Barcelona

Day 2-4 aug 26 to 28^th

Barcelona

The last 3 days have for the most part been filled with drinking in Barcelona. The city looks a lot better when you are wearing clean pants. I achieved clean pants status at around 7 pm on the 26^th. The day preceding that was mostly filled with wandering around la rambla and the gothic area of the city. It was really beautiful. The buildings are for the most part stone. They have some interesting iron work and some decorative balcony’s and windows. They tend to all be close together and this creates a problem with being able to tell which streets are for walking and which ones are for driving.

Eventually we figured out… they are all for both, you just have to pay attention.

We managed to have sangria for 2 meals today I have no complaints. This stuff is fantastic. For dinner we went to a nice little restaurant where we had tapas and paella. Both were fantastic, Erin had a bit of a problem however when the paella  got there.  It had shrimp in it that still had all the shell attached. So before she would eat them I had to remove the eyes, antenna, legs and heads. Otherwise it was wonderful. However you do spend a lot of time picking out bones and shell bits. I think this makes it a more interactive eating experience…. Or something. Regardless it was tasty.

The following day we rented some bikes and took a trip down to the beach. It was about a half hour bike ride to get to the quiet beach recommended to us by the hostel staff. On the way down to the beach we stopped at a market to pick up some fruit a sandwich, some chorizo sausage and some sangria… yeah they even sell that stuff at the farmers market.  So the beach was a nude beach, , , needless to say there was a lot of wang all over the place it was almost enough to scare a girl gay…. Except there was a lot of saggy boob and naked vag around also… so for the most part I read my book and kept my eyes on the ocean.  Really I felt over dressed… it is an odd experience to feel over dressed in a swimsuit.

The water was amazing however, more or less the perfect temperature to cool you down from the sun with lots of fun waves to play in. we had a good day and got rather sunburnt. After dinner we went on an ice-cream adventure up la rambla we found the jackpot in a small shop called Amarino. Not only was the gelato absolutely fantastic.

They gave it to us shaped like roses.  No seriously roses. Somehow the wizard behind the counter managed to shape salted caramel, raspberry and chocolate gelato into a beautiful flower. Caramel in the middle with raspberry and chocolate petals.  Basically the best food ever.

The last day in Barcelona was spent riding around on bikes once more. We traversed the city trying to find the train station so we would be sure to get to Valencia on time and then sight seeing. The destinations were parc guil and the church that has been under construction for a hundred years. No I am not joking they have been building this for a hundred years and it is still not done.  The park was beautiful and covered in mosaic tiles with benches and buildings, even the occasional performer, Playing classical violin and base in what was designed as a market space. The church was interesting and looked like religion basically threw up all over it. It was a bit much but truly remarkable all the same.

After our bike adventure we went back to the hostel to do laundry and pack our bags. Then off to dinner once more. This night it was more sangria and paella however this night we added an assortment of snacks to the menu. The snacks turned out to be basically stuff on bread. Fried pork, cheese, tomato, anchovies, croquets and hot peppers. The snacks were very nice. The paella was much more tomato filled then previously and had a wider variety of fish in it, though still with shrimp that had all limbs attached. Overall it was a very good meal.

Once again after dinner we ventured to amarinos to get ice cream shaped like roses. Once more we were not disappointed.  We walked down the street watching street performers dressed up like devils, angles, fairies and the occasional headless man. As well there were people break dancing and even a very skilled man with contact balls and a small silver hoop.

Overall Barcelona has treated us well. Off to Valencia next to another beach and new adventures in tomato warfare.