I woke up at 8:30 and we quickly got ready for the day. Today we would be visiting the Gothic Quarter. After purchasing some more bread and cheese and sharing a large bottle of water split into our two small plastic cups, we took the metro down to the Gothic Quarter. We explored the Cathedral which was free on Sundays. Outside in the plaza was a large group of people dressed in uniforms with red sashes.
They were milling around the square, operating and decorating a dozen or so large puppets. The puppets had a little window in which the "driver" could look out. We asked and were told that there was going to be a parade along Las Ramblas, celebrating the day of this particular saint of the barrio for their spring festival. We decided to take a walk around the Gothic Quarter before coming back to see the parade.
We wandered through the gothic quarter, admiring the architecture and stopping in the little shops. I was happy to be traveling with my mom, exploring a great city. Coming back into the plaza, we found the puppets had moved. I wanted my mom to see another cool church so we cut back to another street. In the plaza of the other church, we were given a great show as the puppets and performers had taken over the square. What I'm assuming were traditional Catalan dances, were being acted out on the stage. Assembling human pyramids to sound of little flutes, the children would climb on the backs of the adults to form a pyramid. We walked a little on Las Ramblas, only to be quickly overwhelmed by the parade.
Five large bangs from the blank muskets started the parade and soon the sea of people parted to allow the stream of swirling, dancing puppets pass through. We watched for a while before sneaking into the metro and taking it to the "Montjüic stop." We had to transfer to a separate rail car, that climbed up the mountain. Deciding against taking the teleferic, cable car, right away, we walked up the hill, stopping to read about Barcelona on a bench in my Lonely Planet. I really wanted to take the teleferic from the mountain to the beach, and my mom wanted to see "El Pueblo Esapñol."
We decided to take the bus down the hill to el Pueblo Español. While waiting for bus number 50 on a bench in the sun, a huge group of middle-age Italians were all trying to take a picture together. I offered to take a picture for them and we ended up having a long conversation. They were really fun. We then took the bus down to Pueblo Español, or seemingly, as we took it down the hill and then walked up the steps of the incredible entrance of the Catalonian Museum of Art.
We had lunch in one of the outdoor cafe's before wandering around and eventually finding the entrance to Pueblo Español. Built for the 1922 World Fair, Pueblo Español is like a Spanish Theme park dedicated to the different regions of Spain. The architecture and design of each region are represented. Very touristy but fun to see the different places in a limited amount of time. We stopped into a great art exhibit that had some Dalí and Picasso.
I really wanted to try and take the teleferic to the beach and so we walked quickly over to Hotel Miramar to try and catch it. It was closed due to high wind. I was disappointed. We sat on a bench to decide what we wanted to do. After regrouping, we took the metro back to the hotel where we relaxed and had a cafe in the hotel restaurant while checking our email.
For dinner we decided to head back to Port Vell. We took the 19 bus all the way there, getting to see the city at night. All the restaurants were overpriced in that area, so we walked back to where we'd eaten the first night and stopped in a place we'd passed previously. They doorman recognized me and shook my hand as I came in. We had a cute table next to the window with a harbor view. The restaurant walls were painted a weird shade of lime green. We shared our dishes. I ordered fried calamari and my mom grilled salmon, both really good. After dinner we had traditional Barcelona Cava, in amazingly long, "flower-stem," glasses. Here's to you from Barcelona!
We decided against walking around more and took the metro back to the hotel. We hung out in the lobby talking to an interesting couple before going upstairs to fall quickly asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment