Of curvy buildings and straight roads; Of tapas and sangria. Land of the football champion (in my heart)! It was relatively easy to find the hostel, and the receptionist was very friendly as well. Checked in at the right time as they were having Spanish food night, so we dropped our bags and headed down to the kitchen for some free food. On the way down, met this Singaporean girl on a solo trip who happened to be from the same secondary school as Amanda! Met her again at the kitchen and chit chatted abit, along with her Chinese-speaking Australian angmoh and Italian-speaking China Chinese roommates (I should really be careful of speaking behind Caucasian's back about them in mandarin)
Supposed to wake up early for the day but Ms Tan woke up 2 hours late while I just surfed the net before going back for a nap. Eventually left the hostel at 11am after having the breakfast snack provided; thinking that our free tour is at 12pm, we headed to the €1 tapas place the Singaporean girl recommended for breakfast. It was cheap and delicious and the mini sandwiches (which we thought was tapas but apparently not; tapas has to be a plate of something for people to share) were pretty good. And we finished our breakfast "in good time," until I took out our tickets to realize the tour starts at 11am instead of 12. -.- HOW DID I SCREW UP? Haha. It's a minor thing really (or is it...?), so we just restructured our itinerary and decided to go for the 2pm tour instead. Went to nearby Arc de Triomf (like the misspelling of the original Arc de Triomphe in Paris, this one seems abit odd as well: red-bricked and slightly smaller, behind rows of tropical trees); and brought forward the evening itinerary of visiting Sangrada Familia (which people told us to buy the tickets online but the stubborn us didn't really bothered cos we don't really wanna spend so much money after already looked at so many of the photos of the interior). It was super disappointing: I know it's been under construction since forever and won't be done till eons later but when we went the scaffolding and canvases were all up (Yimei's photo of them visiting just two days before was so nice and the places felt so majestic! Later, I would realize our folly of not making the effort to go to the other side of the cathedral); it was like a wounded lion, all patched up and lost its awe. So we left after Amanda took some photos of the green leaves/trees (according to her, it's nicer than the icon of Barcelona). Headed for Casa Milà that she saw from her colleague's photos and was all excited about it; when we reached, she was in disbelief, "no leh, this is not how it's supposed to be like!" Canvas, AGAIN! She wanted to go in but the free tour was starting soon (miscommunication on planning of itinerary, and also because she didn't know the nicer parts are inside) so we moved on and decide to come back here again another time. Saw the Casa Batllò but she wasn't very impressed (later we'd know from her friend that it's also called Disagreement street cos the three houses side-by-side are by three different famous architects); I thought it was quite special actually.
In any case, we found the free tour with a few minutes to spare. Tour started and it's the usual: history, architecture, small stories, ect. What's different is when the guide told us to hold our hands together in a circle and started teaching us how to dance the local Catalonian dance (Sardana) in the middle of a square! Awesome or awesome. One other thing I remembered from the tour is the Castell, cos I've recently watched a video on it (basically human tower building).
At the very base of a structure artistically depicting the Castell
Tour ended and we were too early to meet Amanda's friend so we asked about the Barcelona beach. Followed the guide's instructions but we ended up in a harbour with no beach in sight! Quoting Amanda, "it's like some magic that blinds us from it..." We even asked an information counter dude where the Barcelona beach is and he said, "it's everywhere!" That killed it, we're now dead sure it's some spell cast on us. I suggested to head to Casa Milà but she insisted on going the next day (as we would) cos it's nicer in the day. Anyway, went to McDonalds cos she's hungry (again, haha) while I sat down using wifi and watch her eat (at least there's wifi). After that, decided to use the time to find the beach no matter (still angst that we can't find it!) But just as we are reaching, I tripped over a divider and fell, tearing my jeans and leaving blood stains on it... First time not bringing a spare jeans and this happened. Zzz. So I got too pissed off to continue, we just stopped and sat down at a park (we'd later realize the beach is, as the map suggests, just a few hundred meters ahead of where we stopped short, oh wellz).
Headed down to Paral-lel station to wait for Amanda's friend, Jolene, and we had some spare time so we started to have a heart-to-heart talk. It was a little bit too heavy for the first proper night of our trip but the mood lifted when we finally met Jolene; it always feels good to have someone "local" bringing you around cos you get to explore places that are tested-and-proven and also avoid the touristy places. Jolene brought us to this super crowded standing tapas bar where we squeezed in and were lucky to find ourselves a place to stand (I would, however, need to sacrifice my butt for the entire night though, cos people were just passing by behind me and rubbing against my butt the whole time). The atmosphere was awesome, but the food, it's a whole new level... Nice salmon, nice Sangria, and nice scallop (coincidentally all "s") but the most awesome of them all: tuna belly with sea urchin (still "s," for sea lol).
