Mas Aventuras a Barcelona

Monday we spent exploring Barcelona since we hadn’t seen much of it and that was our last day there. In the morning we stopped in a bakery and I got some fresh squeezed orange juice – probably the best fresh OJ I’ve tasted ever! I noticed that OJ presses were pretty common in bakeries though, which I thought was pretty cool. There was a market we checked out right off of Las Ramblas called Mercat de Boqueria (in Barcelona they speak Spanish and Catalan, which is I guess a dialect of Spanish but sometimes Orlando would talk to people in Spanish and they wouldn’t understand him because I think they spoke Catalan). It was a really cool find, and they had fresh squeezed juices and meats and fruits and veggies and candy and dried fruit too. I tried a juice made from cactus fruit and coconut that looked interesting… it was sweet but while I was drinking it I couldn’t decide if I maybe had a little bit of an allergy to the cactus fruit.

After that we made our way over to the Barria Gotic (Gothic Quarter), saw some pretty buildings, and went into the Catedral, which is by far THE most beautiful church I have seen in my life. It even topped Notre Dame. The part where we walked in was kind of a courtyard, with palm trees and a garden in the middle. Then I went inside the church and walked around with my mouth hanging open. I don’t even know how to describe it… they have a massive organ, and these beautiful I guess altars around the sides in gold and painted and just… amazing. We caught the end of a Spanish mass in the chapel, and I decided to get Communion. Afterwards I kneeled down at a bench and saw Beza had followed me, and I was really confused at first because I knew she wasn’t Catholic and didn’t know why she got Communion. She said she was still spiritual and could pray, which was of course true, so we stayed till the end of the mass and were leaving when a nun stopped her and started talking to her in Spanish. Beza of course doesn’t know any Spanish, so Orlando came over and we found out that Beza had forgotten how to ask for just a blessing and had taken a piece of the host and not eaten it. The nun wasn’t really mad, just concerned that she had taken it, and brought us up to the front to return it to the priest.

We left the church and walked to the Arc de Triomph, took some pictures and walked a bit further. Beza had been craving empanadas, but we’d had trouble finding them because I guess they’re not all that native to the region. Well when we walked by a store that said it had empanadas, we went inside and all got some for lunch. They were delicious… After lunch we walked to the Sagrada Familia church, which is still under construction so when we got there there were cranes everywhere, but it still looked huge and amazing. We sat down in a nearby park to figure out our next plan of action, and while we were consulting the map some lady walking her dog started yelling Bolso! Bolso! Orlando took off running and Beza and I weren’t sure what was going on since it was all happening so fast. We both thought something dangerous was happening like a drowning baby or a bomb and that Orlando had run towards the danger to save someone, but it turns out the lady was screaming Bag! Bag! because someone had snuck behind Orlando and taken his backpack. Luckily with everyone screaming at him and watching the thief left the bag and walked away, and Orlando got all his stuff back. Lesson learned though, even though I had been warned before going to all the big cities – Paris, Rome, Geneva – about pickpockets, Barcelona turned out to be a place that truly is a dangerous pickpocketing zone. So beware! Now we’re all pretty paranoid about it, and from then on we had someone watch guard every time we consulted a map or something similar.

We continued our adventure of churches, thievery, and sightseeing towards Les Punxes and La Perdera, hoping to see some Gaudi artwork and architecture. Les Punxes turned out to just be a pretty building, which you couldn’t really go inside because people lived there. La Perdrera was really cool looking, I’m not sure what the style of art is called but I really liked it. We didn’t go inside because it cost money, but we snuck into the gift shop to look at pictures and snapped a couple of shots from the window. Casa Batilo was also nearby, this building covered in mosaics, but again it cost money so we just took pictures and didn’t go inside. From there we took the metro to Porta Olimpica, and saw some pretty fountains and sculptures and the beach of course. I liked feeling sand between my toes again, although unfortunately we arrived at the end of our day again and it was pretty dark and cold.

We looked for dinner and Orlando needed to get cash at an ATM (PS in the future traveling with traveler’s checks is a hassle because you have to find a place to get change, and then they charge you up the wazoo to make a commission… I found one “Exact Change” place but I couldn’t tell if they just jacked up their rates to make a profit, and also an American Express official dealer that only charged a flat rate of 5 euros for change… so I don’t know if it’s better to pay the bank fee and conversion fees or have to look for places where you can exchange traveler’s checks! The only advantage about traveler’s checks is they’re protected by your signature but debit cards are protected by your pin). Anyway we found an ATM on our search for dinner and someone had left 50 euros!!! I figured that kind of sort of proved that I had good karma coming to me from being robbed, even though I lost 100 euros and Beza insisted on claiming the money since “she found it” (we were all together). She agreed to buy us dinner with it though, so I got some yummy paella and sangria again without having to pay. Later though we went to Hard Rock Café because Bez didn’t want paella, she wanted to go back there, and I ended up buying some Hard Rock shorts. I was on the edge about getting them until I found out that with my coupon and 20 euro or more purchase I got a free guitar-shaped shaker! LOL anyway Beza got dinner at Hard Rock and then we headed back to the hostel to call it a night. The flight back to Geneva was happily uneventful, mostly I was glad to hear French again and to come back to my bed in Rolle. My host mom made pumpkin soup for dinner served with an omelette and veggies. It’s interesting how they don’t really eat eggs for breakfast, but as a lunch or dinner… I’m also really starting to like vegetables, which I figure is really good for me. That’s all till tomorrow, folks! Don’t forget to leave a loving comment ;-)