on either side. Despite the tour being wonderful and our guide being very knowledgeable, I think Andrew and I were more keen on finding coffee.

We were told this is the most photographed bridge in Barcelona. A pedestrian one at that, the Carrer del Bisbe Irurita is between two buildings in a narrow alleyway in the Gothic Quarter of the Old City. It was beautiful and I could see why it is so popular to photograph. I’m always blown away by such intricate marble and wood carving and how they have survived over the years.

An interesting thing I noticed throughout our tour: all graffiti seemed to be contained to the doors. The beautiful stone buildings were left virtually untouched, but the doors would be COVERED with paint. If I hadn’t been to Greece, I would think it was a shame, but after seeing how everything was covered in Greece, I thought it was somewhat respectful that the walls weren’t covered with tags on top of the doors.

We made our way outside of the Barcelona Cathedral. I’m still working with one lens and knew I didn’t have a chance to fit the whole façade in using it, so I tried to get as much in as possible from where we were standing, looking up. It was immense. There were a lot of people. Instead of fighting our way through, we walked on, past another church, past several mouth-watering tapas restaurants and learned a little bit more about Barcelona Old City, but wasn’t able to retain it over my hunger and need for caffeine. (Sorry, friends)

One stop that I would have not known had it not been for this tour, was inside a small courtyard featuring three old Roman columns. Everyone filtered in, stopped to take them in, mostly in awe of them still being so well preserved, snapped a few pictures, and then we made our way out. One family still lives in one of the apartments surrounding the courtyard. I bet that’s fun dealing with a steady stream of visitors everyday… Afterwards, we made our way to Plaça del Rei (King’s Square) which is most well known for the steps where it is believed that Ferdinand and Isabella welcomed Columbus when he arrived home from his first voyage. Our guide didn’t seem to take a lot of stock in this story, insisting somewhat that it was more likely he was received at sea instead. But who knows! The steps were pretty and grand, so it makes for a good story regardless. Our tour ended not long after and we wandered through the backstreets in a similar direction from where we started. Of course, I was drawn to the street art and then this massive art installation in the middle of a side square. Unfortunately there wasn’t any information (that I saw) about it!

I couldn’t stop taking in the beauty of the apartment buildings. Someone somewhere said that ‘Barcelona knows how to do laundry’ or something similar, and I couldn’t agree more. Laundry, plants, even colorful plastic chairs… It all looks prettier in Barcelona! Close to the port, another modern sculpture dominated a square, otherwise surrounded by traffic. Getting a close up of the colors against the bright blue sky made crossing the street worth it.

Passing the time to meet our friend, we walked through more streets, and looked for suggested tapas restaurants to check out later. When we met Nat, we knew exactly where to go and which places we wanted to try out! We started at Bodega Biarritz for sangria and tapas and then hopped in and out of places we liked the looks of as we walked around the Born and Gothic neighborhoods. Nat told us that the pinchos were tapas put on bread so patrons could cover their drinks so flies wouldn’t get in! So clever! Some of the restaurants were so busy, we couldn’t even get an order in- at one, we actually gave up and went elsewhere because after fifteen minutes or so of trying to get to the counter, we didn’t have any luck! Even though eating so late could take some getting used to, I love the idea of tapas and getting to sample so many different tastes in one sitting. Restaurant hopping to try even more settings and sangria made the evening even better!

Day 339: Barcelona!

You know it’s a bad bus ride when you’re nostalgic for the buses in Vietnam, and (despite the dirt) even those in India. That being said, I do NOT recommend Eurolines when traveling through Europe. Our bus was nearly two hours late. It was full. The lights stayed on. And it was as if every kind of crazy decided to journey to Spain that night. Right on par with the Greyhound these days back home. Not. my. favorite. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we arrived in Barcelona in the morning.

Visiting Barcelona in the summertime turned out to be just like Prague. We had a really really hard time finding a place to stay. Luckily, at the last minute, a couchsurfer messaged us with a room for 10 euros each per night. Not exactly couchsurfing etiquette, but it was better than a 40 euro per night per bunk in a hostel otherwise. This is when I bemoan the fact that Africa absolutely killed our budget. And then Andrew reminds me the safari was worth it.

We slept. for awhile. So long, that when we woke up and realized we hadn’t eaten anything in over 24 hours, Andrew talked me out of wanting to go back to sleep and talked me into going out to find some food. It was roughly 8 or so at night. Spain 101: no one eats until at least 10. Restaurants weren’t even open! We found a sidewalk cafe and ordered a few tapas with a drink while we waited. Filled up on them and when Andrew was satisfied I had enough food to hold me over until the morning, we made our way back to bed. Some of these overnight bus rides take us a few days to get over. We’re getting better than we were at the start of this trip, but that doesn’t make them any easier. It’s like jet-lag only worse because you feel like you shouldn’t be having such a hard time getting over one night of not sleeping…

I was excited to be in Barcelona, but more excited to sleep our first night. My first impression of the city though, was how beautiful the buildings were. I have to admit, I’m somewhat cheating with this post- so you don’t have to suffer through one minute of us sleeping, I’ve compiled some video of buildings throughout the city I shot on other days instead.