21-05-2011
Worst travel night possible,a group of people talked all night ( were drinking along with it) ,then a man on his mobile phone and finally when a baby started crying Jeevan and I looked at each other and started laughing. Lesson learnt , pay for better seats next time.
Nice and sunny in Barcelona. Staying for a day in the centre of the city at a nice place ( increased our stay in Barcelona but could not book at the same place).
Placa de Catalunya was packed with people protesting. Later we found out that this was the same protest continuing from Madrid, we were there in Sol when it started and here we are again.
La Rambla, lined with tress and filled with people. Ice cream shops (gave in to temptation, again! ), cafes , hawkers and people dressed as different characters
( nicely done, the ones in Granada were quite lame) are abundant on this street. Just off the street was one of the best fruit/meat and seafood markets I have seen. Fruits from all over the world, colorful seafood with crabs and lobsters crawling on the counters. Had some seafood and bought cherries and strawberries .
After all the various food stops we made it to the waterfront . It reminds me a lot of the Cape Town waterfront. While walking across the bridge heard a siren and the vendors started packing their bags and running, thought there was a police raid like in India. Actually it was the bridge opening up to allow yachts to pass.
Explored the area for a bit then walked back to spend the rest of the day in the meandering streets of Barri Gottic ( downloaded a walking tour of the area from Frommers and followed it). From Placa del Rei with it's museum and palace then across the road to the museum with old documents , along the way a few churches and Temple d'Augustus, then the house of Cannons to end at Placa Nova and the cathedral. We had been to this placa earlier, then a large crowd had been gathered around a group doing hip-hop this time an orchestra was set up. People in circles holding hands were dancing. As we watched people came along , put their shopping bags in the middle and formed more circles. A man was kind enough to explain that this was the Sardana, the national dance of Catalonia. There was a professional group doing it as well, and getting critiqued by their teacher. Initially I thought they were wearing ballerina shoes but it is a similar kind of shoe that everybody dancing had on.
Went in to the cathedral, mass was on so tourists could only visit certain areas , it was nice to sit and listen to the choir. Prior to this cathedral we visited another one which had geese swimming in a pond in the middle. If we were Catholics we would be doing very well in regards to the number of cathedrals we have visited .
Shopped a little ( actually a lot but it was all for Jeevan, finally bought him birthday presents).
Nearly always say this but love Barcelona so far.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment