Barcelona 2010: Transit

Barcelona's transit system is really user friendly. You buy ride cards from kiosks at each subway and can select a single trip for 1.3 Euros, or ten trips for 7.80 Euros. Imagine getting a volume discount ... TTC take note! The ride cards are totally shareable also. Since the card contains a set number of rides (as opposed to a metropass which is unlimited rides for a fixed duration of time), it is perfectly acceptable to use it at the subway turnstile, then pass it back for your companion's use. Rich and I shared a 10 pass card in this manner. The same pass is good on the bus where there are machines to read and debit the card. The subway platforms indicate the arrival of the next train and counts down to the second. On the trains, the route maps are electronic, and each stop that has passed is lit up so it is very easy to see what stop is coming up next. There are also electronic screens that flash the name of the next stop as well as a recorded voice that announces it upon arrival. Even the bus stops indicate to the minute the approximate time for the next bus to arrive. Wouldn't that be excellent to have in Toronto? On the buses, again there are electronic screens that indicate the route and the upcoming stop. All this, and a quick and cheap way to get downtown from the airport (via the Aerobus for 5 Euros)! I definitely have transit envy. It seems every big city we go to has a better transit system than we do.

Barcelona 2010: Els Quartre Gats Restaurant

Els Quatre Gats (The 4 Cats) is a beautiful Modernista restaurant just a few blocks south of our apartment, where Picasso hung out with his friends, and exhibited one of his first solo showings of his works. We ate dinner there on our last night in Barcelona and were taken by the exquisite decor, the historic significance of the restaurant (with many Picasso memorabilia on display, including the menu cover which was designed by Picasso), and the lovely jazz music played by the live pianist. There were balconies on each side with tables overlooking the rest of the restaurant. The food was traditional Catalonian fare which was reasonably good, but not the main reason to come to this restaurant. I thought the plates were very stylish and came in 4 designs that made you want to eat your food quickly to see which plate you got.

Barcelona 2010: Dali Museum in Figueres

By the last day of our vacation, we had basically seen everything that was of interest to us in Barcelona (a few places multiple times), so we planned a road trip. We took the RENFE train to Figueres to visit the Dali Museum. Europe seems to have the most efficient railway systems. I've taken their trains on several vacations now and I've never known the trains to be significantly delayed, or late by more than a few minutes. As expected, the Dali museum was wild and wacky, just like Dali himself, and his weird surrealistic art. As we approached, we first saw a reddish building topped by what looked like hard-boiled eggs and golden Academy Award trophies. Inside was four floors of paintings, sculptures and drawings. Included were his signature images such as the melting clocks, and the Mae West room with the eyes, nose and lips furniture, framed by an archway of blond hair. Dali seemed fascinated with optical illusions as shown with displays of holograms, 3D images and pictures that morph into other images depending on how you look at them. A great example of this was a huge portrait of a the back side of his wife Gala, which turns into Abraham Lincoln if you look at a certain angle, or if look at it through a camera lens. No matter what angle I tried, I could only see Lincoln through my camera. But now when I look at a larger version of the photo I took, I see the woman again but a smaller version shows Lincoln ... very cool. Many of his works require you to concentrate and interpret what you are looking at. He had a series of paintings that looked like landscapes of rock formations from afar, but became images of reclining bodies from up close. The Dali museum is definitely worth the 2 hour train ride, and Figueres is a quaint pleasant town as well. Prior to visiting the museum, we had cafe amb llet (Coffee with milk) and pain du chocolat in the local bakery that was so popular there was a constant lineup out the door. We also walked through an antique toy market sale that was held in a pretty square on their main pedestrian street (la Rambla).

Barcelona 2010: Parc de la Ciutadella and Arc de Triomf

Did you know that Barcelona has it's own version of the Arch the Triumph, like in Paris, as well as a fountain that rivals Rome's Trevi fountain? This is what we found out when we spent a day in the Parc de la Ciutadella and surrounding area. This is a very nice park near the Picasso Museum with some interesting scupltures, pretty garden areas, and these two features. After days of walking all over Barcelona, we needed to slow down. So we spent a very peaceful afternoon parked on a shady bench in front of this fountain and drank ice cold slushies while we read (or occasionally napped :). I actually managed to finish the 800+ page book for my next book club meeting (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - which was a very good book by the way!)

Barcelona 2010: Sculptures and Ice Cream

Is it my imagination or do these sculptures appear like they're holding an ice cream cone and eating a popcicle respectively?

Barcelona 2010: Dining Adventures

We've now tried Tapas several times and found that it can range from excellent to mediocre, so it's important to know where to go. Our first experience at Taxapela Euskel Taberna was eating mostly pinchos, which were bite-size portions of toast with different toppings for 1-3 Euros. Tapas consisting of meat or seafood dishes are larger and are in the 4-10+ Euro range. Our favourite place is still Tapas 24 on C/ Diputació, 269 where we had the squid ink risotto, breaded rabbit ribs, rare sliced beef in spicy sauce, fried anchovies and Russian potato salad. Yesterday we ate tapas the way locals do, sitting on stools at the tapas bar and pointing to the pre-made choices that we wanted. On our day at the Barcelonetta/Port area, we tried Seafood Paella which came in a cast iron pan full of flavourful rice, shrimps, mussels and squid. For breakfast, we had the traditional Xurros amb Xocolata in the beautiful Escriba pastry shop. For me, this did not live up to expectations as I found the luke-warm chocolate now sweet enough and too rich to drink after the dipping. Rich seemed to like it though. More importantly for Rich, we've now tried all the different types of "Spanish dining" experiences that he was looking for. Our first of two fine dining adventures turned out to be a great success. We went to the restaurant Cinc Sentits for an 8 course tasting menu. The chef and his sister actually lived in Toronto and were born in Oakville, so there was an unexpected "Canadian connection" to one of the courses. This turned out to be a shooter consisting of chilled cream, Cava Sabayon, a touch of rock salt at the bottom, and a layer of maple syrup! Imagine travelling all the way to Spain to have maple syrup. This was followed by an asparagus clam soup in the prettiest plate I've ever seen, fresh spring peas with herbed mint ice cream(?!?), the best tasting fois gras I'd ever tasted (on a layer of glazed leeks and candied sugar crust), then a red mullet fish with vegetables steamed in a plastic bag that arrived at the table like a present which had to be cut open. And all this was just the starter courses. The main courses seemed actually anti-climatic after all that, and consisted of either Iberian suckling Pig with roasted apple, or beef tenderloin with truffled potato (both very tasty). Next came a very strong blue cheese with a spiced bread cookie, and then a palette cleanser of lemon ice cream with lime sorbet. Finally came the dessert which was a delicious chocolate mousse with olive oil and salt(!), olive oil ice cream and macademia nuts. The food was all so innovative, delicious and beautifully presented. While eating out at nice restaurants is alot of fun, after a full day of walking around, occasionally it was nice just to have quiet meal at home. Since we had an apartment with a complete kitchen (abet a "European style kitchen" which is very compact), we were able to buy fresh food from the market to eat at our leisure. After a successful trip to the Mercat de la Boqueria, we ended up with a baguette, several types of cheese, Iberico ham, and my favourite grilled veggies including exotic mixed mushrooms, fava beans and zucchini.

Barcelona 2010: Barceloneta and Port Vell, Picasso Museum

Wednesday we went to Barcelonetta and the Port area which was where the beaches, board walks, marinas and seafood restaurants were found. This turned out to be my second favourite day and I've found the common denominators - outdoors, sun, fresh air and sculptures! The people on the beach were lapping up the sun, including a few topless sun-worshippers (young, nubile, non-wrinkly ones even which is not always the case!). But the water must have been cold since no one was in it. We found a nice restaurant with an outdoor patio and a view of the water and had the Fisherman's Paella for two and a huge jug of Sangria de Cava which we couldn't finish. On Thursday we had a tour of the Picasso Museum and saw a new side of Picasso, and a part of his work that we've not seen in previous exhibitions. This collection focused on Picasso as a young boy and man, when he first started out as an artist under the tutelage of father and then Fine Arts School followed by time spent in Barcelona and Paris. To see what he produced starting at age 13, with little to no formal training yet, was amazing. It was interesting to see the constant changes in his style as he grew up and was influenced by various peers. The tour guide was excellent in describing the history of Picasso and explaining the nuances of the art pieces on display. We learned about why he started signing his name as just Picasso instead of Ruiz Picasso (his father and mother's surnames), what triggered the "Blue Period" and how adept he was a copying the styles of other famous artists until he came into his own style in Paris. The highlight of the exhibit was a series of paintings (of which he did over 44) that reinterpreted a famous painting called Les Meninas. There was also a fascinating video that showed individual portions of the original painting which then visually morphed into various Picasso interpretations. Again, no photos allowed so I had to find these on the internet to use as memories.

Barcelona 2010: Sagrada Familia, Santa Pau Hospital, La Pedrera

Tuesday was Modernista overload day, and we haven't even gone on the Modernista walking tour yet, which will be Friday. I went a bit wild and set a new personal best for photo taking in a day, at 314 photos! We started the day early, getting to Sagrada Familia church about 45 minutes before it opened so we could take photos of the outside before the crowds came. I was not prepared to be as impressed as I was with this church, especially the facade showing "The Passion" of Christ which was so beautiful and haunting. I remember reading the book "Pillars of the Earth" and scoffing at the notion of it taking over 100 years to complete a cathedral. Well, here we saw a real life example of this, since the construction started in the late 1800s and is not due to be completed until at least 2026! It's quite daunting to see how many people are busily working at precisely fulfilling Gaudi's vision. It was also sad to hear how he died in a traffic accident in front of his masterpiece and unrecognized, was initially taken to a pauper's hospital. Next we took a tour of a lesser known Modernista building, by the same architect as the Palau de la Musica. This was the Hospital of Sant Crue i Sant Pau, which faces the Sagrada Familia at either end of Avinguda de Gaudi, a beautiful pedestrian street lined with trees, benches and cafes. The hospital was funded by a banker named Pau Gil, who insisted that his initials P.G. be prominently displayed everywhere in recognition of his generosity. In addition to the main building, there were over 10 smaller buildings on beautiful garden grounds. Though designated a UNESCO heritage site, the hospital was fully functional until last year when a restoration project began. Because of the construction, we had to wear hardhats while on the tour. Our last stop of the day was another Gaudi building Casa Milà, also known as La Pedrera, a derisive name meaning "The Quarry" by locals in 1910 who did not like the unusual building. Each floor made up a single apartment unit shaped like a donut with the rooms forming a circle. The highlight was the rooftop with its fabulously shaped chimneys.

Barcelona 2010: Park Guell, La Rambla, Mercat la Boqueria

Monday was our first venture into major tourist areas. We started by going to Parc Guell, which was Gaudi's failed attempt at creating a community of homes in his unique style. Multi-coloured mosaics and curvy shapes were everywhere, including his signature bench that stretched around most of a large square, and this beautiful lizard that was the highlight, especially for the hoards of visiting school children. It was like being in Hansel and Gretel land but was difficult to get around all the tour bus groups. Next was a trip down "La Ramblas" which is a busy, wild and crazy shopping street with a pedestrian only lane in the middle where weird performance actors tried to earn their keep. Down both sides parallel to this lane were all types of stores, pastry shops and restaurants. Escribe is this beautiful Modernista chocolate and pastry shop dating back to the 1800s. We were stuffed from our Tapas lunch, but made a mental note to return one morning for the classic xurros amb xocolata (fritters dipped in thick chocolate sauce). We also saw Palau Guell, another home of the obviously very wealthy Guell family. In midst of Las Ramblas is the Mercat de la Boqueria, which is like a huge St. Lawrence market where we picked up fresh veggies, fruits, bread, cheese and meats for a nice dinner at home. Having an apartment in the heart of all the tourist attractions is great, since it lets us eat breakfast and some dinners at home, as well as occasionally enjoy the afternoon siesta, to rest up before venturing out again. We're also enjoying having spanish tapas, which is similar to having Chinese dim sum, where you order lots of little plates of different types of food. Our best and most adventurous tapas meal so far was at a highly recommended place called Tapas 24, where we tried items such as fried anchovies, squid ink risotto and breaded rabbits ribs, accompanied by excellent sangria.

Barcelona 2010: Montjuic and Joan Miro Museum

Sunday was the highlight of my trip .. well, it's only been 2 days so I guess that's an unfair statement to make so soon. But this was the day in the itinerary that I was most looking forward to, and it lived up to all my expectations. We took a trip to the Montjuic area, which is one of the highest points in Barcelona and gave us fabulous views. We took a funicular upwards for 6 minutes to reach this area. Although there were plenty of beautiful parks and sites, the main reason for this adventure was to visit the Joan Miro museum. I've been enamoured by the art of Joan Miro (although I originally thought he was a woman, and not spanish for John) since I first saw one of his enormous sculptures in Chicago. He works in multiple mediums including paintings, drawings, tapestry and sculptures. His art ranges from delightful and quirky to obscure, abstract and surreal. The museum was well laid out to follow the trajectory of his life and career. The audioguide did an excellent job of describing how his art changed through time, and how he was greatly influenced by events like the Spanish Civil War and World War II. It also helped to interpret what we were looking at (a man? a woman? a bird?) since sometimes you had to stretch the imagination to see it. Also in the Montjuic area was the Mies Van de Rohe Pavillion that was built for the 1929 Barcelona international expo. We first encountered this architect's work during a Toronto Doors Open visit to the 54th floor of the Toronto Dominion Centre. There we saw the "Barcelona" chair amongst others of his designs. It was quite interesting to see the place where he first came up with this idea, in Barcelona itself. Considering this was done in the late 1920s, his designs seem incredibly modern, even in current times. Finally we visited the Caixiforum, which is the second gallery of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, and much superior to the MABCA that we went to the day before. Inside, we saw an exhibition on photographs of children from around the world, sponsored by Unicef, a tribute to Frederic Fellini, a collection of "Declassified Objects" including pairings of sandals with swim caps made of things like bathtub plugs, fishing lures, etc., a huge sculpture made of bright yellow plastic virgin mary figures and more. There was also an exhibit of black and white photography by Jacques Lartigue (1894-1986) who played with concepts of 3D photography, movement/speed, framing, etc. Now for an update on the soccer celebration from yesterday. It turns out Barcelona won the Spanish league championships and beat a bitter rival in doing so. The festivities lasted late into the night until some time between midnight and 1am, the riot police came out in full force. At one point, outside the window of our apartment loft, we could see a line of more than10 police vehicles, with riot armed police in position and a helicopter in the air scanning for looters and hooligans. What we heard and taught were firecrackers throughout the night seemed to come in rapid repeated bursts, which in retrospect we wonder whether that was actually gunfire! All in all, it was an exciting Sunday day and night.

Barcelona 2010: Bari Gothic and Palau Musica Tours

We took a guided tour of the old part of Barcelona called the Bari Gothic. An exuberant guide described the many churches and Spanish history including the Roman origins (Roman walls still exist) and battles with the Moors, French, etc. He described in delighted gory detail how Saint Eulalia was tortued in 13 different ways before she died. There were lots of quaint little shops and art galleries in the windy streets but we did not have enough time to explore yet, so we'll have to go back. We did find the "oldest candle store" and bought a few cool looking candles. Next we went to Palau de la Musica for a tour of the most beautiful concert hall that I've ever seen. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside, so here's a "borrowed" one that I found on the internet. We got to sit both on the ground floor and the balcony in the most expensive seats and they played a tape of some orchestra music so we could experience the acoustics. Saturday turned out to be "free museum" night until 1am, and we were all excited that we had the chance to see more museums than were originally in our plans. We did get into the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) but found it very boring.. thank goodness it was free. Next we tried to go to the Antoni Tapies museum and La Pedera Gaudi museum and found the lineups each spanned 2 blocks! These Catalonians seem willing to wait hours in order to get into a museum free! We decided we'll just pay another day. In hindsight, now we know why we waltzed right into the first one! It is now Sunday night and apparently this is soccer night and Barcelona's team is playing. We first figured this out when we saw a crowd of people crowded on the street in front of a bar, trying to see the big screen TV. Then we got to Placa Catalunya which is the big square next to our apartment, and heard more noise. The radio channel was broadcasting the game there and the square was packed full of fans listening, cheering and waving flags. Every time Barcelona scored, there was huge cheering, fireworks went off, horns honked and even police cars were blaring their sirens. Just now I think the game is over and Barcelona has won! More fireworks and "We are the Champions" is playing .. hope the crowd goes home soon or we won't be able to sleep tonight.. Gee these Europeans love their soccer!

Barcelona 2010: First Day - Flight and Apartment

Flying Air France is superior to Air Canada in so many ways. The food is better, the seats seem a bit bigger, and the flight actually left ahead of schedule! Getting to downtown Barcelona from the airport was also easy and inexpensive, with an Aerobus costing 5 Euros per person that dropped us off a block from our apartment. Toronto needs something like this! The apartment could not be better situated, as it is right downtown in the heart of all the shopping, restaurants and tourist areas. It's like staying on Bloor and Yonge except that all the stores and buildings are works of art and tourist attractions in their own right. The apartment is a studio loft on the 5th floor of a beautiful modernista building, with the stunning view of Passeig Gracia that you see here. We wandered around the neighbourhood a bit, and went to this huge 9 floor department/grocery store where we picked up food for dinner and breakfast. But flying the red-eye and getting just 3-5 hours sleep has wiped us out and our pledge to stay awake until at least 8pm to ward off the jet-lag is waning by the minute. Hope to have more energy tomorrow when we're off to explore the Bari Gothic area.

Barcelona 2010: tomorrow!

We're off to Barcelona tomorrow and the timing couldn't be better. It's been raining for days there, but sunshine is predicted for when we arrive and the foreseeable future. After days of volcanic ash warnings in the Spain and Portugal area, all travel restrictions seem to have lifted. And the Euro is at an all time low. Hopefully the travel gods continue to smile at us!