The Barcelona 100 - Take 2

Teddy and I were headed to the beach. Note that we did not bring any towels with us for this trip. I usually take my showers at night, and my plan was to stand in the shower until most of the water dripped off me and then let the rest evaporate as I was falling asleep. This worked fairly well taking a shower the first night. However, going to the beach is an entirely different matter, as sand gets everywhere and you want a towel to sit on. Additionally, the temperature always seems cooler at the beach than a kilometre away from the beach, and a toasty 30 ᴼ C suddenly becomes a pleasant 28 ᴼ C. [I just made those numbers up.]

Beach!

We got to the beach, nestled down on a bit of sand, and watched the waves roll in, the people walk by, and the sky change colors. The beaches in Barcelona are not very clean, and I only stood in the water up to my knees – Mediterranean water, mind you. Teddy and I took our turns in the water because we didn’t want our stuff to get stolen, and then for the rest of the time we laid with our heads resting on our shirts (resting on our purses resting on our flip flops resting on the sand). We stared up at the pinky-blue sky and watched as the clouds changed shape.

It sounds so wonderful, sitting on a beach in Barcelona and watching as the clouds scud by, naming shapes and letting the imagination take hold of the sky. There is something Romantic in it all, a feeling that I had while sitting there and three days later when I’m writing this post.

The National Art Museum and its fountains.

Afterwards, we caught bus to Playa Espanya. (Catalan is different than Castellano, and as a person who is learning Spanish, I found it really confusing. Who calls an exit a “sortida”? What happened to the familiarity of “salida” which you find in the Madrid metro?) We got off at the huge roundabout there, and my eyes went wide at the two towers which marked a wide street up towards the National Art Museum. The street was lined with light water fountains, and at the end of the street on top of a hill was a gigantic fountain. A crowd had gathered around it, and after a few minutes of waiting, music started playing and the lights changed color in a water show. It was like misty magic playing right in front of our eyes.

The magical fountain, which kind of looks like a jell-o pudding.

Afterwards, we went back to Las Ramblas and grabbed a bite to eat at an all-you-can-eat tapas bar.

And now on to Monday. The evening at Hostel New York was much quieter, although it was much hotter than the night at Auberg Palau. We checked out, took a quick jaunt to the train station to leave our bags in a locker, and then we went out adventuring again. This time, we went to the Casa Mila, did some shopping, and then I took a quick tour of the Casa Batllo because I really wanted to see it. Both of these buildings were again done by Antoni Gaudi, and they were pretty amazing. I only spent about 25 minutes at the Casa Batllo because Teddy and I had to catch a train back to Madrid in less than two and a half hours after I purchased my ticket.

Casa Mila

Casa Battlo

Casa Mila again

However, actually being there, my expectations overran the experience. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. If you read my last post, you should know that I had dreamed of seeing these places for five years. That’s quite some expectation. However, now as I look back on my pictures, the buildings are indeed very beautiful. Perhaps the downfall of Guadi’s architecture is so detailed that it needs to be focused, cut, cropped, and bounded within a photograph.

After the casas, we caught the train back to Madrid, and our Barcelona adventure faded back into quotidian Madrid life. This has been only a quick sketch of my few days in Barcelona, and obviously a lot of thoughts and details are missing. I have to keep some things for myself, don’t I?