Barcelona 2.0

Barcelona

At this point, we only had 4 days left of the Alvarez/Huen vacation 🙁 Javier and I were trying to find the best route to Portugal. Currently, there is only one night train from Spain to Lisbon. It leaves from Madrid, and requires a few changes. When we were in Madrid, we tried to book this train. Not only was it sold out for our day of travel (as well as the subsequent two weeks after) but the supplemental fee required, after our railpass, was almost as much as a flight. As it turned out, the overnight sleeper would have cost us more than a flight from Barcelona to Lisbon. We did have to alter our dates slightly to get a better rate, which then meant that instead of traveling to the airport with the family, and everyone going their separate ways, we would be staying in Barcelona for a few more days. This turned out to be quite a sad time, but more on that later. For now, the Alvarez/Huen clan was still with us, and we were enjoying every minute!

La Sagrada Familia.

We arrived at La Sagrada Familia at our scheduled time, and found it to be quite chaotic. Javier stood in line for the audioguides while the rest of us oohed and aahed over the eastern facade. We knew everyone would be interested in some parts more than others, so we set up a time and place to meet and dispersed. I intended to stay with Javier, but couldn’t help myself. Before I knew it, I was standing outside the western facade admiring the Passion scenes with a bunch of people I didn’t know. Once back inside, I made my way from one information station to the next, (those things are really informative!) and ran back into him. Words cannot describe the beauty of this place.

La Sagrada Familia.

In a separate building next to the basilica, there was an exhibit, showing the different natural influences Gaudi used in creating La Sagrada Familia. Inside, the pillars do in fact, look like trees. The door at the entrance looks like a wall of leaves, complete with little hidden insects. There are shells, leaves, plants, fruits, and animals covering the inner and outer walls of the building. For me, the most breathtaking was the colors. The entire building is white, but the stained-glass windows allow for a rainbow of colors to spread across every surface. The church is built differently than others. Usually, Cathedrals and such are built with the altar facing the east, the altar at La Sagrada Familia however, is facing north. The east and west facades tell different stories and are colored to match the content. For example, the eastern facade depicts the nativity both outside and inside. The stained-glass windows are shades of blue and green to give a peaceful feel. The west facade however, is the Passion of the Christ.

La Familia Sagrada

The stained-glass windows on this side of the building are a mix of mostly red, orange, and yellow. Depending on the time of day you visit, one facade will illuminate more than the other. We happened to go in the afternoon, and the interior was splashed with multiple shades of red, orange, yellow, which gave it a warm feel. It was absolutely gorgeous. The pictures Javier took, while beautiful, cannot do this building justice. And to think, it’s not even completed yet. Much of the building, including all of the south facade, is in progress. We can’t wait to go back when it is finally finished.

La Sagrada Familia.

We all met back at the designated place at around the designated time. I don’t know about the others, but I could have easily stayed there much longer. I feel like I could actually sit there for most of the day and watch the colors change as we move around the sun. 

Angela had planned to meet with a friend of hers, and Victor and Lourdes were going to return to the apartment to rest since Victor was not feeling well. Javier and I had no plans, so we waited with Angela, Will and Sayani, for her friend to show up. In the end, they had planned to eat somewhere outside of the city, and only had a little car, so Javier and I took off to roam alone.

La Sagrada Familia.

We returned to our yummy veg restaurant and walked the city a bit. Javier’s cousin, Jorge came over with his wife and baby to visit with Victor and Lourdes. We all met back at the apartment where Victor and Lourdes watched Sayani, while the rest of us went out for a night on the town. Angela’s friend, Iriana, and her boyfriend (who will be referred to as Pau Gasol for obvious reasons, plus neither Javier nor I can remember his actual name) took us to El Born where they were meeting with some other friends of theirs. We joined them at their table, but had to spill onto the bar a bit, so it ended up being the friends and Angela at the table, with me,

Night out with Pau Gasol

Javier and Will at the bar. For a while we all chatted together. Pau came over and visited with us for a bit, and Angela went back and forth between the different conversations. By the time we left, we had kind of segregated. Angela had been pulled into a somewhat intense conversation we were having at the bar, while her friends continued with their conversation. It reminded me of my own family. We start out talking with everyone, but by the end, we find ourselves in a corner having deep conversations amongst ourselves. We’re not exclusive, we just really like each other 🙂 

Polaroid Bar. Barcelona.

We said good-bye to the friends of friends and moved on to the next place. Iriana and Pau took us to a bar called Polaroid. It is decked out in 80’s paraphernalia- from Rainbow Bright, to He-Man, and some guy named El Chapulín Colorado, who apparently was a big hit with our Peruvian crowd, but I had never heard of. We drank, ate popcorn, listened to 80’s music (in both English and Spanish), and reminisced about childhood shows and movies. Good times. 

Happiness with Dad.

We were gearing up for Javier’s birthday and our New Years Eve plans. After a bit of research, we had found that the Castellers were putting on a performance at an New Years Eve celebration, SOLD! We had been looking for an opportunity to see the Castellers, and now we were going kill two birds with one stone. During the day, Victor, Lourdes, Javier and I went to Camp Nou for the Barça experience. Javier was in heaven, and Victor looked like he was having a really good time too. We walked through the stadium, went up into the press boxes, but were only allowed to enter the visitor’s locker room, not Barças…hmmm. Javier and I took a picture of us holding up the trophy, and Lourdes and I sat and watch a film about Barça’s history, while Javier and Victor poured over and digital archive of Barça highlights from its inception. We were there for a long time.

I knew we were looking at a long night, so I wanted to get back to the apartment to rest. Javier, Lourdes, and Victor went back to Alex’s house from one last visit with tia Ellie. We all rendezvoused back home for some R&R before we headed out for the night. 

Magic fountain of Montjuic. New years 2015.

We made it through the crowd to Manjuic fountain to watch the show. The place was packed. Wall to wall people. Angela and Will had gone to a restaurant for dinner, and had received New Years goodie bags. They had asked for a few more, so we all had party hats, clown noses, and vampire teeth to ring in the New Year. There was a singing performance by this woman. I am to assume she was a professional, and that she intentionally meant to sound the way she did, but our group kept looking at each other with confused faces. It just didn’t sit right with our ears. Finally the Castellers came out.

Castellers de Barcelona.

They successfully built their human tower, and to be honest, I could have gone home right then, I was so satisfied. They flew in this massive metal man, which was then filled in by Castellers who climbed up and in, filling the spaces. At midnight, there were fireworks, and Will and Angela had bought a banner that said, “Happy Birthday.” They also gave Javier red underwear and a small bottle of red wine. Gifts that you’re supposed to give on New years…I think. Taking the subway was out of the question, so we all walked home, tired. 

Birthday gift!

Happy Birthday Javier!!! We all slept in. Javier wanted Peruvian, so we went to Peruvian for lunch. Good food. Some drunk guy stood up in the middle of the restaurant and confessed his love. The woman he was with looked truly embarrassed, but everyone clapped, and when we saw them later on the street, Victor and Lourdes wished them well. By the time we had finished lunch, it was already late afternoon. Javier didn’t have anything specific he wanted other than eat Peruvian food, so we decided to take the group to Parc de la Ciutadella with it’s big beautiful fountain, part of which, Gaudi himself had designed. Unfortunately, but the time we arrived, it was already dark, and apparently, the fountain lights are not on for New Years day. Sorry, guys. Will and Angela treated everyone to Javier’s birthday dinner at the restaurant they tried the night before. The food was delicious, and we may have ordered a little too much sangria. 🙂

Bye Sayani. We miss you.

All good things must come to an end. The day had finally arrived- the troops were leaving. They left early in the morning, which may have been a good thing. It was such a rush to get them all out of the apartment, that there wasn’t much time for good-byes and the tears that followed. There were tears, though. Make no mistake about that. The good-byes were quick, but as soon as they left, Javier and I returned to the big lonely apartment, and felt empty. We slept for a while longer, and then moved just down the block to a hotel. This was both good and bad.

loneliness after the Family left.

