Barcelona - 21 September 2011 (2)

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

Then I had my crazy idea for the trip and decided that the Sagrada Familia did not look that far away on the map and we could walk it.  We just needed to keep heading right and then left, one block at a time and we would find it.  We walked slowly, looking for the parrots which we could hear overhead and taking frequent rest stops whenever there was a seat.  By the time we hit some streets which were named on my map, we were nearer to our target than I had expected, almost being at Tetuan Square.

Sagrada Familia

Elevator on Sagrada Familia

We mostly succeeded in keeping out of the sun as the buildings cast shadows over the pavements and there were several tree lined avenues and squares.  This was definitely not the tourist area and, although there were cafés on every street, they didn’t seem welcoming. 

As we were crossing the Diagonal, a main street which lies diagonally to the main grid, we were very relieved to see the unmistakeable spires of the cathedral rising above the buildings.  We only had two more blocks to negotiate.  Just before the cathedral and back in the tourist zone, we found a decent café and went in for a much deserved and appreciated ice-cream.

Crane beside Sagrada Familia

Cranes by Sagrada Familia

Gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familia is known both for being decidedly original in design and for being unfinished.  It did not disappoint.  There seemed to be a lot of building going on.  The cranes were very active, swinging this way and that and lowering things in place.  Men were going up and down in the lifts and we happily took photos.  We didn’t go inside, but looked at the outside for a considerable time.

Sagrada Familia

When we had finally had our fill, I decided to be nice to my mum and try getting back on the Metro.  I got a T-10 ticket for €8.25, which the guide book said gave 10 rides and could be used by more than one person.  It was quite complicated getting to the correct Metro line, and involved walking along a platform, climbing stairs at the end walking a bit and then going back down to another platform.  Our first two rides were back to the Passeig de Gracia, where we emerged just down from our favourite bar where we had two freshly squeezed orange juices.

As we walked back to the hotel, we finally got good views of a parrot.  It was in the trees on the Plaça de Catalunya.  We called into the hotel for a brief rest and recovery and then headed off to eat.

Barcelona - 21 September 2011 (1)

I slept really well and didn’t get up until after 07.00.  We left the hotel after 09.00 and went for a coffee having eaten the last of our croissants for breakfast.  We found a very nice bar just a few doors down from where we had eaten breakfast on Monday.

After coffee, we walked down to the Picasso Museum.  There was a long queue but it went down fairly quickly.  My mum wanted to see a picture Picasso had painted of his mother when he was seventeen, but it wasn’t in the museum.  Lots of Picasso’s works are scattered around galleries and collections throughout the world and the museum can only offer a taste of the different styles he adopted throughout his life.

The paintings from Picasso’s first few years were very good but I felt it went downhill after that.  Call me a cultural peasant if you wish, but his drawings of doves in the later years reminded me of the birds in that unforgettable series “Rhoobarb and Custard”.  The last few rooms of the museum were entirely devoted to his version of the Goya painting of the Spanish Infantas.  I preferred the original.  We noticed how many of the paintings were displayed with Picasso’s sketchbooks to show how the paintings evolved.  I told my mum to keep her sketches as they could be worth a bit in the future.  The trouble is that my mum rarely sketches and gets the painting right first time.

We left the museum and found somewhere for a coffee.  I had a look in the guidebook and read that the Museum of the History of Barcelona had Roman ruins in the basement.  Not having had an adequate fix of ruins in Tarragona, this was a must-see, so off we went.

At the museum, I checked my rucksack into locker number 40 and we got the included audio tour.  This was better than the Picasso Museum where the audio tour would have been an extra €3 each.

The “time machine” which took us down to the ruins wasn’t nearly as much fun as the one in the Yorvik Museum in York.  It was just a lift with the date lit up which ran from 2011 to 12BC as we went down.

I’ve been in many Ancient Roman cities in my time, but never before have I strolled in a laundry, a garum and fish processing factory or a winery.  I have now and it was dead interesting.  I guess the museum had to make do with whatever happened to be underneath the building and they did it well.  In other sites, like Leptis Magna, Sabretha, Jerash or Dougga, similar establishments would be lying amongst all the rubble at the fringes of the site, never to be restored or included in the tours.

At the end of the site was the episcopal palace of AD600 and then we climbed to the mediaeval hall, where we had to return our audio guides.  After a comfort break, we were given the choice of the chapel or the exit.  We chose the exit but, big panic, it didn’t lead to the lockers.  Instead it led to a small square where they were erecting scaffolding for a concert for the fiesta.  We were right outside the museum.  Waving my locker keys, I asked a random security man for help and he escorted me to the museum entrance where I was happily reunited with my rucksack.

We then wandered off and found a small café with two courses for €10.90 and which had several vegetarian options.  We started with beetroot salmorejo as it is similar to gaspacho.  I loved it because it was so flavour packed that it made your eyes water.  My mother was not so impressed.  The soup was followed by hake for my mum and zucchini risotto for me.  Drink was included and I think deserts were too, but we didn’t have any.

Barcelona - 20 September 2011 (2)

When we finally got off the train at the Passeig de Gracia, they had opened a gate so we could go up out of the station straight from the platform.  We emerged off the beaten track and off the map, but I headed downhill and to the right and we soon reached a familiar junction on the main road.

Barcelona was having a book fair, so we walked down past a near continuous line of book stalls.  This would be a great idea for Parliament Street one week, especially as Borders is now closed.  There are quite a few second hand book shops in York so they could be given stalls as well and sellers from outside town.  Perhaps I might write and suggest it.

The pigeons were casting long shadows on the square as we walked across.  People sell food for them so they are very tame.  As we walked through the feathered crowds, they were unfazed and barely moved.  One even preened itself right in front of us.

As we got our key from reception, someone tried to get a room for the several nights.  I listened in with trepidation in case he was quoted a much lower rate than I had paid.  I was relieved to hear that they were fully booked from Wednesday evening.

Fountain in Placa de Catalunya

After dumping our stuff and when my mum had cooled down, we headed through the square and went back to the bar of the previous evening.  Instead of sitting outside, we sat at the bar.  My mum had a shandy which they call a “clara” and I enjoyed a freshly squeezed orange juice.  All the bocadillos were laid out on the bar, so we were tempted to order three: prawns and crab; smoked salmon and cheese; and asparagus, as well as two tapas: mushrooms and patatas bravas.  The barmen started off being quite chatty.  The main one working on our section introduced us to his daughters, who were still small.  One wanted to be a bank manager and the other a dancer.  They were eating with three women, one of which was his wife.  We had another drink and then got the bill.

Fountain in Placa de Catalunya

Blue lights were flashing and we saw our third demonstration in as many days as we walked home across the square.  It seemed a half-hearted affair with the demonstrators being outnumbered by the police vans, let alone the police.  We went to look at the fountains which were all illuminated and then sat on a bench.  There was an argument going on at the next bench, where one boy was talking very loudly and was being pushed back on the seat by three other boys whenever he tried to stand up.  He said sorry and complained that they were treating him badly, but none of his friends sitting next to him even appeared to notice.  So we moved on and went to a shoe shop where, thanks to my excellent mime, my mum bought a pair of inner soles to help her aching feet.  Then we went back to our hotel to recover sufficiently for a day of walking round the old town the next day.

Tarragona - 20 September 2011 (2)

The Bells!

First stop was a café for more drinks.  My mum and Ann caught up with the last five years and reminisced about when they met and the other characters at the night school.  I chatted to James who I had not met before.  At 12.00, it got very noisy as two sets of bells nearby started to ring.  We paid our bill and moved on swiftly.

Roman Wall in Placa del Forum, Tarragona

Fountain in Placa del Forum, Tarragona

We wandered slowly through the town, looking for somewhere to eat.  I liked the brightly painted houses and the Plaça del Forum, which included a freestanding part of a Roman wall and two interesting fountains.  We walked past the Cathedral of Santa Maria and found a square where there were two open air restaurants.

Cathedral of Santa Maria, Tarragona

Tarragona Old Town

We ignored the first and more expensive restaurant and sat down in the smaller one after the lady had assured us that they could cope with a vegetarian.  My mum tasted gaspacho for the first time and liked it which was very good news.  I also had omelette and chips and then Ann, my mum and I all had the ubiquitous flan.  Once again, it was my mum’s first taste and again, she enjoyed it.  James kept topping my glass up throughout the meal, so I had quite a lot of wine and water.  My mum and Ann talked and talked the whole time.  For all I hadn’t seen Ann since before I went to university, she did not seem to have changed much.

Decorated Bollard, Tarragona

Statue end Rambla Nova, Tarragona

We still had nearly two hours before Ann and James had to catch their train, so we slowly wandered around the town and eventually reached La Rambla Nova.  We stopped at the end for another coffee and then made our way down the steps.  I chatted to James and left the other two Ann(e)s to chat and chat.

My timetable said that there was a train at 16.58 but, when we reached the station, we found there was one at 15.53.  Ann and James's train was at 16.08, so it worked out well.  When it was time, we said our goodbyes and went to our platform.  It was very narrow with less clearance around the steps to the subway than we get beyond the yellow lines on UK platforms.  The drop from the platform to the rail below was small, which explained why the step up into the train was so high.

Tarragona Station

A young guy kindly gave his seat up for my mum and I perched on the end.  From there I could see Ann and James waiting on their platform, so we waved.  Eventually they saw us and waved back.  The train was ten minutes late.  We waved at each other again as the train pulled in, until we lost eye contact.

When the train came in, there was a mad crush to get on.  The same guy offered his seat to my mum, but we said thankyou but no as we thought we would get two seats together further in.  Some hope.  Fortunately, the train started to empty at the next station and we managed to get two facing seats.

Tarragona - 20 September 2011 (1)

Tarragona Amphitheatre

Tarragona station was very modern and clean but the ladies was shut.  We walked outside and headed to the right.  The grey haired man reappeared and asked where we were going.  He gave us instructions and showed us a map to explain them.  Tarragona is up a hill and so our walk began with climbing several fights of steps and then going up a steep slope and then yet another flight of steps.  There was a lot of rubbish everywhere and I had to watch where I was treading.  Not nice!  At the top of the steps was the main street – La Rambla Nova – and soon after we found the Hotel Husa Imperial, where we had arranged to meet my mum’s friends Ann and James.

My mum met Ann back in the 1970s at Italian evening classes and they have remained good friends ever since.  Unfortunately, they were reduced to the occasional phone call and email after Ann emigrated to Spain and this was why I had picked Barcelona as a destination for my mum’s birthday present.  Tarragona was agreed as a good place to meet because it was roughly halfway between Barcelona and where Ann and James lived and because of the Roman ruins there.

Tarragona Amphitheatre

We arrived early so went for a coffee.  We were not at all impressed with the service.  The young waiter just kept folding napkins and generally pottered about while his boss served some other people.  After we had waited for ages, his boss finally told him to serve us.  Even then, it was a while before we got our drinks.

Ann said she would be there at 10.30 but it was 10.50 before they arrived.  We thought that they would have come by car, but they had come by train too and then got a taxi up the hill because James couldn't climb.  This meant that we were unable to visit the Roman aqueduct, which is 4 miles out of town, but we were very near to the amphitheatre.

Tarragona Amphitheatre

So, after another coffee, we all walked down to the amphitheatre, which was just below the path we had walked along.  We didn’t go into the site, but could see most of it from the gardens above.  It gave a nice view of the sea, but wasn’t nearly as impressive as El Djem in Tunisia.  Ann said that there used to be lots of columns but they had all disappeared.  So, after looking at as much as possible, we made our way back to the old town.  We walked through the gardens and found a lift in the corner.  A sign said that it was only for disabled and elderly people, but two young girls got in with us, so this was obviously ignored.  At the top, we found ourselves right back at the hotel and proceeded into the Old Town, which was even higher up.

Barcelona - 20 September 2011 (1)

I slept really well but did get up to check the time at 4.00 as I could see a light reflected on the ceiling which came through the curtains.  It would have been a disaster if it had been daylight because it was still quite dark when we pulled the curtains at 7.00.

We left for the station at Passeig de Gracias and arrived well in time for the train.  The return tickets to Tarragona cost €24 in total, which was quite good.  We went through the ticket barrier and I had a moment’s panic because our train did not appear on the screen.  There was no one to help, so we continued and followed the signs to Tarragona.  Once on a platform, we stopped a grey haired man to check and he confirmed that this was the correct platform.  Eventually our train arrived and he looked back to make sure we were getting on.

The train was nearly empty, so we took over four seats.  At first, the train went underground.  Barcelona Sants station reminded me of Sunderland Station, but with more platforms and no diesel trains.

Eventually we broke through into fresh air, but the scenery was not that good with it being the industrial suburbs.  Things improved later when we reached the sea.  The train ran along with the sea to our left and hills to our right.  Ten minutes before we reached Tarragona, we stopped at a station but could not see its name.  Fortunately, I put my trust in the timetable and we stayed on.  Eventually, when we were moving again, we saw the name on a station building and were very glad we hadn't got off.

Barcelona - 19 September 2011 (4)

Once out of the hotel, I decided to turn left for a change.  There were lots of shops, especially shoe shops.  I found a nice pair of boots in one, reduced to €15, but decided not to buy because our suitcase was at the limit for weight.  One very stylish shop only seemed to sell clothes with a significant proportion of orange.  We turned left and passed a vegetarian restaurant.  Unfortunately, it seemed about to close and, having scanned the menu, it didn’t look as if it had anything my mum would have liked as everything seemed to be based on mushrooms and artichokes.  So we wondered on and found a patisserie where we finally had our coffee and some very naughty cakes.

We walked on and soon found ourselves in University Square.  We started to turn back but then took a left fork.  From there, I could see the building currently being restored at the top of the Plaça de Catalunya, so I turned left onto Gran Via Corts Catalanes.

On one corner was a nice tapas bar with seats outside.  We sat down, ordered some orange juice and watched the world go by, passing comments on the more notable people.  Several women must have visited the orange shop we saw earlier as we admired several burnt orange cardigans.  I was amazed by the way that people cycled on the pavements as if it were their right.  It might have been, but it seemed very dangerous in a place where there were so many pedestrians.  This annoys me in York too – it gives us cyclists a bad name.

A young man and woman walked up to the door in front of us with their dog.  They both had tattoos, especially the woman who had them all over her arms and legs and the shaved part of her head was dyed turquoise.  The guy disappeared inside the building and the dog waited for him eagerly.  He was clearly torn between waiting for his master and being with the woman, so he kept going back and forth, looking very alert.  When the guy reappeared, the dog ran to him, skidded on the tiled entrance and went straight between his legs!

We decided to order some patatas bravas instead of having a full meal.  This worked out very well.  Before it started to get dark, we walked back to the hotel, making a small diversion to look at the statues and fountains in the square.  Back in our room, we just chilled after all the walking we had done.  I caught up with my journal and read a lot.