BCN: Baaaarthelonya by Gaudi.

Barcelona, or Baaaarthelonya as it is said by Espanioles, is a warm Meditteranean town, I am in a tee shirt, spot the locals in padded winter coats... The sky and Meditteranean are an inviting blue, and Gaudi's vision has molded a curious little town. Gaudi was a 19th century artist, molded somewhat by the influence of the Catholic Church. The city's old part, the Barri Gotico is where I am staying and there are Moorish influences from the Arab invasion and Maltese Crosses from the times of Knights Templar. A curious mix for an artist to grow up in, and some of what you see is what effect it had on him. Like handicrafts on a massive scale, Gaudi changed areas into curiosities, Parc Güell is exactly that, with broken plates and mortar as glue...
Miró and Picasso where here too. What a strange little place this Cataluña is... I like it. It brings out the craziness in you. I should do well.
Flying in started without pills, soon got bumpy so they came out - I took a half tranq as I was convinced we were going to suddenly stop mid air, the woman next to me was good to chat though, so no sleep. I only got 4 hrs sleep the night before, so I was wasted this first day in Barcelona.... But I tried to achieve what I could. The woman on the plane was a Swiss, and she was interesting to talk to about living in my fake homeland, taxes, health care, why they hate the Schengen treaty....she also said ditch Neuchâtel and do Luzern instead... So I just might... The flight was only 1.5 hours despite the booking saying 2.5... Silly Swiss Air. Switzerland's size is also apparent from the air, 15 mins after a strange circular take off from Zürich, we were over Bern, the capital. We cut across Marseilles on the way to BCN. Andorra is just behind this area.

I am staying in the gothic area, Barri Gotico.

The Cathedral.


Large gangs of tourists and school tours :(







One demo here against the current economics in Spain...

This one was anti vivisection.

There was also a Barcelona-Chelsea game so I ignored the small hordes of drunken English fans dragging around Heineken cans and not even San Miguel... You can hear them chanting outside (1am here and they are going through the Barri Gotico chanting that they won), the game was a draw, but Chelsea moves on in the finals, so I am sure tomorrow the locals are going to be unhappy with all these Brit fans...

Parc Güell is a Gaudi creation.


Looks very gingerbread like...


This is how it is all decorated.




This is one pic that sows you how nuts the tourist level is here right now...

Lunch was in a back street cafe where they spoke hardly any English... Food was good though.. The people here are quite nice.
Sagrada Famillia was the next stop, another Gaudi design, unfortunately they were refurbing the outside, stunning though!



Hang gliding Jesus.








Yes this one is wonky and it illustrates the prob with the new camera lens, it doesn't go wide enough... It's otherwise really nice.



Montjuic has some nice views and a cable car I refuse to do, it dates from early last century and it was quite windy up there...





Parking is something I could not do here.

This candy store has candies like pills, and you choose bottles like real medicine bottles...

Nearer my hotel again.

Time for sleep, must sleep... More from Barcelona tomorrow as I have the whole day... buenos noches!
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- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on pictures for larger version and gallery. Copyright 2012 TinyFrontalLobeWerke AG., Zurich.

Location:Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain