Contents
- Preface
- San Francisco
- Amsterdam
- Amsterdam, Helmond
- Amsterdam, Zandvoort, Haarlem
- Amsterdam, Bruges
- Bruges, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin
- Berlin
- Berlin, Potsdam
- Berlin, Wansee
- Berlin, Prague
- Prague
- Prague, Karlstejn, Vienna
- Vienna
- Vienna, Salzburg, Füssen
- Füssen, Neuschwanstein, Munich
- Munich, Innsbruck
- Innsbruck
- Innsbruck, Zürich, Lauterbrunnen
- Lauterbrunnen, Jungfraujoch
- Lauterbrunnen, Schilthorn
- Lauterbrunnen, Spiez, Zermatt
- Zermatt
- Zermatt, Martigny, Chamonix
- Chamonix, Mont Blanc
- Chamonix, Mont Blanc, Courmayeur, Aosta, Turin
- Barcelona
- Barcelona, Sitges
- Barcelona
- Milan, Venice
- Venice
- Venice
- Venice, Milan, Cinque Terre
- Cinque Terre, La Spezia
- Cinque Terre, Pisa, Lucca, Florence
- Florence
- Florence
- Florence, Siena
- Siena, San Gimignano, Rome
- Rome
- Rome
- Rome, Sorrento
- Sorrento, Vesuvius, Pompeii
- Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Ravello
- Sorrento, Capri, Naples
- Naples, Bari
- Patras, Athens, Mykonos
- Mykonos
- Mykonos
- Mykonos, Paros, Santorini
- Santorini
- Santorini, Athens
- Athens
- Athens, Amsterdam, San Francisco
Prev :: Tuesday, 27 September 2005 :: Next
26. Barcelona
By morning I felt reasonably disgusting, especially because the night train has no showers (at least there was a sink in the room). When we arrived around 9:00, I helped the Taiwanese guy unload his massive suitcases (an exchange student, he was moving from Milan to Barcelona). Unfortunately, his picture of me is the only one you'll find in my photo album between Mont Blanc and the Cinque Terre, because the roughly 300 pictures in between were stolen.
Barcelona is really cool. I love the design of the place, lovely clean bright colors everywhere you look. I stayed at the Gat Raval, which is pleasant and cheap enough although it doesn't quite live up to the preposterous hipness of its website. My room wasn't ready yet, but fortunately they let me use the communal shower and I became less disgusting. Then I walked down the fascinating, wide street of Las Ramblas. Other travelers have told me they found it annoyingly packed with tourists, but it didn't seem so bad to me at this time of year. Delicious fish in La Boqueria for a €10 lunch. Continuing south on Las Ramblas, the palm trees at Placa Reial almost made me think of Southern California. At the end along the harbor, I took the elevator to the top of the tall Christopher Columbus column for a view out over the sprawling city, the surrounding hills, and the sea to the south.
My next quest was to see the surreal architecture of Gaudi. I looked for the Palau Güell, but it seemed to be in a state of massive renovation and I'm not sure that I even actually found it. Then I headed north to the fantastic Sagrada Familia cathedral, which despite being started over a century ago, is nowhere near completed and the interior is filled with massive construction work. I waited in line for the lift up one of the spires, where there is another excellent view of the city. Even farther out is the incredibly wacky Parc Güell. It's about a half hour walk from the subway, but this is extremely well signed; every 100m or so you know exactly how many more meters you have left to go. I think there is lots more of Gaudi's work scattered around the city, but I didn't find very much of it.
For dinner obviously I had to go to the Castro Restaurant, since I live in the Castro after all. It's nice, friendly and chic with pretty good food, but not cheap, and everyone seemed to be British or American. Then I stayed out for a drink in the neighborhood, but the places really don't get going until after midnight. I don't know how they go to work here the next morning when they're always up so late! Also it's said that the weekend scene in Barcelona is vastly better than the weekday scene (because they do actually work), while Madrid is more consistently busy. So, you may want to schedule your trip so that you're in Barcelona on a weekend. I had wanted to hit Ibiza as well, but it's a pretty long schlep from Barcelona, and I had heard that it's really quite dead this late in the season. Next time...