Saturday May 16, 2015

Another busy day. Up early and to the train station for a high speed train ride to Figures, the hometown of Salvador Dali. We visited the Dali Theater-Museum with our favorite guide, Jessica who earlier in the week guided us through the Picasso Museum and the Gothic Quarter. 

When we got to Figures the Tramontana wind was a-blowin. These dry, cold winds come down from the Pyrenees and race through this part of Spain. Dali blamed the wind for his perceived mental instability.

The museum is immediately recognizable as it includes a geodesic dome on the roof, a cornice of giant eggs and loafs of the local bread stuck to the outside walls.

Inside things only get stranger. There is a Cadillac with a smashed window that rains inside it when you insert money. 

There is a woman with a loaf of bread on her head and a giant pixelated image of Abraham Lincoln, lots of double images (paintings which illustrate two images simultaneously), many attempts to depict the "fourth dimension" and then, of course, the famous melting clock.

I am making fun which of course is easy to do because Dali is so outrageous but for those of you who think he is nothing but outrageousness here is an example of one of his more realistic paintings.

After the Dali museum it was back on the train for the trip to Girona. This lovely town is quite old and includes Roman artifacts, original city walls, Romanesque and Gothic churches as well as traditional narrow, cobbled "streets" (really alleyways).

Note the Pyrenees in the background 

Russell touching the original Roman walls

Today they were having their annual flower festival in Girona which meant that there were installations of flower art located throughout the town. Of course it also meant that the town was quite crowded but with locals not tourists (such as ourselves). 

Jessica, our guide, asked me what I thought about my visit to Spain and I am afraid I had nothing very profound to share with her. I have to say though that I am worried about this part of Spain. It has so much to offer and so many interesting things to see that I can certainly understand why there are so many visitors. But of course with visitors come problems as the tourist industry will and I suspect already is gradually suffocating other businesses.  The tension is beginning to show. Yesterday at the food market we visited I went to take a photo of a display of chickens that were plucked but still had their heads on, something that I had never seen before. I was told "No photos" by the brusque vendor and walked off wondering to myself why no photos. Our cooking teacher later explained that some of the the vendors in the market don't like the tourists because all they want to do is snap pictures and clog the aisles making life difficult for their regular customers. Of course I can see their point but I also know that this market is truly something special and from a tourist's perspective well worth seeing. It is also located twenty five paces off the main tourist drag, The Ramblas. So what to do? Fortunately, it appears that the locals have not yet abandoned this market despite the number of tourists but how long can that be expected to continue? I guess the most profound thought that I've had with regards to this visit to Barcelona is one that occurred to me fairly early on in our visit and that is: "Is Barcelona being loved to death?" I don't have the answer and I suspect that Barcelona will not be the only place about which I ask that question this summer.

Friday May 15, 2015

Such a lot to tell you about today. We had a wonderful day at Cook & Taste. Davide was our guide/teacher and he took us on a tour of La Boqueria market. Let me tell you this was the market to end all markets. The produce was like artwork -- I mean absolutely gorgeous. And the fish! My Goodness what fish -- stuff I have never seen before. Halfway through the market I turned to Russell and said "This place makes me think I don't know anything about food!"

After purchasing the food for our lunch, the group (2 couples from Australia and two people from Pennsylvania plus ourselves) returned to the cooking school and spent the next three and a half hours cooking and eating. 

We made some antipasto and a cold soup of tomatoes with bread softened in vinegar. It was garnished with Iberico ham, hard boiled egg and onion sprouts. Delicious. Second course was flatbread with sautéed spinach, pine nuts, raisins and salt cod. Also delicious. Our main course was, of course, paella and for desert we had Crema Catalonia (similar to Creme Brûlée). It was a great experience and a good value too.

After our cooking lesson we went to Palau Guell, an early Gaudi building. It was a high-end residence in which Gaudi used many of the techniques and ideas that he would later become famous for most notably mosaic tile work and "crazy" chimney treatments. It was not our favorite Gaudi building but it was interesting and well worth the visit.

Looking up at spectacular ceiling in main room

Dinner tonight was on our own and we chose ... wait for it ... hamburgers. To be fair, they were from a local place and 100% organic. Still it was a far cry from last night's dinner at El Glop. This not so attractively named restaurant was friendly and the food was tasty. We had fried artichokes and ham followed by black rice paella (made with squid ink) and grilled meat. It was quite good and we enjoyed getting to know our tapas' tour guide Claire and her friend Mery (not a spelling error). 

Claire & me with Black Rice Paella 

Earlier in the day (yesterday) we visited Casa Mila which is also known as La Pedrera (the Rock Quarry). I am sure you've seen pictures of this wavy concrete building. The most remarkable feature of the building is its roof which is quite striking -- full of decorated chimneys some of which look like helmeted warriors.

Casa Mila -- they call it a "Casa" but it is really an apartement building

Before La Pedrera we spent several hours touring the Joan (pronounced Zho-Ahn) Miro museum and the Museum of Catalonian Art. We had an excellent guide named Bernat and he explained to us the Miro art and made sure that we didn't miss the best of the Modern Art section of the huge Catalonian art museum. It was a lot of walking so by the end of the day, well obviously I was too tired to write.

On a totally unrelated note, can we talk for a minute about how painful it is to be surrounded by great stuff to buy and not be able to buy it because you have no room in your luggage? (And this is after we went out and bought an emergency fourth suitcase!). It's almost as painful as tons of bookstores with no books in your language! Or huge, beautiful food markets and no cooking facilities. Why it's downright cruel.

At the museum gift shop -- frustrated!

Seriously though I can't believe our time in Barcelona will soon be coming to an end. Two more nights at the hotel and then two nights on the ship in port here and then no more Barcelona for us. We've really enjoyed ourselves here. Russell has said on several occasions that you need a month to explore all that this city has to offer and I am inclined to agree with him.

Wednesday May 13, 2015

Just a quick entry tonight as it is late and I am tired.

Picasso mural

Today we went on another tour. This one was of the Picasso Museum and the Gothic Quarter. I haven't any pictures from the Picasso Museum as they were not allowed with flash or without. Our guide was excellent explaining to us many interesting facts about Picasso and highlighting significant works. Most of the three thousand pieces are from Picasso's earliest years which means that they are more "academic" (i.e., approachable) than his later work. Also, some of the paintings had significant problems which helps me to see why and how the better paintings are better.

After the museum, we went for a walking tour of the medieval/Roman portion of Barcelona. It's amazing to realize that people having been walking these streets and living in these buildings for two thousand years. We even saw columns from the original Roman temple that had been buried within a building and then  uncovered.

Cathedral

We again took a portion of the afternoon for needlepoint and relaxation before heading out on another tapas tour.

Please ignore fact that my third button is undone. I noticed it halfway through the evening. I mean I have been a little daring on this trip, skipping a T shirt on many days and leaving the top two buttons on my shirt undone but three? Well that's just too much!

This time we went to a different part of Barcelona, the Gracia district. This is definitely more off the beaten track and it is a hip/happening part of town. 

I look skeptical but really I am just concentrating on what our guide is telling us about the food

The food we ate tonight was better than last night even though we were served squid croquettes that were finished with squid ink and therefore black in color (surprisingly mild in flavor and not really objectionable).

I also ate tuna and sardines (again). Our guide, John, was very informative and engaging and it was a pleasant evening. A lot of food though and I was definitely feeling stuffed on the mile plus walk back to the hotel.

Casa Battlo at night

Tuesday May 12, 2015

Russell thinks I should call this blog entry "How small can a city of 1.6 million people get?" More about that later.

We had a "Gaudi" tour this morning. I won't explain who Gaudi was -- if you want to know more about him try Wikipedia. Oh, snap. 

First stop Casa Battlo. 

Our tour guide said his favorite word regarding Gaudi is "peculiar". His work was peculiar and the Casa Battlo is a fine example of what makes his work peculiar -- the organic shapes, the symbolism and the interesting color schemes. 

Mushroom fireplace

Garlic bulb turret

Reptile spine staircase

Dragon's back roof

After our tour we took a brief bus ride to Sagrada Familla. The church is undergoing a lot of work in hopes of finishing by the one hundredth anniversary of Gaudi's death in 2026. What it means for today's visitor is that a good portion of the building is shrouded in scaffolding and/or netting while other parts of the building (the recently completed bits) are jarringly (new word?) different (in color) than other parts that were finished decades earlier.

The interior is however totally finished and quite remarkable. It's a different experience to be in such imposing church that is also modern in style. I found it quite refreshing.

It was crowded though.

We took time off in the afternoon in preparation for tonight's tapas tour. We left our hotel at 6:30 to meet the tour group by 6:50 at Placa de l'Angel. So, we headed out with me in the lead taking us confidently directly to Portal de l'Angel. Well, obviously we did not find the Hotel Suizo (in front of which we were supposed to meet) because I had taken us to Portal and not Placa de l'Angel. Okay, no problem, we can handle this. Let's get out the map. Can't find Placa de l'Angel, it's not listed -- but there is a Placa dels Angels (plural not singular). Must be that, right? Off we go -- in the totally opposite direction. Now Russell is on his iPhone telling me that "According to his iPhone I am taking him in totally the wrong direction." Not helpful. Only problem is I was taking him in totally the wrong direction because when we get to Placa dels Angels there is no Hotel Suizo. Now I think "I better check my notes again" and I can see that it says "Placa de l'Angel, in front of Hotel Suizo next to Metro stop Jaume One." Okay, where is metro stop Jaume One? Other side of the Ramblas (in the direction from whence we came). Okay, it is getting late now -- five minutes to seven. Russell: "Let's get a cab". Me: "It won't save us any time. We are better off going by foot." R: "But my nav says..." and "Please can't we just stop and look at the map again." Me: no response. We are getting there though. I have found the street it's on and now we have just a couple of blocks more to go and we made it, five minutes late but they have not left without us. Phew. Oh my G-- I am so hot. And do you know why? Because I decided to dress up tonight's outfit with a summer scarf. Bet you've never heard of one of those. No, you probably haven't and do you know why? Because they are COMPLETELY IMPRACTICAL-- especially for someone with thermal "issues".

So, we meet the group. And it's all guys. Gay guys. Who have just traveled to Barcelona by boat. Which boat? Oh the Celebrity Equinox! And where are they from? Why Delaware of course! And what did they do today? Oh they visited Casa Batllo. And Sagrada Famila. So strange. This is what Russell was referring to when he suggested a name for this blog entry. This plus the fact that we have continued to bump into people who were on our ship in the streets (including this one totally "Thinks-they-are" gay couple that we purposefully dissed because they had earlier rebuffed our attempt to get to know them -- and now they want to get to know us? Oh no, I think not.)

So what about the tapas tour? Well we had a lovely guide named Claire and we visited three places. One was a cheese store then two places for tapas. Small, out of the way places we would never have found on our own (let alone known what to order). It was a fun evening (aside from the plate of fried sardines that was placed directly in front of me!) but probably not worth what we paid if you think of it strictly in terms of amount/cost of food versus cost of ticket. Still we met Claire and she was lovely and she had agreed to go out for dinner with us on Thursday night and she is going to take us to one of her favorite places so that should be fun. 

Alright that is enough blogging for one evening and probably way more than you want to read. I'll tell you this blogging is definitely cutting into my reading time (but I don't mind because you all have been super sweet and encouraging and I appreciate it).

Monday May 11, 2015

Up early and off the boat by eight thirty (they don't waste any time getting rid of you!) 

Unfortunately, there were long lines at immigration and the taxi stand. We did however meet a nice gay couple while waiting in line for a taxi -- Justin and Jason from Los Angeles.

Staff at hotel couldn't have been nicer or more accommodating. Of course we could not check into our room yet (too early) so we grabbed a couple of things and headed out on the streets of Barcelona. It was overwhelming so we retreated to an easy activity: getting on the double decker tour bus for a two hour ride around the city. The city bus tour is a great way to get your bearings. It is not however a great way to get photographs!

Barcelona is crowded.

But we bumped into Justin and Jason again and figured it must be some kind of sign so we made plans to have dinner together.

In the afternoon we went on a tour of the Palace of Catalon Music. This auditorium is an example of modernism done by a contemporary of Gaudi and it is quite spectacular. 

Dinner tonight was vegetarian tapas with the aforementioned Justin and Jason.