Spain - Barcelona

A couple of years ago when talks about this trip were hot and heavy around our house, Joseph came to us and asked if we could go to the beach in Spain.  Up to that point he had not been totally on board with the journey, and we were surprised and pleased with his question.  We told him that we would make every effort to go to the beach in Spain, and today we made good on that promise…and how.  After another delayed flight, a taxi dropped us off at our apartment in Barcelona around 12:30 in the middle of the night, and our host, Diego, met us at the door with a warm greeting.  For the next few days, we’re staying with Diego and his wife, Carla, and their one month old baby girl, Odette.  Their apartment is located in the Carmel district of Barcelona about twenty minutes from the city center by car, and it’s situated on the second floor among a few other apartments over a pharmacy.  We moved our stuff into our rooms and collapsed into bed about 1:00 AM and slept until 9:00 AM the next day.  There is no air conditioning in the apartment, but we have fans in our rooms that help move the air around.  Joseph and Deveny are in bunk beds in one room, and Deena and I have a double bed in a room near the front of the apartment.  We took turns getting showered and dressed while the children slept, and then we walked down the street in search of a market to buy breakfast food.   We found a really good one just a couple blocks away where we bought bread, butter, and ham for just a few euros—a good brunch to get us energized for the day.

After several heavy days of history-focused travel, we determined that this day would just be a fun beach day for relaxing in a new city.  Barceloneta Beach was our destination—we learned later that the Discovery Channel considers this strip of sand the best urban beach in the world.  According to Google, the beach was about 30 minutes away by metro, so we were off to figure out a new subway system at the station a few blocks away from our apartment.  Barcelona is world renowned for the etiquette and manners displayed by its citizens, and we can bear witness to that claim as a local señora saw our uncertainty at the ticket machine and spent the next fifteen minutes guiding us through the process and then walking with us to ensure we got on the right line—wow!  The people in this city seem more relaxed than in the other cities we’ve visited so far—they’re quick to offer a friendly greeting and switch instantly to English once they’ve  determined we’re not local.  We arrived in the Barceloneta area and walked out of the air-conditioned metro to bright sunny skies and warm humid air—a perfect beach day. As we walked about a half mile down long a boulevard to get to the beach, we enjoyed looking at all the outdoor cafes with colorful awnings and chalkboard signs touting deals on paella and tapas dishes.  The prices were reasonable for meals, and we decided we would pick one of these restaurants for an early supper later in the day.  As we looked ahead, we could see the deep blue water of the Mediterranean Sea come into view, and our excitement level hit the top register.  For thousands of years, the Mediterranean has been a sea of commerce, war, empires, and today its waters provided us with some quality fun in the sun.

Barceloneta Beach

For ten euro, we were able to rent an umbrella for the day, and we found a good spot between the beach and the showers.  It was crowded, but navigable, and everyone there was in a good mood on a sunny day.  Meandering through the crowds, vendors sang the attributes of their blankets, sangria, mojitos, and even massages.  

The sand on Barceloneta is coarse grained and camel colored unlike the powdery sand on the familiar coasts of North and South Carolina.  At the shoreline the sand stops, and there’s a bed of smooth, multicolored stones about the size of a half dollar extending into the sea.  The stone bed is deep and makes for slow and difficult walking along the edge of the water.  The contrast of the Mediterranean Sea and the beach against the city and the sky is striking—a view we enjoyed all afternoon.  I’ve always liked beach combing, and a few years ago a dear friend got me hooked on searching for shark teeth.  I’ve amassed quite a collection since then, proudly displayed in a clear glass lamp in our bonus room.  If there are no shark teeth to be found, sea glass becomes my next target, and that was the case today on the shores of the Mediterranean.  I found several deep green specimens, one nice pale green piece, and one small shard that was amber in color.  They were all smooth and rounded like stones, tumbled through time by the sea against rock and coral to produce a compelling translucence.  I told my family that I was sure my sea glass pieces were fragments from ancient Phoenician wine-bearing amphorae lost at sea during a shipwreck, but they weren’t buying it.  The water was cool and refreshing, and we alternated between naps under the umbrella and strolling slowly in the surf.

Barceloneta Beach

Now, I’m not sure if they were running late, or if the drinking the water in Barcelona produces absentmindedness, but there were quite a few young ladies on the beach who had forgotten half their bathing suits.  We hadn’t planned on doing any schoolwork, but we sure got a lesson on human growth and development on this day.  As true Southern gentlemen, Joseph and I did the best we could to avert our eyes, trying to make nonchalant comments about the color of the sky or the arrangement of stones by the water.  The beaches of Europe are well known for their liberal clothing policy, and Barceloneta Beach was a prime example.  Late in the afternoon, Joseph and I were walking together along the beach, and through no fault of our own, found ourselves right smack in the middle of a topless beach pong match.  With apologies to Jerry Lee Lewis, I ain’t fakin’, there was a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on.  Yikes, all we could do was offer a polite “Howdy, ma’am” and keep on walking.  I clapped Joseph on the back and commented that the beach here was a whole lot different from Myrtle Beach back home.  Joseph looked like he wanted to bury himself in the sand.  Eventually we started getting hungry, left our umbrella, took quick showers, and headed off to find supper.  What a fun day at the beach in a really cool place —Joseph got his beach visit in Spain, and we had the breast time ever.  Best…we had the best time ever.

We found a promising outdoor cafe on the way back to the metro station where the maitre-d’ seated us at the perfect table, out of the sun but with a good view of the street for people watching.  We ordered a big black cast-iron pan of paella, the tradiotnal Spanish dish of rice, vegetables, and meat cooked with saffron and other savory spices until it’s steaming hot and so unbelievably good we were soon scraping the sides of the pan for every last morsel.  Washed down with a couple glasses of sangria, it was the perfect way to end our day at the beach.  

Back at the apartment, we rested for a while before venturing back out to the Park Guell for a view of the city before dark.  Our section of Barcelona is much like San Francisco with plenty of steep hills to climb, and every destination comes with a good cardio workout.  The residents of Barcelona love their dogs, and they were out in force in the park as we wound our way up steep trails toward our vista.  We made friends with one energetic pooch who kept bringing us a pine cone to throw.  We had a great time watching him make acrobatic catches.  We finished this day in Barcelona with a commanding view of the city that stretched all the way to the Mediterranean and the horizon beyond.  

Paella 

Barcelona

Next day, we were back in history mode as we got out early and took the metro to the Gothic Quarter for a visit to the Barcelona History Museum—sounds kind of ho-hum right?  Well, it wasn’t.  This museum was by far one of the best, most interesting places we’ve been so far on our trip.  Barcelona was founded as a Roman city with neolithic roots as far back as 5000 BC.  According to legend, Hercules founded the city, but for some reason, no one can prove it.  The Barcelona History Museum is built right on top of some of the most complete Roman ruins on the Mediterranean, and we spent the better part of two hours marveling at 2000-year-old history.  We traveled about forty feet down to the ruins and talked about how each civilization built on top of the previous one.  The ruins encompassed a full area of Roman city life with upper class dwellings, trade shops, wine-making factories (the average Roman consumed sixty gallons of wine a year, dang!), fish factories, and intricate water and sewer systems.  There were mosaic floors, decorative frescos, wine vats, funeral busts, and other wonders of the ancient world.  After our tour, we talked about the things we had seen and emphasized the use of inference to determine the aspects of life that were most important to the Romans.  I could go on and on about this place, but I won’t—I just wish that everyone I know and love could see it.

Roman Ruins

Roman Fresco

We spent some time strolling the Gothic Quarter and made a point to see the cathedral in the city center.  I took a quick look inside while the rest of the crew stayed in the square to take pictures.  Deena wanted to try some tapas dishes, so we found a restaurant with reasonable prices and enjoyed a lunch with a chicken skewer plate, flank steak plate, Greek salad, and several tapas delicacies.  There was a large screen TV near our table, and we enjoyed watching the Spanish version of "Wheel of Fortune" as we ate but had a little trouble solving the puzzles—go figure.  The Gothic Quarter has many twists and turns, and the streets and alleys open up into many hidden squares and plazas where we happily became lost for a while after lunch.  

Cathedral

Gothic Quarter

We made it back to the apartment mid-afternoon, and the kids settled in for some schoolwork while Deena and I walked a few blocks to the laundromat to wash our clothes.  In addition to Spanish and Catalan, there were instructions in English, so we were able to get the washer started quickly.  Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia in the Kingdom of Spain, and the citizens speak their own language and fly their own flag alongside the Spanish flag.  The situation is similar to the one in Ireland where English and Gaelic are both used.  We went shopping for dinner while the clothes were drying, and we made it back just as the kids were finishing their assignments.  After a quick supper of empanadas and croquettes, we caught a taxi and went back to Park Guell where we spent the rest of the evening walking through the Gaudi experiencia, a whimsical section of the park with colorful mosaics and unique design.  Antoni Gaudi was a prominent architect in Barcelona in the late 19th century, and his work is beloved by the citizens.  As the sun set over Barcelona, we sat on the high terrace of the park and talked about our short time in the city.  We agreed that of all the places we’ve been so far, Barcelona would be the place we could live for a while.

Gaudi Barcelona

Back at the apartment, we said our goodbyes to Diego and Carla since we had to get up at 4:00 the next morning to catch a 5:00 taxi to the airport.  They are a nice little family, and we’ve enjoyed staying with them for a couple of days.  The apartment was comfortable and located close to everything we needed for a fun stay in Barcelona.  As I’m typing the last few sentences of this post, we’re on our way to Amsterdam on a Vueling flight, and we should be there about 9:30 AM.  We managed to wake up on time and get everything packed with a few minutes to spare—we’re getting pretty good at the routine by now, and the process is a little less hectic than it was at the first part of our trip.  In the taxi on the way to the airport this morning there was a song playing on the radio called "All the Road Running," a duet by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris.  It had a sweet sentimental sound with a soft fiddle threading through the melody.  It was a fitting tune for the moment, and it put our minds at ease as we readied ourselves for another trip and another city—adios Barcelona.