Saturday May 4, 2019

Traveling to Barcelona

Oh my God, it’s early. We are up at 0545 and out by 0610 for our bus/train excursion to Barcelona. It is our longest travel day, 8 hours on the bus and train. Our hotel is only about a 12 minute walk but we make a small error missing a turn. I pick up on it right away and hurry (Carol called it a jog) back to the hidden corner. Back on track, with the initial panic subsided, the rest of the walk is easy. We stand in line to get our bus tickets stamped and find our seats. The ride to Antequerra takes an hour and fifteen and we arrive at the train station fifteen minutes early and with 50 minutes until our train to Barcelona arrives. This means only one thing to Carol. A seat in the station cafe for a cafe con leche to enjoy with our breakfast pastries. Once on the train I spend most of the trip trying to catch up on my journal. Somehow, we arrive in Barcelona 15 minutes early. We then proceed to lose the fifteen minutes gained because we exited the station opposite where my map picks up our route and spend some time looking for a familiar street name before realizing we have to go out a different exit. Back in through the station and out the other side, things begin to make a lot more sense. Of course, the street we travel goes uphill and I start in with dripping sweat from all over. We check in to Hostal Alslyp 114, get our room, a map, freshen up and head out the door. It is around 1545.

Montjuic

We walk through Placa Espanya and then up a pedestrian boulevard toward Montjuic and our destination, the Catalunya Museum of Art. It is free on Saturdays after 1500. We walk past the Magic Fountains and then up a whole lot of steps to the Museum entrance.

Martyrs

We start in the Romanesque wing. It contains art from churches around the Catalan region. A video shows how they removed frescos from the churches and then reconstructed them here in the museum. There is a painting that shows the different way some saints were martyred. None of them look pleasant. They also have a gothic wing that we explore and then find stairs leading up to the rooftop terrace.

Sagrada Familia View

The views from here are incredible. We can see the Sagrada Familia surrounded by cranes, an amusement park way up on a hilltop, the sea, and pretty much all of Barcelona. We exit the terrace into a domed room which was the ceremony room and dance hall for the 1929 World Expo. In the modern art section and elsewhere, we discover a few works by El Greco and a Picasso.

Philadelphia Exposition

There are also some cool old posters for drinks and one for carriage dealers in the 1902 Philadelphia Exposition. It is a nice visit. We decide to walk from here to a famous street in Barcelona called La Rambla. Originally, we had planned to take a metro but Carol wants to walk. The only problem is the lack of street names on the map I have. We stop often, looking at street names and wandering in what I think is the right direction until,we find a cross road on the map. From there, no problem.

La Boqueria

The street is a mass of people and we find the St Josep Boqueria Market. It also is packed and closing soon. We make the mistake of going in hungry which leads to us buying some Arab meatballs, calamari, sausage, and fruit drinks. The food all marked down for the end of the day was horrible except for the sausages. Worst food we have had in Spain. We are really disappointed and tired at this point so we head back to the hotel. It is quite the walk but we manage to stay on course to our place and just crash for the night. Tomorrow is a pretty busy day and then our schedule here gets less hectic. Good night.

Expenses
Train from Granada to Barcelona 70.80E
Hostal Aslyp 114 105.73E
Catalunya Museo d’Arte Free Day
Sausage, meatballs, calamari, juice from Mercado 9.50E Cash
Wine and soap from Bonpreu market 3.93E
Walked 7 Miles