Hi. This is Barcelona

Day 5 - Sep 2: Lisbon to Barcelona

We had a morning flight from Lisbon to Barcelona. Now I wouldn't talk much about flights, but Southwest has NOTHING on Vueling. I have never felt so cramped on a flight. The seats are plastic and leather and about an inch thick. There was no way to recline them and my knees hit up against the back of the chair in front of me (and I'm not a tall guy). Plus sodas were 2.50 Euro. Luckily the flight was only an hour and a half.

We arrived at the Le Meridien hotel about an hour before our room was ready. After we checked in, we started down La Rambla looking for a quick bite to eat, Apryl noticed a lot of people with plastic bowls of fruit. We went into every little bakery and food shop we could find, but no fruit. Just as we were about to give up, we saw an incredible food market. Since we were in a hurry, we just grabbed some fruit and told ourselves to return. On La Rambla, there are tons of street performers. Right outside our hotel were two people dressed as gargoyles, the best costumes on the street. Again, since we were in a hurry, we decided to come back and take pictures later. Unfortunately, every day after, they were either setting up or tearing down when we'd walk by. Just goes to show when you are traveling, if you see something you want, get it right then, because you'll never see it again.

We met our guide, Jose, he is from a company called Hi. This is Barcelona. Right off the bat, we both felt like he smelled like an ash tray. He turned out to be a pretty good guide, taking us through the Barrio Gothic, showing us the old quarters and plaza. He is a history buff and had a lot of stories to tell. I like this because it keeps me interested in the walk. We still had some of a language barrier, not quite as simple to understand as Paolo from Lisbon. The tour was supposed to last from 4pm-7pm and then he was to take us to a tapas place to go over the rest of our stay in Barcelona. At 6pm he called the tapas place and they told him they only had a 6:30 reservation. He asked us if that was ok, and we were tired, so we said ok.

At the tapas place, he had some recommendations and we ordered garlic prawns, assorted cheeses and the Iberian sausage. We also got bread that you rub garlic and tomatoes on. Apryl had a Clara, which is half beer, half lemonade. I had a glass of wine. Jose pulled out a map of Barcelona and went over all the places we should go while in town. He also partook in all of the food with us, and near the end, said he had to return a call to his mom and asked if that was okay. We said sure. He came back smelling like smoke. When the bill came, he didn't offer to pay for any of the food, even though he had about a third share. Apryl thought this was weird and was really annoyed. I had planned on saying "Thanks for all the great information, we'll take care of it" but since he never offered to pay, I didn't have the opportunity to offer my thanks, I just had to pay.

He walked us back to the hotel and we crashed.

Day 6 - Sep 3: Barcelona

For breakfast, we decided to head back to the open air food market. It was amazing, every kind of fruit, vegetable, meat and bread you could think of was there. Plus candy and nut stands. It was crazy, locals and tourists weaving in and out of this place. If we had one of these near home, I'd never step foot in a grocery store again. We really have it backwards in the US sometimes. We found out that the fruit bowls and juices are cheaper near the back, places the tourists don't travel as much.

With fruit in hand, we started north of our hotel, into the Modern part of town. Here, the architecture of Gaudi and two others (that I can't remember) can be found. As we walked up the street, we went into the Casa Asia, which is a cultural center for Asians, but the first floor is still in Gaudi style and from the roof, you can see Sagrada Familia, Gauid's most famous, yet still unfinished, work. This saved us time and money seeing the insides of other Gaudi buildings.

We walked down to the Sagrada Familia, it is an amazing building. Still being built (they stopped building during the fascist period of the 20th century), it will not be complete until 2026. The Pope is supposed to dedicate it as a Basillica this upcoming November. We jumped on the metro up to Park Guell, where more Gaudi works can be found. To get to the top of the park, the street is lined with escalators. At each break, was a little takeaway cafe. We stopped at one for a quick bite and some refreshing smoothies. It's still pretty hot here. We wandered through the park, enjoying the facility and more street performers.

From the park, we headed to the Contemporary Art Museum. It was pretty much a waste in our mind, we still don't know where they housed the "art". From here, we finally took some time to wander La Rambla and get lost in the streets and do some shopping (and of course, stop for gelato). After, we rested in our hotel for a while, then headed out to dinner, where Hi. This is Barcelona made us a reservation.

Montiel was the name of the restuarant. We shared a bottle of local wine and another cheese plate, Apryl had the Turbot, a local fresh fish. Apryl thought it was very good and not fishy. I had the "pork delights" which had some sautéed pork loin combined with the Iberian ham and apple pure. I really enjoyed this dish. Nothing jumped out at us for dessert (crazy I know) but we did manage to get some more ice cream in before heading for bed.

Day 7 - Sep 4: Barcelona

Back to the food market for breakfast, this time we are focusing on the south side of town. On the way to our first stop, we had two experiences. All of the sudden, Apryl says turn around and walk fast so that we can turn around again and be ready to take a picture. Just as she said that, I saw a man walking down the street. He has tattoos all over his body, including underwear/speedo tattoo'd around his butt and waist, so at first glance, you didn't think he was naked. As soon as the grocery bag that he was carrying swayed to his side, there was no mistaking he was naked. It was the biggest flaccid schlong (Apryl's term) we had ever seen. We think it was even tattoo'd, but we can't completely remember and the only picture Apryl got, the grocery bag mostly covered it up. We laughed about this for the rest of the day and hoped upon hope that we'd see him at the beach later that day. The second experience was a chocolate shop, not quite as interesting.

The Museu Picasso has an extensive collection, mainly because it opened before he died and he donated a lot of his collection to it. If you ever see a traveling Picasso exhibit, more than likely this museum owns the collection. After the museum, it was time to head to the beach for lunch. Apryl has been craving Paella since we landed in Spain and Jose recommended Salamonca. Unfortunately, to have paella, you have to have a minimum of two people. I was up for paella, but not the seafood kind and so Apryl had to settle for meat (chicken and rabbit) instead.

Finally, the beach. Apryl was on the search for schlong, and I was on the lookout for boobs.. Unfortunately, no old naked man in site, and the only topless women were over 60. Oh well, we still enjoyed the boardwalk, it was a nice day out (at least in the shade). We made it to Port Olympica, had some ice cream and headed back down the beach. We stopped for a beer, caught a glimpse of the new W hotel and then back up into town to catch the metro, a funicular and an aerial gondola to the top of the mountain. Another castle, but an amazing view of the city and the beaches. We walked down the mountain, I pushed some kids out of the way to go down a slide and then one missed turn later, we made it to the National Museum.

The Museum is in a beautiful building, but we were too tired to check out the inside. The main reason we were there was for the Magic Fountain. Think Bellagio with color. Unfortunately, it didn't go off for another hour. That didn't stop us from getting a cup of sangria before deciding to head back near the hotel where we knew of some restaurants. Already having tapas, a nice dinner and paella, neither one of us was up for Spanish food. So, we decided on the Hard Rock.. Yup.. We admit it.. But wait! a 45 minute wait, not for us. We went around the corner and there was a pizza restaurant, in the biggest tourist district of the city, its going to be over priced and not very good.. We were wrong! Apryl had a fresh Margharita pizza and I had an Americana pizza. Both were delicious and really good value, especially when you add in the pitcher of sangria and the dough balls we had.

We headed back to the fountains, they were pretty spectacular, even Apryl thought they were pretty cool and she's usually not into it. We went in search of a top dessert place, but alas it eluded us, probably because it was closed by the time we got there, but we just didn't find it. A long long day, and more walking than we've done all trip. Tomorrow we fly to Seville, rent a car and drive to Cordoba, where it was recently 100+ degrees.. Ouch!

Til Next time!