Barcelona day 1 - Blogabond

Going from the airport in Barcelona nto the centre by train was a bit unnerving at first, because it starts off really grotty: that area of the city is very new and industrial, and doesn't live up to the reputation the city has.

Anyway, we eventually made the centre, and wandered around the Passeig de Gracia area in the sunshine (lots of Gaudi inspired hexagonal tesselated pavements) ,found the hotel (an impressive piece of navigation I thought), and got setled down. We were surprised there were quite as many English people about: it turned out that England were playing Andorra in Barcelona that evening, which we hadn't expected.

We figured out pretty quickly how to spot the Spanish: they were the ones wearing thick coats and scarves on what we thought was a warm day. I had imagined them to be a stylish, sophisticated lot, but Barcelonans do seem to be a rather drab bunch, truth be told, unlike the city they live in, which is certainly vibrant.

We had lunch in what you might call an authentic Barcelonan cafe. The lady owner clearly was not a fan of foreigners coming into her cafe to eat and giving her money. It's probably a good job we couldn't understand a word she was saying. I liked the robust food: sausage and bean soup, sardines, bread, wine, lemonade, and an orange for 7.50 Euros!

Later, we decided to look round the Barri Gotic area: it has a fabulous mix of old and very Spanish buildings, and stuff going back to Roman times. The walls can still be seen, a piece of aqueduct, and hidden through one unpromising gateway are a set of wonderful, complete Roman pillars, massive things.

The Cathedral is called La Seu, and the area around it is particularly old and wonderful.

The little old lady sat on the ground in the right hand pic looks unprepossessing, but she was singing the most marvellous opera-type music with great grace. At first we thought it was a recording coming from somewhere, until we noticed her. Round the other side of La Seu was a superb classical guitarist, so 10/10 for busking talent.

Inside La Seu is unusual: in England, cathedrals usually have cloisters which are just a square of grass. This one has palm trees and a pond in the middle. It's all a bit ostentatious though, not my favourite building overall, but it's worth visiting for the roof and the area around it.

Mind you, it does allow you to go up to the roof, which is pretty rare in England. There are some great views over the city, which is helped because of its bowl like shape: everything is very concentrated, so you could walk across it in a day.

They also put a lot of effort into the guttering.

written by

martin_b on March 26, 2007 from Barcelona, Spain

from the travel blog: Barcelona

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