4-29 Barcelona – last day in Spain

Today is the last day of my European adventure. We stayed in a hotel outside of Barcelona and went into the city by train, which was surprisingly easy. Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia – the perpetually under construction church that was designed and started by Gaudi. They made significant advancements since I last saw it in 2000 but still unfinished of course.

Then we took a walk down through Passeig de Gracia – the street where many of Gaudi’s works are – down La Rambla – a super touristy big pedestrian-friendly street where we ended up having lunch. It’s been a challenge finding the perfect restaurant since so many of the restaurants around here have the tacky multi-lingual menus and the cookie cutter Paella pictures. We picked what looked like a decent bar/tapas restaurant. Little did we know that the man who runs the front of the house and was likely an owner of the bar was a complete madman. After making the bad choice of this restaurant, we then made the bad choice of sitting by the entrance where the madman reigned. I would have much preferred to have had one of the regular waiters in the white shirts and black ties. So not only does the madman get our order wrong, but then he yells at others for the mistake and talks to me like I’m a complete idiot. The food was satisfactory I suppose, although covered in grease. We had the pleasure of sitting next to an Irish couple though, who did not speak any Spanish but were nonetheless amused by the antics of our madman.

Next, we walked down to the port where the weather was so nice we had to spend some time just sitting by the water. It was there that we met Larry the Banana. He was a self-proclaimed vagablogger who was travelling through Europe on the donations generated from the website where he blogged about his travels (much like this blog, maybe I should collect donations too!). His gimmick was dressing up in a banana suit and having people photograph him along the way in his travels – that’s where we came in, we were asked to take a picture of him.

After chilling by the water for a while, we headed by into the city and wandered around a bit in the Barri Gothic. We visited the food market of Barcelona and there we were swindled for 5 euros for a sugar apple – granted, it was a huge sugar apple, super ripe, and super yummy – but still, highway robbery! This was the first time Antonio had a sugar apple though, and it’s always good to try new fruit.

Having missed out on Park Guell due to traffic issues yesterday, we took a second shot at it today. We were successful and had a lovely time sitting in the park listening to some random musicians.

For dinner we went to the Barceloneta which is a stretch that projects into/along the sea. While most of the restaurants seemed touristy, a particular one caught our eye, or more precisely the New York Times review posted outside this restaurant caught our eye. After all, if I’m willing to take Times’ advice on food in the US, why not outside the US too. It turned out to be an excellent choice. We had some tasty gazpacho de buey de mar (crab soup) to start followed by some truly yummy paella with shrimp and squid accompanied by some lovely white wine that our waiter recommended. The paella at this restaurant definitely rivaled those we had in Valencia. In short, I highly recommend this waterside Barcelona restaurant – La mar salada – a fine dining experience for a reasonable price.

4-28 Tarragona – Barcelona

Today we drove from Requena to Tarrgona where we visited the Roman amphitheater beautifully situated next to the ocean and walked along the beach. The water was cold but not too cold. Interestingly, the sand here have specks of gold that shimmer in the sun.

After our visit to Tarrogona, we drove to Barcelona. We visited Colonia Guell – a church/crypt designed by Antonio Gaudi for a workers’ colony. The church was not open as it was closed for restoration but we still got pretty good views from outside the fence. In addition, the architecture of the little town is very particular.

Next, we tried to visit Park Guell. However, it took us nearly 1.5 hrs to drive the 20 km from Colonia Guell to Park Guell because of heavy traffic. It turns out that tonight is a big semi-final soccer game between Barcelona and Milan Inter. While crawling along in traffic, we saw a huge commotion going in the opposite direction. It was the motorcade of the Barcelona team – preceded and followed by police cars, protecting a big team bus and followed by a long tail of many motorcycles driven by Barcelona fans dressed in team jerseys and waving team flags. When we finally got to Park Guell, it was fairly late and there was no parking to be had. We ended up giving up and heading off for dinner instead, in the Gothic quarter. After dinner we learned that Inter had won due to the unenthused people in Barcelona jerseys and a passing motorcycle shouting cheers of Inter while passing by.

4-27 Albufera - Sueca - Xativa - Requena

We left Valencia today (after one last horchata drink with farton pastry - yum) and headed south to Albufera lake. We stopped by Albufera Lake and then by the ocean on the other side. As we were leaving Valencia a dense fog passed over the city covering everything in gray but as we drove around the lake the blue sky reopened and the view was glorious.



Next we passed into Sueca which appeared to be a sleepy dusty town with one and only one beautiful building in town. There we bought supplies for lunch and had a wonderful picnic by the orange groves where we dined in the wafting scent of the orange blossoms. We have been really lucky in terms of our timing in the Valencia region. We are here at the perfect time for wonderfully scented orange blossoms to greet our every walk and drive. We also picked some orange blossoms and have placed them in the car in little cups of water - now every drive is freshly perfumed, naturally!

Our next destination was the castle of Xativa. It is an immense castle that served as a major post before 1707. The views from the castle were spectacular!!

And finally, we concluded our day in Requena - a little city with a medieval center. We are staying in a hotel in the heart of the medieval center which consists of narrow winding streets within medieval city walls perched on a hill. The medieval part of the city seems to be in repair but the rest of the city is bustling.

We had dinner at our hotel and had the tasting menu which apparently meant all the specialties of the house and was enough to feed an army. I think we may have gotten through 1/4 of the food. Most of it was pretty good. Especially the fried pig tails I especially ordered.

Back to Barcelona tomorrow.

4-26 Valencia

Today we explored the city of Valencia. We walked around and came across the big market - one of the largest in Europe. It was awesome - so many yummy goods!!To
Mmm...yummy pig parts!
Paella pans of every size!
Old stuff

The bullfighting arena (not the collosseum)

For our last dinner in Valencias - paellas of course. We went to a lovely little restaurant across the city of arts and sciences - offering lovely evening/night views.
Dinner consisted of a plate of cheeses each paired with its fruit/flower counterpart, paella with squid and artichokes - absolutely phenomenal, and ending with yummy sweets.
A plug for the place we're staying in - Rooms Deluxe - a part of a company that offers many low-cost housing options in Valencia. http://www.roomsdeluxe.com/?l=en - cheap clean rooms with free wifi at good prices - what more could you ask for.

4-25 road to Valencia

After a long visit to the airport Hertz station to add a second driver and a long phone call to Mastercard, we were off towards Valencia.
Our first stop was in Sitges - a beach town not too far from Barcelona. Apparently, this place is crazy busy in the summer months but since it was so warm and beautiful today, there were plenty of people sunning already. It was a really pleasant stop along the beach and for brunch - pulpitos (little octopi) - quite yummy.




We also made an unplanned stop in Sagunt because we saw the huge castle complex from afar and had to visit it. It's apparently the site of a critical battle between Rome and Carthage and is historically significant in many era after thus bearing the architecture of many empires. We failed however at actually getting to the castle because it's very well nestled on high. We made several attempts - both by car and by foot - but were nevertheless defeated by the formidable fortress. The car attempts were quite freaky. Fortunately, Antonio was driving - 45 degree inclines, exactly 1 car width narrow lanes, acute angle turns, and cars crazily parked along the way. The town itself was also very strange. It was as if it were a fully functional town from half a century ago that fell into decline and has just been stuck in time.



Finally, we arrived in Valencia where we found a nice little hotel next to the City of Arts and Sciences which is impressively beautiful. After a long walk around these sculpturous buildings, we headed into town for dinner - paella of course. I have a feeling we'll be sampling many paellas before the week is through.

4-24 France to Spain

I was sad to leave France today, but it's probably good that I not eat any more foie gras.

On the way to Barcelona, stopped in Figueres for the Dali Theater-Museum. He's such a weirdo. The Museum itself was set up in a weird way where the path through it isn't so linear, but I guess that's to be expected with Dali. There was also an exhibition of the jewelery he designed and there was item that was particularly crazy and interesting. It was a a pin of a crown set on a red heart, but the center of the heart actually beat as if it were a real heart. I got video of that - super creepy.




Oh and, I definitely cannot speak Spanish. I tried at one point but no Spanish comes out. I actually ended up speaking to the people in Figueres in French because so many of the people around me were French anyway.

The rest of the day was spent driving to the hotel Barcelona and chilling before picking up Antonio at the airport. Notably, I had dinner at the hotel with a British couple and had interesting discussions with them. They were a retired couple who seem to travel a lot. They had just spent 3 weeks in Spain and were off to France to spend a couple more weeks. Sounds like a good life.

A peaceful Saturday morning

It is 9am. I'm sitting on the porch of the Castel Enchante (what a pretentious name for a private room rental place). But nonetheless, it is a gorgeous view of the countryside surrounded by a garden a little chirpping birds. Breakfast menu - cafe au lait, pain au chocolat, bread with chestnut creamed spread. This is the life. If only real life were this peaceful and relaxing. I guess we wouldn't appreciate the vacations otherwise.

I really enjoy driving on the highway in France (maybe it's like this in Spain too). I think it's the law in the US to only pass on the left also but of course no one really follows rules in the US. Here, highway driving is great, drive on the right and pass on the left, the flow is very predictable and not crazy lane hoppers like in the US. Of course, the tiny windy streets with many hills, that's a whole other challenge altogether. But I think I've finally gotten the hang of this stick shift thing. Not stalling out at red lights nearly as much :)

Signing off from France. Next destination Figueres where the Dali museum is, on my way to Barcelona.

4-23 Carcassonne

This is the dining room on my little farm Last breakfast :(

I left the Dordogne and drove down to Carcassonne today. I am staying in the upper floor of a private home outside of Carcassonne. It's a very nice place owned by an English woman. The best part of course is the free wifi!!

I went to the medieval city of Carcassonne this afternoon/evening. It's this great medieval castle with little narrow streets and 2, count them - 2!, city walls. The original dates back from the Roman times as it was a great trading town back then. It became a castle/city in 1200's and was an impenetrable fortress - the castle was never taken. It is really well fortified. Walking around the castle walls was great. You really get a medieval feeling - I was imagining walking around with a bow and arrow and one of those helmets with the noseguard :) There is also a medieval museum in the castle.

I had dinner in the medieval city and stayed to see the castle lit up at night. Oh - highlight of dinner was yummy duck wrapped in a crepe that's toasted to crispiness in an apple and honey sauce - delish!

Pictures of Carcassonne below: