Barcelona-The City of Gaudi

It seems like a long time since I’ve written. I have truly enjoyed Barcelona as I had a feeling I would. Unfortunately my Spanish lessons were curtailed by the fact that in Barcelona they speak Catalan so only to confuse me more and believe me it’s quite different. In fact the true Catalans believe themselves to be very separate from the Spanish. At many of the museums they have the headings written first in Catalan and then in Spanish………sometimes English if you’re lucky.

I just loaded my photos from Barcelona on my computer and had a good look. Barcelona is definitely “The City of Gaudi” There are amazing buildings and churches designed by Gaudi and some fantastic designs at that. My photos only captured a small amount of Gaudi as I didn’t go into all the buildings but did have a good look from the outside. Some of the things I saw and/or visited were the La Sagrada Familia church, La Pedrera, Casa Batillo and Park Guell. You will see a number of photos from the park as I went two different times; once when there were a lot of people and then one morning I ran there and it was so peaceful and quiet.

I also went to the Picasso museum and that was wonderful. What a brilliant artist and interesting person he was. I visited monument a Colom, museu naconal d’art De Catalunya

While in Barcelona, I was lucky enough to have a friend to stay with who is American and has been living in Barcelona for about 12 years so knows the city very well. Lucky me! In trade, I was able to cook meals for us and satisfy my culinary desire to cook. One day I walked down the La Rambla-a famous street in Barcelona filled with street performers, flower and live bird stalls and much more. I visited the Mercat de la Boqueria which was fantastic! It was filled with every vegetable, fruit imaginable and more. Then the choices of meat, fish was incredible and some I couldn’t tell you what it even was. There was even a hog’s head which I decided to pass on that for our evening meal. I must have spent more then an hour and had to control myself since I had to carry all I bought onto the metro and buses.

The weekend that I was there, Greg and I headed to the coast to a place called Cadaques which is about 20 kilometers from the border of France.I fell in love with the white washed buildings, the crystal clear blue water, the small winding rock laid streets filled with boutiques, restaurants and art galleries. We hiked and I ran some of the trail out to the lighthouse and you’ll see by the photos how magical Cadaques is. It is known for the wind and boy was it while we were there. The evening we were there we attended a photo exhibition done by a local photographer of the local women of Cadaques in black and white and it was wonderful! Most of the women were in their 50’s and 60’s and she captured the beauty and playfulness of every one of them. The opening itself was very interesting and I wish I had remembered to bring my camera but it was great people watching!

The next day we took a bus to Figures where Salvador Dali grew up. There we went to the Teatre-museu Dali and that was fantastic! What a talented and strange man that was. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

The remainder of my time there was spent wandering around, exploring the city, and getting caught in the rain…and I mean serious downpour. Yes, I had my umbrella but this didn’t stop my shoes and socks from getting totally drenched. This was the day before I was leaving and in Europe dryers aren’t very common so I had my wet clothes draped all over the house radiators in hopes they’d dry by the morning.

So, my time in Spain was wonderful and it felt bitter sweet leaving this morning but to be going to Paris is not a bad thing! The walkabout continues!

photos at: www.picasaweb.google.com/tonibodeau/Barcelona

I'm currently in Paris and leaving next Tuesday but will get my blog and photos posted before I leave...next is Italy and not sure about internet connection while I'm there.