Ah, Barcelona

European Trip - May 18, 19, & 20, 2002

Adios Madrid! Our steerage accommodations brought us to Barcelona, Spain on the morning of the 18th. I really didn't know what to expect from Barcelona - all I really know about it was that the Olympics had been held here and it was on the Mediterranean. But according to Rick Steves, there was plenty to do. First, we had to find a hotel room, as when we called the night before from Madrid, we had been told there were absolutely NO hotel rooms in the city. I was thus a little nervous arriving in Barcelona - but because of the persistence of Jason, we eventually got a room in Hotel Lleo, located right near the Ramblas. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to check in until the afternoon, and we all were quite skanky and tired. But we persisted and just walked the Ramblas (a humongous shopping and walking street) until we found a restaurant to eat at. Finally, after paying way more than we should have (Barcelona is not known for being the cheapest European city), our rooms were available, at which we cleaned up and took, yep, you guessed it, a siesta! We woke up and walked down to the port, which is quite developed and touristy. Walked the port and saw that another theatre was playing Star Wars Episode II, but we were hungry, so we found a cool restaurant with tables on the Ramblas, which provided ample opportunities to people watch and observe the many street performers. Finally, we headed back to the port, hung around the clubs, but finally decided that we'd see Star Wars in Catalunyan Spanish - who cares if you can't understand it? The words aren't what is important! Needless to say, I missed a few of the plot points, but it rocked anyways. At about 4 in the morning, we made it back to our room to sleep for the night.

So on the next day, we decided we would explore the city of Barcelona, since we were now fully rested and ready to go. Our first destination was the Picasso museum (which would be a running theme in the first couple of cities visited - go to a city, go to the Picasso museum...). We saw it, it was cool, and proceeded to continue walking around the town. We saw the beautiful Barcelona cathedral, then decided to take the subway over to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia church, a building that is under construction still and has been for lots of years. When finished, it will be more fantastic than it already is. And it may actually make Notre Dame look tame in its style. Take a look at how it appears so far. We went to the top of the church, witnessed the amazing views, and then took in some more of Gaudi's work down at the Block of Discord and at Casa Mila. Then it was back to the waterfront for us as we thought we'd take the aerial tramway to Castel Montjuic - but no, as the station never got any closer the further we walked. We tried to rely on Jason's abilities to hail a cab, but no, that didn't work well either. We did finally get a cab and took that to Montjuic, which was closing, but we were up there to see the view, which was incredible. Then we had the wonderful idea to take a walk to the Olympic stadium and Royal Palace, which was the walk to end all walks. We tambiened the hell out of Barcelona - I think we may have lost 10 1bs each in Barcelona alone. The Royal Palace has these awesome fountains in front of it, which we have numerous pictures of. Finally, we got ourselves back to the hotel and had Sbarros, an authentic Spanish meal if there ever was one. But we were tired and had covered a LOT of ground.

So after our tiring exertions the day previous, we weren't sure what to explore, but Wendy had an idea - let's take a train to Montserrat, a monastery that's built into the mountains. It was only about an hour train ride to the place, and it sure sounded cool. So we check out of the hotel, leave our bags there, and then board a train to Montserrat. The train ride was neat as we got to travel through the countryside of Spain, which looked a lot like Southern California. Anyways, we finally get to the right train station and as you look up, you can see the monastery nestled WAY HIGH in the cliffs of the countryside, and you have to take a cable car up to it. Ugh. You finally make it up there and you are suddenly in the realization that this place is WAY commercial. There are nice trendy cafes, hotels, and lots of annoying children. Must....leave.....now......But we didn't. Instead we actually waited in what was probably one of the most annoying lines ever, as bratty children and adults waited to glimpse the black Madonna. Yes, we waited, saw it and moved on. But it took about 45 minutes......and we suffered. Oh the pain. There are also funiculars up at Montserrat, which we decided to take one of, the one which goes down the mountain a little to where Gaudi had built stations of the cross. The one up, which provides an even higher view, had a line even worse than that for the Madonna. Well, no sooner did we realize that the stations of the cross trail was HUGE did we hop back on the funicular and hightail it to the cable car to go back to Barcelona. I just don't think Montserrat was for me - although it was quite breathtaking, the view at least. We went back to the Ramblas for one last dinner in Barcelona before we boarded our hotel train that evening which was bound for PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

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