There’s no way we could have stayed in that apartment without being depressed, but we hadn’t moved far enough away, either. At one point, we passed the old apartment and I started tearing. I told Javier we could no longer walk this route. I don’t care that it’s the shortest way to the station, we will walk the long way to get there, so we don’t have to walk through our intersection again. He agreed, and we never walked by the apartment again. 

The day was overshadowed with sadness, plus we were both nursing a mild sangria hangover, so we didn’t do much of anything. We did manage to walk over to the Palau de la Musica Catalana and buy tickets for a flamenco show the day before we left- and that’s all we did.

The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

We had been wanting to take the family to Manjuic Castle, but it just didn’t work out. So, Javier and I decided to visit on our own. The route we decided to take was to walk up the stairs to the Museu National d’art Catalunya, walk around to the back, and continue through the Olympic grounds to the castle. On our way to the museum, we noticed a group of gypsies. They were all running around trying to get people to sign a petition of sorts. For those who don’t know, this is what they do. One approaches you and explains their petition, save the whales, feed the children…whatever trick they feel like using.

View from The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya: Plaça d’Espanya.

Once they’ve baited you, others come and close in. They try to get you to give a small donation, many people do. During this time that you’re focused on signing your name, pulling out money, etc., they pick your pockets, open up backpack zippers, etc. A bunch of quick little hands taking all your stuff without you even knowing it. We first discovered these girls in Paris, we were polite and they were aggressive. Once we figured out who they were, and what they do, we are no longer polite, not even a little bit. We are rude. We want them to know we don’t like them and that they need to stay away from us. As we were slowly making our way up the steps, I see this man with a stroller. He is stopping to take pictures, and he is alone. I see a girl approach him and start talking to him. As I am watching, two other girls show up next to him. I don’t know what came over me, but once he pulled out his wallet, I walked closer to him and told him to put his wallet away, and not to give them anything. He looked confused. I told him to put his money away and walk away from them quickly. As I’m talking one of the girls gets close to me and is blocking my face with her petition. I knocked the petition out of the way, and she starts yelling at me not to touch her. Harsh words were exchanged, Javier’s yelling at some other girl close by, and this little animal starts growling at me. I think she did it to scare me, but it just pissed me off. I don’t remember how it ended, I just know that at one point, Javier and I are walking in one direction and the girls are huddling together. I think Javier told them he was calling the police. That seems to do the trick more or less. Definitely not one of my finer, or intelligent moments, but there was something about the fact that they were going to steal from this man and his baby that absolutely infuriated me. 

Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys

Javier was worried for the rest of our walk that the little group of thieves were going to find us and pounce. I don’t know much about the gypsies and how they roll, so I figured we were done with them for the day, and enjoyed the rest of the walk. We stopped to take pictures of the different Olympic stadiums and hiked up to the castle. Once we were there, I think all of our excitement had been spent earlier, and neither of us felt the need to actually enter the castle. Apparently, there’s nothing inside, it’s more for the view from the top that is so spectacular, or maybe just good, it’s all up for interpretation.

Montjuïc… cable cars.

We took the cable car down and enjoyed the views from there. 

That night, we went back to El Born, visited a church, and found Polaroid again. It was definitely not as fun, but we had a beer, and then walked through the night market. 

Our last day in Barcelona was spent blogging and resting. In the evening, we dressed in our concert best (clean shirt and jeans) and went to the Palau de la Musica. The building itself is gorgeous.

The Palau de la Música Catalana

In fact, that was one of the drawing points of going to the flamenco show- we could see the inside of the concert hall. The flamenco show itself was entertaining. It’s not really my, nor Javier’s, cup of tea, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. It’s one of those things like…the whirling dervishes. In the beginning it’s really cool, and then it quickly becomes monotonous, and you’re ready to move on. I know people love it, but clearly, it does not speak to us. The inside of the concert house, however, is spectacular. The colors, sculptures, mosaics, all the details are just amazing. The stained-glass chandelier is unparalleled. I was so glad to be able to sit inside and enjoy the beautiful interior, and the flamenco was a nice touch too 🙂 

Next day…off to Lisbon!

To see more pictures of Barcelona, click HERE.