My second week in Barcelona I would describe as being more touristy than the first, as we decided to visit the famous sites around the city.
After a nice first evening with Betta and the rest of the family, we woke up the following morning and took the train to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's most famous building.
As we were forced to wait in the line for the good part of an hour, it gave us a good chance to admire all angles of the exterior of this unusual building. As Gaudi died before he was able to finish his masterpiece, even today construction is underway to finish the remainder of the structure.
The iconic design of this cathedral is also evident on the inside. The most fascinating parts of the internal structure are the staircases that stretch from the floor to the roof and have an incredible, uneven, spiral shape.
Over the following few days we also visited Park Guell, the monstrous park with great views over the whole of Barcelona, and The Fundacion Joan Miro, a great museum filled with hundreds of Miro's works from his early painting to his most recent works.
Having had a great few days being a tourist in Barcelona, we were again ready to explore another side of Spain. Hans proposed to us a fabulous idea to head to the Spanish coast for an overnight road trip in his little camper van, to which we excitedly accepted.
Early on Saturday morning we all jumped in the van and together the three of us drove to Figueres. After a few hours driving and an interesting encounter with a hitchhiker who spoke a language somewhere between French, Italian and Spanish, we arrived in the traditional Spanish town. After a coffee and boccadillo at a local cafe we went to the Salvador Dali museum. For a few hours we admired the unusual and, in some cases, rather strange works produced by this interesting man.
From Figueres we drove another hour or so to a little coastal town called Cadaques. From the top of the hill there was an unobstructed view of the town and it's iconic houses all painted white with fabulous blue doors... it gave me the feeling I was somewhere in The Greek Islands.
We had a brisk walk around the bay (as by this stage of the afternoon it was freezing) which was quite deserted due to the fact that summer had ended months ago and as a result it was only the locals who remained in the village. We had some tapas and a drink at one of the cafes nested on the edge of the town with spectacular views across the bay before we got back in the car and drove to L'Escala.
That evening we had a fantastic long walk from L'Escala to a few nearby seaside towns as the sun disappeared and Nina and Hans reminisced about their many holidays at this part of the Spanish coast. After Hans picked up some of 'Spain's best anchovies' from a little old lady in her shop in one of the back lanes, we headed back to L'Escala to have some dinner. On the way we observed kids making a bonfire and together we then shared a little bundle of roasted chestnuts that a local man was cooking on a fire on the beach.
When I felt like I was almost going to burst from the amount of food we'd had, we parked the van next to the fantastic Hotel Empuries and 'set up camp'.
It was a magical way to wake up the following morning... With a view of the sun rising over the ocean which was only about 20 steps away from the door of the van. Hans went for a swim and we then had a croissant and coffee on the balcony of the hotel.
Satisfied with breakfast we got back in the van and drove to the Far de San Sebastian... A beautiful old lighthouse positioned on the corner of a cliff with fantastic views of the entire coastline. Hans pointed out to us where he had been sailing only a week or so prior to that moment when he was undertaking his sailing course. We had our second coffee at the cafe that was part of an old hotel that sat on the top of the hill.
Having been invited to lunch by Hans' friend and his daughter, we bought some wine and biscuits but before arriving at their house had a quick stopover in La Fosca. Nina was very excited to see the beach where she had spent so many long summers and how it hadn't changed since.
We had a delicious lunch in the garden of Nani's house before we headed back to Barcelona as Hans needed to be back at the boat to continue working. Nina and I were also due back as we were leaving in two days and still had to pack our bags and organise everything.
We left Hans and it was a sad departure for the two of them as it would be at least eight months until they would meet again.
Later that night we met up with Simone and Bevan and went out for some drinks at a cosy little bar that was promoting '2 for 1' for girls all evening. After a few cocktails we then migrated to one of the clubs nearby and had a great few hours dancing before leaving to sit outside with the two boys we had befriended. At about 6am as the rain had decided to ruin the beautiful morning we went back to Betta's and subsequently to bed.
Monday morning was set aside for preparations for Turkey and organising my packages to send home, however after that we were free to enjoy the final few hours in the city. We met Simone and Riley at a local vegan joint where we ate a delicious vegan burger and shared some delightful cakes- one carrot, one pistachio and raspberry and the last chocolate and coffee.
Simone then took us on a shopping adventure as she was hunting down a coat so she could cope with the cold temperatures we were about to face in Turkey. Funnily enough we returned to the burger place for dinner where I had a delicious seitan burger.
As we were not tired, and since Nina and I had long ago decided to have an 'all- nighter' at least once on a trip, we felt that our final evening in Barcelona presented the perfect opportunity. As we had to leave for the airport at 5am and had got into bed at 7am the previous morning, it didn't seem like such a big deal. In fact the hours passed very quickly as we did much the same as the previous night, and as we said goodbye to Simone knowing we would meet up in Istanbul later that day we got the bus to the airport.
It was a strange feeling leaving Spain as it really felt like a big chunk of our trip had ended, however I couldn't wait to see what adventures we would now have in Turkey.
After a nice first evening with Betta and the rest of the family, we woke up the following morning and took the train to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's most famous building.
As we were forced to wait in the line for the good part of an hour, it gave us a good chance to admire all angles of the exterior of this unusual building. As Gaudi died before he was able to finish his masterpiece, even today construction is underway to finish the remainder of the structure.
The iconic design of this cathedral is also evident on the inside. The most fascinating parts of the internal structure are the staircases that stretch from the floor to the roof and have an incredible, uneven, spiral shape.
Over the following few days we also visited Park Guell, the monstrous park with great views over the whole of Barcelona, and The Fundacion Joan Miro, a great museum filled with hundreds of Miro's works from his early painting to his most recent works.
Having had a great few days being a tourist in Barcelona, we were again ready to explore another side of Spain. Hans proposed to us a fabulous idea to head to the Spanish coast for an overnight road trip in his little camper van, to which we excitedly accepted.
Early on Saturday morning we all jumped in the van and together the three of us drove to Figueres. After a few hours driving and an interesting encounter with a hitchhiker who spoke a language somewhere between French, Italian and Spanish, we arrived in the traditional Spanish town. After a coffee and boccadillo at a local cafe we went to the Salvador Dali museum. For a few hours we admired the unusual and, in some cases, rather strange works produced by this interesting man.
From Figueres we drove another hour or so to a little coastal town called Cadaques. From the top of the hill there was an unobstructed view of the town and it's iconic houses all painted white with fabulous blue doors... it gave me the feeling I was somewhere in The Greek Islands.
We had a brisk walk around the bay (as by this stage of the afternoon it was freezing) which was quite deserted due to the fact that summer had ended months ago and as a result it was only the locals who remained in the village. We had some tapas and a drink at one of the cafes nested on the edge of the town with spectacular views across the bay before we got back in the car and drove to L'Escala.
That evening we had a fantastic long walk from L'Escala to a few nearby seaside towns as the sun disappeared and Nina and Hans reminisced about their many holidays at this part of the Spanish coast. After Hans picked up some of 'Spain's best anchovies' from a little old lady in her shop in one of the back lanes, we headed back to L'Escala to have some dinner. On the way we observed kids making a bonfire and together we then shared a little bundle of roasted chestnuts that a local man was cooking on a fire on the beach.
When I felt like I was almost going to burst from the amount of food we'd had, we parked the van next to the fantastic Hotel Empuries and 'set up camp'.
It was a magical way to wake up the following morning... With a view of the sun rising over the ocean which was only about 20 steps away from the door of the van. Hans went for a swim and we then had a croissant and coffee on the balcony of the hotel.
Satisfied with breakfast we got back in the van and drove to the Far de San Sebastian... A beautiful old lighthouse positioned on the corner of a cliff with fantastic views of the entire coastline. Hans pointed out to us where he had been sailing only a week or so prior to that moment when he was undertaking his sailing course. We had our second coffee at the cafe that was part of an old hotel that sat on the top of the hill.
Having been invited to lunch by Hans' friend and his daughter, we bought some wine and biscuits but before arriving at their house had a quick stopover in La Fosca. Nina was very excited to see the beach where she had spent so many long summers and how it hadn't changed since.
We had a delicious lunch in the garden of Nani's house before we headed back to Barcelona as Hans needed to be back at the boat to continue working. Nina and I were also due back as we were leaving in two days and still had to pack our bags and organise everything.
We left Hans and it was a sad departure for the two of them as it would be at least eight months until they would meet again.
Later that night we met up with Simone and Bevan and went out for some drinks at a cosy little bar that was promoting '2 for 1' for girls all evening. After a few cocktails we then migrated to one of the clubs nearby and had a great few hours dancing before leaving to sit outside with the two boys we had befriended. At about 6am as the rain had decided to ruin the beautiful morning we went back to Betta's and subsequently to bed.
Monday morning was set aside for preparations for Turkey and organising my packages to send home, however after that we were free to enjoy the final few hours in the city. We met Simone and Riley at a local vegan joint where we ate a delicious vegan burger and shared some delightful cakes- one carrot, one pistachio and raspberry and the last chocolate and coffee.
Simone then took us on a shopping adventure as she was hunting down a coat so she could cope with the cold temperatures we were about to face in Turkey. Funnily enough we returned to the burger place for dinner where I had a delicious seitan burger.
As we were not tired, and since Nina and I had long ago decided to have an 'all- nighter' at least once on a trip, we felt that our final evening in Barcelona presented the perfect opportunity. As we had to leave for the airport at 5am and had got into bed at 7am the previous morning, it didn't seem like such a big deal. In fact the hours passed very quickly as we did much the same as the previous night, and as we said goodbye to Simone knowing we would meet up in Istanbul later that day we got the bus to the airport.
It was a strange feeling leaving Spain as it really felt like a big chunk of our trip had ended, however I couldn't wait to see what adventures we would now have in Turkey.
No comments:
Post a Comment