May 14/15th, Barcelona
We flew out Monday, May 14th at 6:20pm. Had about a 6 hour flight to Madrid, overnight. Flew Iberia, cheap airline, bad airline food, tight quarters. Got to Madrid, which is an architecturally cool airport.
We arrived in Barcelona in the morning, found our B&B, a really cute 4 room apartment right in the old part of Barcelona. We were lucky to get a balcony in our room, which was cool to look out onto the streets from. After we dropped off our luggage we went and wandered around the streets of Barri Gòtic, the area we were staying in. Some things we saw, a cool storefront:
small, windy streets that bikers, mopeds and cars somehow fit down:
The first place we ate at was pretty mediocre, but they served us outside, and we got to sit in the sunshine, drinking our first Spanish beer (San Miguel). later on we walked down the street to the bay area while the sun was starting to set, and then crossed the cool bridge:
We happened upon some used nips, how homey, almost felt like we were down by the Charles:
That night we went out again to find a dinner place. We happened upon Princesa 23. Good food, sort of a mixed interior, some of the decor was cool, some just cheesy. They had good tapas though, and we drank some Marques de Caceres Rioja.
May 16th, Barcelona
The next morning we walked down to the Mercat Boqueria. Basically, this incredible fresh food market in Barcelona. I had no idea what we were in for. I have been to markets before in Europe, but this was by far, the best one yet. My pictures may speak for themselves, but we basically started our day off with fresh fruit juice, and I mean fresh, literally squeezed right from the fruit, no sugar additives, nothing. The following pix will display some meat, spices, dried things, fish, snout, feet, lamb heads, candy, nuts, and probably other things I'm forgetting:
Afterwards, we walked through Plaça del Pi, and went to see the Cathedral de la Seu.
It was under repair, but it was still an impressive church. It was hard to take photos of the high ceilings, but I tried by best. Here are some of the better pix:
The cloister with geese and an orange tree, there are always supposed to be 13 geese, with each goose representing one year in the life of the martyr Santa Eulalia:
The crypt of Saint Eulalia:
Another prevailant trend around Barcelona was the graffiti. We saw so much graffiti, I tried to capture as many as I could. Here's one I really liked:
We then happened upon another church in the area on teh way to the Museu Picasso. This church was called St. Maria Del Mar. This had a cool rose window, buttresses and a small door!
more awesome graffiti:
We did stop at the Museu Picasso. We had read some mixed reviews, but we didn't go in there thinking we were going to see his greatest works, we were prepared to see a lot of his student work. It was actually really incredible. I saw so many pieces and things by Picasso that I didn't know he ever did. Plus, just the idea that he created most of the art in the museum before the age of 20 was astounding. We tried to eat at Cal Pep in Pl. des Olles, but just missed closing time, so we ended up at an Italian bar called Gravin. It was still good, I got a risotto dish that I enjoyed.
Later on that night, we headed out, stopping first at Tasty, a bar right next to our room. It was really cozy and they served a great Mojito.
Then it was off to try and get a bite to eat at Cal Pep again. It was rumored to have the best tapas in town, and the owner of Central Kitchen told Gary to go there. Luckily, we got there in the knick of time for dinner, we were the last to be seated around 11:30/11:45pm!
It was a very unassuming place to eat. We met a couple in line, one of the women owned a sushi restaurant in the San Fran Bay area. Apparently they have come to Cal Pep before, and they gave us some pointers. We were going to try and sit together, but due to the way things worked there, as soon as seats became available they sat you down and fed you, so we had to wait till two more seats opened up and they ended up being at the other end of the bar. It was ok though, we got to see Cal Pep himself, and take this picture:
Plus, check out some of this food. That's some tuna tartar with crackers, chickpeas with spinach, my awesome menu, and the remnants of something else that slips my memory.
I also ate clams, that I thought were delicious, I have never thought that about clams before. ever. We split a bottle of red wine, had some prawns, known as Gambas, which turned out to not only be the most expensive dish on our bill, but also my least favorite! oops! I guess you live and learn. We finished off dinner with a strawberries and cream and mousse cup.
May 17th, Barcelona
The next morning, we got up and ate at this great place called Bar Oviso. We got wonderful sandwiches and café con leche, while sitting in a really cool atmosphere. Then we were off, and took the metro to Temple de la Sagrada Família.
I had never heard of this place before going to Barcelona, but it is an incredible undertaking. The name means 'The Holy Family' and this is basically a temple that began in 1882 and designed by Antoni Gaudí that is awe-inspiring. The architecture alone is like nothing I have ever seen. Gaudí designed a number of buildings in Barcelona, and I have more that I will post, but this was by far his largest endeavor. He used lots of organic inspiration, claiming that the tree outside his window was his teacher.
The church will have 3 façades. This one is from the passion façade:
this is from the nativity façade:
The difference in design was astounding. The passion façade has spare, gaunt, tormented characters, including emaciated figures of Christ being flogged and on the crucifix, whereas the nativity façade is definitely softer, but also a little overwhelming and 'crowded' compared to the passion. The third - glory façade is still not finished. Currently, they are only about 50% through construction of the temple. Since we were there, we took the elevator up about 60m to the towers. From there we got some great views overlooking Barcelona, one of the incredibly phallic building Torre Agbar as well as a hidden rose window and some more organic-inspired structures of the temple:
Afterwards, we walked to Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera (The Quarry). We got there about an hour before closing, and did a fast walk through tour.
This is another building by Antoni Gaudí, designed from 1906 to 1910 to be an apartment building in L'Eixample District. The rooftop was pretty rad:
On the way back to the room, we stopped outside Casa Batlló. Yes, this is another Gaudí, also in the Eixample District. This was originally designed for a middle class family! We didn't go inside, since we had our share of architecture for the day, but here's the outside:
Then we happened upon a bunch of sculptures, lining a street by Igor Mitoraj. There were a lot of torso sculptures as well as angelic qualities to the sculptures.
I wanted to add this in since it was a cool picture of this catwalk between pl. la seu and pl. saint jaume. I am not sure what it was for, but I liked it.
That night we ate at probably the WORST restaurant in Barcelona, and we almost walked out on the bill, but we didn't, we just decided to not leave a tip and get out of there as fast as possible!
May 18th, Barcelona
The next morning we went to Escriba which was next to the Boqueria, because it was listed in a magazine on the plane. There wasn't great service, and they didn't have the pastry I wanted, but it was still pretty tasty, and they had a cool tilework.
We decided to head to Park Güell. Yes, this park was designed by, you guessed it, Gaudí. It was quite an uphill hike to get to the park, luckily they actually had escalators in the streets to help. I was grateful, because there were still parts we had to walk. Reminded me of San Fran on crack. Here's Gary at the top of the escalators:
It was worth the hike, it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day and we got to overlook the city and walk around and hang out with nature while still being in the city.
Then we got to the 'entrance' of the park, which was different then the place we entered, but had some cool children-story inspired buildings (that were designed without any corners) with mosaic tiled benches and other fun, obviously Gaudí designed structures.
After the park we grabbed some gelato (banana-chocolate) and cafe, then headed back into the city and at at Tapa Tapa for some wonderful little tapas and beer (Krombacker Pilsner). Then we stopped at the Antoni Tapies museum, which was free. It wasn't my style, but he is pretty big in Spain. We ended up seeing more of his work at The Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art in Madrid.
Then we decided to head into El Raval, a section of Barcelona that used to be known as the slum of the old Barcelona, complete with a red-light zone. But now it's the new 'hip' place to be. You could tell it was up and coming, there were a lot more run-down buildings. We walked by the University and wandered into a few really awesome stores. Here's a picture of the area outside the contemporary art museum:
Since the museum was open till midnight, we decided to go there for a bit before dinner.
We saw some fun things, but nothing I wrote down to remember, it was just cool that it was free. We ended up eating at H Original, a restaurant Gary had previously had a beer in while I wandered around and shopped. It was delicious! We had a Beef Carpaccio Salad with foie gras shavings, plus lamb and potatoes in a sweet sauce and a side of 'bomb' rice with veggies, plus wine, of course. Oh, almost forgot, even after gorging ourselves, we still rocked this awesome dessert of heated chocolate cake with caramel gelato and orange sauce.
On the way home we saw more cool graffiti, one right after my own heart.
After we stopped off at home, we headed back out to see what a Friday night in Barcelona would be like. We met this girl from Manchester, England outside of that bar Tasty. We chatted with her a bit, and she told us where to head for a drink. We took her advice and went to this place Glacier in Placa de Reial, but it was crowded and the atmosphere wasn't what we had in mind, so we ended up at Sidecar. Very cool bar. Apparently Lisa Germano played there the night before, but we missed it.
May 19th, Barcelona
The next morning we tried to go to a flea market, but we weren't impressed with their abundant supply of socks, shoes and underwear, so we left and headed back into Raval so I could capture some more graffiti since my camera was all smudgy the night before, plus do a little shopping. That's when I found the only thing I bought as a souvenir the entire trip - a cool tank by Smash Wear.
Then we went to Pintoxo in the Mercat de la Boqueria, another place recommended to us by Gary's boss. I'm a little mad I didn't get a picture of this place. It was intense, I was stressed out just watching and waiting for a seat. I'm not sure how the man who serves everyone manages! He is def. into his 70s! It was worth everything though. I sat next to a nice gentleman who was a regular from the area. He spoke a little English and talked with Gary and I about the food. I don't remember everything we ate, I know we had a beef and potato dish, a whitefish and bean dish (if I remember correctly) and at least one other thing. Plus we ended it with this incredible pastry, I don't know the name of it, but it was filled with a custard and it was perfectly baked with a crispy, flaky crust. Sooooo good.
We had wanted to go to Barceloneta and goto the beach, but the weather wasn't really good, so we headed back to the room and rested a bit. Earlier in the week we decided to try and see a performance at the The Palau de la Música Catalana, so we bought tickets to see Ariel Rot perform as part of this Guitar Festival that was going on. One the way there we stopped at a Mexican restaurant called Rosa Negro. They had a really cool interior and pretty decent food.
The Palau building was amazing. The concert - not so amazing, but we sat through it and tried to enjoy ourselves. I would recommend Ariel Rot to my mom though! We weren't supposed to take photos inside, but I snuck in a couple. This one is the best:
May 20th, Madrid
We got up on Sunday and headed out to the airport to go to Madrid. Talk about tired! I'm not sure I slept more then 3 hours a night in Barcelona. I'm not sure when people sleep there, but it's not at night! So I was looking forward to a new area, hopefully quieter, to get a good nights rest. We arrived in Madrid early afternoon and found our hostel relatively easily with the help of the airport information desk. Once again we had picked an excellent location, right in the center of everything. The Dolce Vita Hostel we booked was really fun, each room having it's own eclectic mix of decorations. This was the view from our balcony:
Unfortunately I don't have as good an account of Madrid, I stopped taking notes like I did in Barcelona, but I'll try to recap the best I can. I know we found a good restaurant to split some vegetable paella. Then we tried to see a bullfight at Las Ventas, the bullring in Madrid. We were there during the San Isidro Fiesta, which basically means that they have three consecutive weeks of bullfighting. Unfortunately it was looking a little overcast when we bought our tickets.
Pretty cool reflection on that garbage lady! I snapped these photos of the ring anyways:
We were seated in the lower section, with no overhead coverage, but we were pretty close to the ring. However, before the fights started it began to rain, then downpour. Gary tried to go find ponchos or an umbrella for us while I sat in the rain with my jacket over my head, but I ended up giving up and running inside, drenched. They ended up postponing the fight for 30 min, luckily Gary and I found each other, then they canceled it altogether. We had to return the next day for a refund since they rescheduled it for June. Too bad we wouldn't be there for it! Oh well, it was a silly night, I felt like a wet dog and had to hang all my clothes up to dry.
Oh, something I enjoyed on the metro were the funny warning signs about minding the door and not stepping into the gap between the train and platform:
May 21st, Madrid
So, I had copied a couple things out of an old 2004 travel book for Spain that I got from the library. One of them was a walking tour of old Madrid. Gary and I set out to see what it was all about. We started in Plaza Mayor.
This is basically the central plaza of Madrid, with a pretty unique history of markets, bullfights, soccer games, public executions, and, during the Spanish Inquisition, "autos de fe" against supposed heretics and the executions of those condemned to death. Then we walked by Botín Restaurant, noted in the guiness book of world records as the oldest restaurant in the world, dating back to 1725.
The street we were walking down, Calle Cuchilleros also used to be a moat outside the city walls. You could sort of see it in the way it curved around.
Of course we stopped for a quick gelato. I am double-fisting, but it's just because I'm holding Gary's as well as he took the photo. I do want a garbage can like that though!
Actually, where we got the gelatos was in Puerta Cerrada (Closed Gate) which is where the city gates used to stand. There were some cool murals, including a saying "Fui sobre agua edificada; mis muros de fuego son" ("I was built on water; my walls are made of fire") a reference to the city's origins as a fortress with abundant springs and its ramparts, made of the kind of flint that creates sparks. Then we walked past San Pedro el Viejo, one of Madrid's oldest churches. It wasn't open, but you could see how different it was in comparison to the Barcelona churches. Next door there was a cool garden we wandered into:
Also, there wasn't as much graffiti, but I did happen upon this one that I liked:
Then we went to the Basilica de San Francisco el Grande.
Inside there are frescos by Goya, and it's an example of neoclassical architecture, but they were closed Mondays like a lot of other places we passed by. And you wouldn't be in Europe if you didn't see those 'smart cars' everywhere, so Gary posed for these two pictures, which I think show two awesome perspectives.
Since we were in the area, we decided to drop by the Royal Palace. It is now a museum, although they still use it for head of state visits and other ceremonies. We saw some great art, ceiling frescos and beautiful, original decor. They even have a room that is made out of porcelain. We weren't allowed to take photos inside unfortunately. Here are some of the exterior at least, and it also includes a view overlooking part of Madrid.
Then we had an amusing walk home, in which I took these photos:
That second one is hard to see, but the place had a penguin statue holding a beer, and this guy was on his bicycle, which was stationary, peddling to use what looked like a sharpening tool. Then we didn't have time to stop, but hopped on the metro at Puerta del Sol, which looked like a really cool area:
We took the train to the Museo de Arte Reina Sofia, this is the museum that houses the famous Picasso painting Guernica, which was absolutely amazing, and big (137.4 × 305.5 in). This is also when Gary and I started to get sick after eating a bad salad :( Luckily, we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Plus, check out the view from the glass elevator in the museum!
May 22nd, Madrid
Last full day in Spain. Gary and I woke up, fully rested, a little under the weather, but feeling like we could at least conquer the Prado Museum. On our walk there, we passed the impressive Palacio de Comunicaciones
Then we walked up the Paseo del Prado to the Museo del Prado. This is one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century through the early 19th century. We got to see Velázquez's work Las Meninas, plus work by Goya, El Greco and a Rembrandt. Unfortunately, we were both feeling under the weather, so our tour was cut short, and we went home to rest in hopes of feeling well enough to try and catch a bullfight. Luckily it seemed to help, and we woke up and headed out to Las Ventas for a last attempt at seeing a bullfight before heading back. The weather wasn't looking great, but we got cheaper tickets then on Sunday, which turned out to be a blessing because they were actually located under a roof, plus we prepared ourselves with ponchos. We were successful! Since it didn't start raining until halfway through the fights, they kept on until they finished. The bullfighters listed for that night were two French matadors, Juan Bautista, Sebastian Castella and a Spaniard, Ambel Posada. I found someone else's blog on the fight online here. I got to sit next to a local older woman from Madrid who was so cute. She kept talking to me in Spanish, but I had no idea what she was saying. Gary helped decode some of it. It was a little hard to follow all that was happening, but I did some research, here is what I found online:
Each corrida (bullfight) is made up of faenas (15 min. sections). Each faena is divided into three sections. In the first section, the bull's strength is tested by the matador and his assistants, who at this point are using large magenta and yellow capes. The bull is then weakened by picadors on horseback who lance the bull in the back of the neck. In addition to weakening the bull, this forces it to drop its head to the level of the bullfighters' capes.
During the second section, the banderilleros stab long brightly-coloured barbed sticks, the banderillas, into the back of the oncoming bull. The banderilleras are designed to remain in the bull's back for the duration of the bullfight, and are meant to aggravate it.
In the final section, the matador faces the bull alone. Now using a small red cape, he carries out a series of elegant manoeuvres designed to demonstrate his bravery and skill.
When he is ready to kill the bull, he exchanges the long straight sword he has been using to position his cape for a smaller one with a curved end. To carry out the kill, the matador holds his cape in such a way as to mimic the angle formed by the head of a charging bull. As the bull charges in response, it exposes the vital area between the shoulder blades where the matador must insert his sword to reach the bull's heart. In a good bullfight, this is successfully accomplished in the first attempt, but usually several attempts are required to subdue the bull.
We didn't see any matador successfully kill a bull on the first attempt. However, we did see Castella get caught up in the bull's horns and tossed around, literally, like a rag doll. It was horrifying to watch. Luckily he was ok, and able to finish the fight, even though you could tell he was a little nervous. Here's a short video of it, plus you can also hear the thunderstorm above:
We also watched a couple of the bulls be corralled out of the ring. They managed this by introducing a bunch of female cows with bells around their necks that were trained to enter the ring, then leave the ring, and out of instinct, the bull followed them.
I tried to look up what makes a good bull, I found that it needs to be fierce and at the same time noble and dignified. It needs to keep its head low, move well and have plenty of endurance. So if they are too ferocious and unpredictable, then the matador doesn't want anything to do with them, if they are too tame, the audience is unsatisfied. Also bulls are only used for one fight, in which they are expected to die if they are of the right character, otherwise if he is exposed to a fight with a man, he learns enough to become really dangerous.
It was also fun to listen to the crowd, here they are yelling olé.
Anyways, we managed through the rain,being tired and ill and had a good last night in Spain.
So, if this wasn't enough for you, all the photos we took can be viewed online here.
