Barcelona

Time for another bloggity-blog.

Our last day in cold Madrid was  a bit of a recovery day.  We walked to a park and sat on the grass in the sun, checked out a little photo exposition at a museum, and watched Wolf of Wall Street at the theatre.  It is clear to us that even three full days in one place is a bit too much.  We do two days of marching around sightseeing and then we're ready to move on to the next place.  I read about that in one of our guide books and thought the guy was crazy, but it turns out he was right.

Yesterday we boarded the two and a half-hour train to Barcelona.  The countryside that flew by at 250 km/hr just outside the window was amazing!  It changed from low lying hills covered in scrub and a few trees to foothills with miniature forests covering their tops like patchwork.  At one point, we cruised through fields and deep river valleys covered with a dusting of snow.  That was a surprise!  Then we crossed over orchard country, followed by tall, rocky outcrops and small, jagged mountain ranges.  At times the ocean made an appearance to the east.  Not bad for an afternoon drive in the country!

Some of the scenery on the way to Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona in the early afternoon and rushed along with the crowds from the train station to the metro and out onto the bustling tourist district.  It took twenty-five minutes to reach our apartment, located right in the heart of the Gothic District - the oldest part of town.  As I sit in front of our street-facing window I can hear the old church bells ring out through the narrow streets and century-old architecture.  I have to give it these places - they have their charm!

Last night we wondered the streets in search of a place to eat and window shop.  We came across a group of colourful acrobats dancing in the streets as part of the Carnaval celebration - set to take place next Tuesday.  People were dancing in the streets as the acrobats flipped and twirled and cheered. Colourful balloons escaped from the grasp of small children and floated upwards against the stone walls of the church.  It was pretty spectacular.

Window shopping: This Iberian ham is world famous.  The more chestnuts the pig is fed, the happier it is considered to be so it costs more.  These are very common snacks in every town or city we visited.

We found a great place to eat and noticed the menus here (and train announcements) are all in two languages: spanish and catalan, a language only spoken here in Catalonia.  Kind of interesting really.

Today we are going to spend the day on foot, looking at some of Gaudi's famous architecture and perhaps visit the Picasso Museum.