Day 145 No Flamenco for Me!

Monday 13/08/2018 (Day 58 SZ) Sono Apartmentos Avenida Els Tremolencs, 34, La Garriga, 08530, Spain

Today we set off for Barcelona once more, after 18 years we have returned…. We have not too bad of memories from our last visit but I really didn’t want to go back… However plans change as ours have and with only being able to do the top part of Spain, John made the decision to stay near here and visit once again. To be honest we actually had a great day…. Exhausting, but great.

I do have one bad memory of Barcelona and that is from the Flamenco show we went to on the Cosmos Trip in 2000… It was the night from hell watching nonstop tapping, yelling and shoes being hit so hard on the floor I thought it might give way…we were all cramped into a tiny room, sat on a chair all one level…. So if someone was tall the shorty behind couldn’t see anyway…given an aperitif that tasted awful, and all squashed so close together with about 10 other busloads of people… it was so hot hardly any air and the actual show was just awful…so this time definitely no Flamenco….

We have found getting into most cities not too difficult so we usually find a car park near the centre and this seems to be working for us…..So all parked up, off we set to find sights we hadn’t seen before. As we were to discover Barcelona is an unreal city with many facets to explore. Wandering around taking in all the unreal buildings and of course for me the wrought iron lace work on the windows, doors, fences and any other thing they place it on because so many items have it on them.

The sad side of Barcelona is the people sleeping on the streets and of course the heaps and heaps of refugees selling the same items on the street everywhere….

As we set off we could see the Gaudi Buildings that have been made Famous by this guy who was wayyyy ahead of his time with design and architecture……He was called a Modernist creator with his way out designs of Buildings. You can’t miss them they are so, so different to anything else around. We really only got to see a couple of the Gaudi buildings and only from the outside…. Our morning tea was at a lovely little coffee shop with so many treats to look at and choose from, we usually get something to share….
On we go venturing off that lead us down Las Rambler, it wasn’t a plan to head down here we just as most of our sightseeing is stumbled onto it. Las Rambler is really tourist 1.2 Ks long filled with people everywhere. We could see 100’s of people streaming into one area, wondering what it was we headed that way…. Silly us… Turned out to be a food Markets, which would have been ok except sooo manyyy peopleeee and not easy to get around. We found a spot that a bit quitter and while standing there I spotted some ladies selling toffee coated nuts and freeze dried vegies…. Being a bit peckish by now as it was lunch time… I asked how much it was so I ordered 3 different choices… I double checked with the lady that is 5.60 Euro a 100gm yes… went to pay for it and the other women said 33 Euro that’s $52…. I looked at her and said you’re kidding….my husband will kill me. So I got her to take quite a bit out still cost me 25 Euro… unreal. John was mad at me for being so stupid but as I said to him I double checked the women made up some excuse costs, but it really was a total scam…after John had said his bit I then reminded him how he got ripped off at this very same place for cherries 18 yrs ago… The most expense cherries he has ever had in his life…. So lesson is don’t go to the Food Markets that are just for the tourist. Go to local markets they are cheaper…

After that terrible experience we made our way to the harbour. On the way I spotted a young women totally out to it on the ground in front of a shop sprawled out no movement…. After an earlier episode of stepping over a man on the street that I felt I should have helped even if I had called an Ambulance, John just wanted to keep going I honestly felt like the story in the Bible about the Pharisee who passed by the man who had been robbed….. I know for many of them its drug related but honestly it could be medical and if you don’t check you don’t know… They even could be dead… I just felt so helpless and callous in not stopping to help….It is just so so sad the sights in some of these cities….
From the girl to seeing heaps of young refugee boys on the way to the Port, always boys selling their wares…they looked like they were allowed here in this area because they didn’t have their ropes in hand that are tied around the sheet on the ground with the wares… When it’s illegal they have the ropes around pone hand ready to pull the four leads on each corner of the sheet that pulls the whole thing into a big bag with all their goodies inside and they run…. There is always a spotted… But not here so we are thinking maybe the council allowed them this area to do business away from the main areas. Mind you they were selling plenty tourist everywhere buying their goodies of shoes, sun glasses, T shirts, Bag with designer names….

The buildings in the area as we were making our way to Port Vell were amazing so ornate but just stunning… Some were having a huge overhaul and being redone. From here you could see over the harbour to the Cable cars zipping back and forth across the Harbour, this was surrounded by all new modern buildings… What a difference from one extreme to the next with Architecture. The actual Cable Cars were going from one tall building to the next 3 in total…..Looked fun, but too far from where we were….Along with 100’s walking on a new modern designed walk way we headed to a new modern shopping centre… as it wasn’t that interesting and after a cuppa and meeting with Mr MacDonald we headed back towards the city, for some lunch. On the way we spotted some huge Luxury Cruises one was a Monster making the others that are big look dwarfed….

Lunch was on a side walk Café not far from the Port area…..where we could watch the world go by…. And just take some RnR the heat is unreal today so we are zapped of energy and all up by the time we did finish we had walked for well over 6 hrs.…From here we wandered around the alleys and streets stumbling across the massive Barcelona Cathedral, Not the Gaudi one, which is a very odd but interesting we didn’t end going to see it this…..This Cathedral still had heaps there looking at it and it was right next door to a Gaudi Art studio… I actually think it is an Art Studio named after Gaudi not his wares…. Still what they had on display on the outside was unreal. I wanted to go in but time was not on our side now we had to get back to the car which was blocks away…. We did make it back, very foot sore and tired… Then we had to go through the traffic to get back to our village. On the way in I spotted this massive bullet shaped building called the Glories Torre Agbar, I had hoped we could go via it on the way out as it was fascinating from a distance, but due to the traffic issues that just couldn’t occur. So back up the highway to our lovely little unit and a home cooked meal. What a day both extremely tired, but so glad we had made the effort to go to see Barcelona again, from the wonderful sights to the sadness we saw with the people on the streets….Read more