Saturday, October 8, 2022
Before we take a look at today's saga, let us go back to a few more photos that I failed to post from Friday's doings.
The typical cafe con leche and a
pastry, this time at La Mallorquina
This fun and busy bakery has been serving the needs of Madridleños and tourists alike on the Puerta del Sol since 1894.
Seen just to the left as
you exit La Mallorquina
The mini-jungle at the
Atocha train station
It was both our Metro stop for our tour of the Reina Sofia Museum across the street yesterday and our embarkation point for today's train trip to Barcelona.
Atocha Train Station after visiting the
Reina Sofia Modern Art Museum
The somewhat different entrance
to the Reina Sofia Museum
The Reina Sofia includes a lot
of 20th-century propaganda art
MODERN art museum after all
where we had lunch yesterday
is indeed a bull fight bar
Now, as for today, we bid a fond "Adios" to Madrid as we were traveling via a high-speed train operated by Ouigo to magical Barcelona. We made the 313 mile trip in only two hours and 45 minutes with but one stop in the city of Zaragoza.
On to today's Adventure . . .
I was out of the hotel before the
others hoping to enjoy one last order
of churros and chocolate at San Ginés
DAMN, they were closed until 8:00 am which would be cutting it too close for our taxi ride to the Atocha train station.
Another view of the Atocha's jungle
In line to board the train, Laurie could have easily posted up this Spanish abuela
Our trip, and the Spanish country
side, flew by quickly with these two
as we engaged in . . .
. . . sparkling conversation with
our travel companions
Spain still requires travelers to wear face masks on all forms of public transportation such as taxis, the metro and trains.
Truth be told, Laurie and I nodded off for big chunks of the train ride East in large part due to our comfortable wide, plush seats.
Anyway, we arrived at Barcelona's
train station ready for more
Adventure like . . .
. . . finding one of the advertised 100
restrooms in the Barcelona-Sants
train station
Our taxi ride to our, as it turned out, excellently located Air BnB rental just off of Las Ramblas was a smooth one with a driver who gave us several good tips for the upcoming four days.
Our flat is on the same street as
Antoni Gaudi's Palau Güell
completed in 1890
Gaudi is Barcelona's much revered architect whose style is fascinating to me and many others.
We were headed to our favorite
tapas bar on a small pedestrian
street to the right of that brown edifice
This Joan Miró design has been
painted on this spot of Las Ramblas for
as long as we've been coming to Barcelona
Today, in a tribute to the great Catalonian artist, it was covered over by a layer of color correct flower petals.
Turn right at the Umbrella Building
with the Chinese dragon
It seems that the dragon, in any form, is Barcelona's animal of choice.
We made it, let the feast begin!
It was TAPAS MANIA!
In Barcelona's booming tapas scene, they use the long standing honor system of laying your tapas' toothpicks on your plate for the server to reckon your bill at the end of the meal.
Our final tally for the four of us was 22 toothpicks and four cañas (beers) at a cost of just 39€ or about 1.50€ per item.
Such a deal!
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Just a few steps away from
our tapas dining experience
is Santa Maria del Pi
This church first opened its doors in the year 1319 A.D.
I try to attend a classical guitar concert here whenever I come to Barcelona. Fortunately, there was one scheduled for tonight featuring one member of Barcelona's beloved Four Guitars quartet, Manuel Gonzalez.
We bought four tickets to the concert certain that we would not be disappointed by attending this 9:00 pm solo concert.
We continued to roam the aimlessly through the narrow Barcelona streets to see what treasures we might find
Who knew that Pablo Picasso
was an American football fan?
Not I, I assure you.
I'm guessing that the Tin Man may have been Pablo's favorite Wizard of Oz character as well.
Trouble brewing . . .
. . . LOTS of trouble!
We escaped with only one more truly unique pair added to Laurie's vast shoe empire.
A wedding photo shoot is
always fun to stumble upon
My Bride
I may have gone a bit overboard with the flowers.
NOW we're talking!
The La Boqueria Market is an explosion of colors and aromas amid thousands of shoppers. Barcelona's population has been buying spices, produce, meat and seafood here since as far back as 1200 A.D.!
As we entered . . .
. . . Glorious Colors greeted us
Mushrooms of all types
Nuts
More mushrooms
Exotic dragon fruit
Oils in various flavors
On to the seafood section of the market
I love gambas . . .
. . . and all sorts of seafood
Octopus, a.k.a. pulpo, is a
beloved cuisine dish in España
Salmon is a good option too
Of course, Spain is noted
for their ham
Ham comes in all forms
at this market stall
Some vegetable and potato chips
More potato chips
These remind me of Barcelona and Antoní Gaudi's Basílica de la Sagrada Familia with all of its crazy towers.
We plan to visit the Basílica on Sunday.
While I ADORE empanadas . . .
. . . others like fruits
I like fruits too, especially when
they are dipped in chocolate
White chocolate, light chocolate or dark chocolate, it is all good for me.
I must admit, this looked
good to me for some strange reason
Peppers . . .
. . . lots of colorful peppers
I had a pineapple coconut drink
which really hit the spot
This is the man that
restored La Boqueria
GRACIAS Señor!
We left La Boqueria with
all of our senses alive
La Boqueria is closed on Sundays but I'm sure that we'll return again several times in the coming days.
As we headed back to our flat
to freshen up, we passed this
wonderful store that sells sweets
Las Ramblas was awash in brilliant
colors in the late afternoon Sun
Night life at Plaça Reial
A cool Gaudi inspired lamp post
A back alley near the Cathedral
An entryway to the Cathedral
Unicorn gargoyle?
We heard music playing nearby.
The band was IN THE HOUSE!
Groups were literally
dancing in the streets!
Incredible
Dance, EVERYBODY DANCE!
They are doing a traditional Catalonian dance known as the Sardana.
During the reign of Fascist dictator Francisco Franco this dance, as well as the Catalonian language and anything else even remotely considered part of the Catalonian culture, were banned.
Franco wanted the entire country to be 100% Spanish and thus tried to squash all regional variations of his preferred culture.
More of the Sardana
Ending the Sardana with a
stirring crescendo!
All of this dancing occurred in front
of the entrance to Barcelona's Cathedral
We simply LOVE Barcelona!
Interesting
When we entered this sobering
church courtyard children were at play
This was the church that architect Antoní Gaudi attended.
In 1938, during the Spanish Civil War, Franco's Fascist forces were aided by the German and Italian Air Forces bombing raids in their long battle to defeat the democratic, anti-Fascist stronghold that was Barcelona.
All of these pock marks in this courtyard
are from just such a devastating air raid
Koreen was moved by the story of
what happened here 84 years ago
On that fateful day, 42 people lost
their lives on this courtyard, most
of them were children at play from
the church's school
As was the common practice of the Spanish Civil War, after the first bombing raid was over, a second air raid would attack to cause further carnage as survivors combed the rubble in search of their friends and loved ones.
Catalans love to build these
human towers known as a Castell
Three of the crowd of about
60 people attending the evening
concert at Santa Maria del Pi church
There was good lighting inside
this old church to go along with
the amazing acoustics
Manuel Gonzalez's solo
one hour performance was
indeed mesmerizing
It was a long and fulfilling first day in Barcelona to be sure.
A solid day of exercise considering
that we spent almost three hours
sitting on a train to start it
Finally, from the net . . .
As true in Europe as it is in the USA
Sunday should be another fascinating day in the Catalonian capital city, stay tuned . . .
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