Headed down to Paral-lel station to wait for Amanda's friend, Jolene, and we had some spare time so we started to have a heart-to-heart talk. It was a little bit too heavy for the first proper night of our trip but the mood lifted when we finally met Jolene; it always feels good to have someone "local" bringing you around cos you get to explore places that are tested-and-proven and also avoid the touristy places. Jolene brought us to this super crowded standing tapas bar where we squeezed in and were lucky to find ourselves a place to stand (I would, however, need to sacrifice my butt for the entire night though, cos people were just passing by behind me and rubbing against my butt the whole time). The atmosphere was awesome, but the food, it's a whole new level... Nice salmon, nice Sangria, and nice scallop (coincidentally all "s") but the most awesome of them all: tuna belly with sea urchin (still "s," for sea lol).
Definitely deserve a photo
I almost jizzed. The ambience was great but not perfect...... until a group of baskers decided to drop by and started singing Catalonian songs passionately while aggressively strumming their guitars; the whole crowd just went crazy, even the shop owners went wild. At this point, I jizzed (figuratively of course). Quoting Amanda, "this is what I expected from Barcelona!" A recent poll suggested that 80% of Catalonians want their independence from Spain; from this experience, I'm thinking the numbers are probably higher...
Jolene then brought us to a nice place on top of the hill to the palace museum for a night view of the city and then to Arena Barcelona, which is a defunct bull ring (banned in Barcelona since 2012), and then it was time to bid our awesome guide goodbye (it's now after midnight and she had to wake up at 7 the next morning for her flight to Paris! Much nice, so sacrifice...). But on a more serious note, meeting her was kind of the highlight of our Barcelona experience, since she brought us to places we wouldn't have otherwise gone. Went back to the hostel and found a silver lining in the dark clouds: this is also the first time I brought plasters along, some consolation to the falling-down "saga" (meeting her really was the turning point of the trip huh!)
Next morning, Amanda's must-see in Barcelona: Casa Milà. It's actually a bourgeois-palace built by the famous architect Gaudi (who is also the man behind Sagrada Familia and Casa Batllò, the latter was actually recommended by Jolene but I guess there's not much difference except Milà is more whitish and Batllò more colourful) for a textile millionaire. "We are on the roof of La Padera; welcome, to another world" says the audio guide, and I must agree, it really felt like a different world, especially the part where there's an arc that peers through the Sagrada Familia (also, felt like a different world literally because all the rooftop surrounding looked kinda dull, which, in fact, is the very reason why Gaudi built the Casa Milà's roof as it is - to add life to the sea of dullness).
Sauron working part time as statues in Barcelona
But truth is, the view and the images are nothing really THAT impressive (as you would expect of any attractions that appear to be nice on the internet), what really impressed me was the ingenuity of the architect; the techniques he used in the process; the places he seek his inspiration from (mostly nature); his daring ideas to be ahead of his time building something so different from what was the norm; and his dedication to the work, going down to every single small detail of the construction of the place...
Not very impressive hor
Lunch time! Had one of the most fulfilling lunch buffet and it was super value-for-money, with crab, prawn, steak, salmon, clams, muscles and they even have chef teppanyaki our seafood on-the-spot for us, all these for only €13!
Before
Went to the airport, helped a Chinese lady rushing for flight but doesn't speak English or Spanish with security check and tax refund before she expressed her gratitude a couple of times. But I think I still gained more from this episode: firstly, helping people gives more joy than the one receiving; secondly, it strengthened my stand to always reach airport early even if it means some time is gonna be wasted for "nothing"
And Barcelona beach finally!
Takeaway: Barça amazed me with its arts and cultural scene; the place that reminded me of soccer and bull fighting (inaccurate as it's a Spain thing, not Catalan thing; in fact, Barcelona banned it in 2012, some says because they wanna be disassociated with the Spanish culture) actually is a land of artistic and architectural wonders. It's also one of the first places that I'll wanna revisit in the future (I'm glad I came on this trip even though I initially reserved Spain for Ms Blur in the future, cos now I know I'll revisit and by then I'd know where are the places not to be missed). The architectural scene is one reason (to bring Ms Blur here); the nice weather is another; of course, 2026 Sangrada Familia's expected completion; but most importantly, there're still so many places I haven't been to!
