España- Barcelona and Love

Barcelona from our hotel rooftop

Barcelona.  You know when you hear a song and it brings you back to a memory that forces you to smile because of how much that memory means to you?  When I hear the word "Barcelona" my body radiates with happiness.  Before going to Spain everyone that had travelled to Spain told me I would fall in love with Madrid and think Barcelona was just alright.  I had the opposite experience and from talking with my travel partners they did as well.  Maybe all of the mitigating factors possible fell into place at one time.  Similar to a dinner where the combination of the food, the wine, and the company can make the experience better than any Michelin starred restaurant on it's best day, Barcelona was more than I ever hoped for.

The hotel was perfect.  We stayed at the Eurostars BCN Design (http://www.eurostarsbcndesign.com/en/hotel.html) and from the moment we arrived the staff was friendly and welcoming.  Our previous hotels had treated us with indifference, this was a nice change.  Everyone was exhausted from the day's events.  A long stressful morning followed by Mikee and I running with the bulls in Pamplona and all of us being neck to neck for so long was wearing on us emotionally.  Going to our respective rooms the first order of business was showering.  Maily and I unpacked,  I poured some wine, and then I was jumping in the shower to clean up.  After we were all clean we walked around the neighborhood to see what was there.  Barcelona was the first part of the trip that didn't have a set schedule.  Everything could be off the cuff which allowed us to do whatever we wanted.  The first night we were there we bought some beer, wine, and liquor hoped on the roof of our hotel to take in the events so far.

Staying in Passeig de Gracia has it's advantages; the Casa Batllo and Gaudi Museum are both located on it, numerous restaurants, the Metro stop is across the street, and for those that love to shop you have every store in site.  It also has it's disadvantages.  Fine dining comes at a premium and charge an additional 20% to your bill if you want to sit outside.  The views are amazing and the temperature begs you to sit outside so it's hard to resist.  Some of those restaurants have horrible service; they know it's a tourist or ritzy section so they can treat you like shit.  We had the worst dinning experience at Navarra where our waiter actually took off down the street to eat dinner leaving us wondering.  The supermarkets and vendors also charge more since they are flanked by the likes of Hermes, Chanel, Blvgari, and Cartier.  I think it's one of the best places to stay while visiting Barcelona, but you have to be aware of the above.

Barcelona has so much to do.  My favorite attraction we saw was Sagrada Familia.  The basilica is incomplete and started development in 1882 by Antoni Gaudi.  I wondered how something started so long ago could still remain unfinished, but once you're there you understand the level of detail.  For anyone planning on going- buy your tickets online.  We did the day of and when we arrived the line to get in was well past 3hrs.  Purchasing them online means you walk right up and hand them your ticket and walk in.  No one should wait 3 hrs+, don't be an idiota.

Sagrada Familia is one of the few places that you could go back to every week and catch something new each time.  The attention to detail is unreal.  Everywhere you look something new sticks out to you.  The outside of the church is in stark contrast to the the inside structure whose design was based in things Gaudi saw in nature.  It has an oddly refreshing feel for a 100 year old church.
Outside has some of the most intricate stone carvings depicting various Christian themes.  Inside.... Inside feels warm.  Insides does feel like nature, but it also makes you feel something special within yourself.  It was interesting to walk around and hear other people discuss it.  Some didn't think it looked how a church should look while others were able to see it's beauty.  Not being a religious person, I appreciate it for what it was; a beautiful vision designed to showcase the love Gaudi felt towards God.

Neither my words nor the pictures could ever do it justice.  You have to see it in person to fully grasp it's magnificence.

After spending a few hours taking everything in we split up for a few hours.  I took off to see Camp Nou, the home of Messi, and my friends went to shop for souvenirs.  Once we met back up we went to the Arc d'Triumph.  The park where it is located is very nice.  People of all sorts were running, walking their dogs, rollerblading, and just hanging out.  We bought an assortment of beer as we took in another beautiful architectural delight.  The day was complete with a very nice dinner where we all went to a spot Maily and I had previously found by accident, Pirineus.  The night Felica and Mikee had their romantic couples dinner Maily and I took off on the metro to the Gothico section of the city in search of a tapas bar recommended by a stranger.  We never found it, but we found Pirineus instead (about a block from metro stop Joanic).  The food was made with love and the service was family.  A neighborhood restaurant founded in 1935 where they mange to do everything right.  The first night we tried about 5 different items including an octopus entree.

The night we took Felica and Mikee we must have ordered triple the number of items from our first night.  Chorizo, boquerones en vinagre, croquettes, iberian ham, and a hundred other things lined the table.  Rioja wine was plentiful and lemon beer was served.  I'm pretty sure everything we saw at the aquarium a few days before was now being served to us here.  The meal was topped off with creme brulee ice cream and a healthy dose of Cutty Sark was splashed on top.










Due to a scheduling snafu Felica and Mikee were off to Madrid to catch their flight while Maily and I had another day to kill in Barcelona.  This day was more of a rest and recoup day.  I had a monster blister on my hobbit feet and was drained from my lack of sleep so we took it easy.  We moved hotels closer to the airport in a central neighbor where huge apartment complexes dominated the sky line with parks placed in the center.  We found a great little bistro to have dinner out on a street corner.  At one point a few showers started and those of us without umbrellas above our heads scooted our tables to share with those that did.  It was a perfect ending to the trip.

Looking back on it now I have a lot of different thoughts and emotions about certain events than I had at that time.  Everything is more positive and less stressful.  Spain is many things to me and each region has developed it's own uniqe character.  The first two words that come to mind are romance and beauty.  The architecture is romantic, the beach is beautiful.  The people are beautiful and the countryside is romantic. I guess they go hand in hand, but not necessarily in the traditional sense.  I relate most experiences to songs but there isn't one that encompasses all that Spain was to me.  When I was on the plane to Spain the song that I kept listening to was 'Rising Up' from the Roots but that was pre-trip and for some reason it doesn't make me think of Spain at all.  It was one part 'Ancora' by Ludovico Einaudi.  It was also 'Just One Yesterday' from Fall Out Boy, it had elements of Vicente Fernandez 'Me Voy A Quitar De En Medio' with equal parts Angels and Airwaves 'Everything is Magic' and a small part of 'My Last' from Big Sean.  I think of happiness when remembering the local girl in Pamplona dancing without regard to the street musicians, joy when we were walking in San Sebastian and the city opened up to the Bay of Biscay, serenity when I toured the city solo and ended up with the beach on one side of me and people practicing hard flips on the other while I drank a lemon beer, amazement at Sagrada Familia, and love for the country when I left.

The Video I made on YouTube of Spain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKmTFrxm158