You can see the beach from this high vantage point at Parc Guell where Gaudi's landmark museum and library are located at. Antoni Gaudi is the Spanish Catalan architect famous for his modernist movement. For a lawyer like me, this means nothing but really nice quirky buildings. This modernist movement emphasizes alot on uniqueness and individuality of buildings.
But I had a rendevous before I began exploring Barcelona. A rendevous with my law school buddy, Yu Chou. I was supposed to meet him at Plaza Catalunya but we didn't know that it was going to be one big central park.
The first place we headed to was La Rambla which is Barcelona's most famous boulevard. It is supposedly a great shopping boulevard. I beg to differ. When I was walking through La Rambla, I was not impressed at all. Firstly, it was touristy and secondly, there was nothing of interest. The only stalls that were opened were stalls selling fake art, touristy stuff, flowers and BIRDS (for some reason, Barceloneans love their birds - even roosters).
What impressed me was the food! Prior to my trip, Shahira (Shaz's sister in Manchester) urged me to have my fill of paella - and that was exactly what I did!
The appetizers here are quite expensive though - at 4-5 euros per dish. I had potato covered with egg omelette and BBQ chicken wings (albeit tiny ones).
Seafood paella! You will definitely need tapas to tide you over if you order paella which normally takes 30 minutes to cook.
Yu Chou and sister had a "negro" paella and it is turned out to be black. How politically incorrect. It was actually a noodle dish cooked in squid ink! I decided I preferred my seafood paella which looked more palatable! The "negro dish" did not taste so great.
A habit that the French have inculcated in me is to having desserts at every meal! Even when not in France. I had no idea what I was eating below but it tasted like a modified version of the French creme caramel. I am starting to notice a similarity between Spanish desserts and French desserts! *Aidil's legal nose smells intellectual property right issues*
My second paella wasn't anything to shout about. In fact it was rather sour - I think it was due to the rabbit meat that was included in what would otherwise be seafood paella.
The greatest dessert infringement of them all! I ordered "Creme Catalan" thinking it was something unique - but it was just the French Creme Brulee (which I LOVE) disguised as a Spanish dessert with another name! I bet the French would raise hell for this.
Food aside, we did plenty of exploring.
This is the highest point of Parc Guell. It was an extremely steep climb to the top.
On that day we were there, the visitors were entertained by this rocker who tried singing in English but, unfortunately, the only words I could recognize were "love you".
Parc Guell, by the way, is a UNESCO World Heritage site that was built between 1900-1914 by Gaudi. This place was featured in the (sexy) movie "Vicky Christina Barcelona"!
Of all Barcelona's architectural sights, I am most impressed and wow-ed by this. Known as the "Sagrada Familia", it is a massive Roman Catholic church designed by Gaudi as well.
Construction started in 1882 (which is quite a late period to build buildings of this design) and for some reason, IT IS STILL ONGOING!
I am starting to think Gaudi designed the entire damn city. Sagrada Familia is also known as the "church of bones" because, at night, it looks like bones were used to build it.
Every part of this church is rich with Christian symbolism. Its most famous design component is its 18 towers which resembles each of the 12 apostles, 4 evangelists, Virgin Mary and Jesus (the tallest of them all).
Iconic buildings aside, I also enjoyed the Winter Sales. Everything was going for at least 40%!!!
I couldn't resist shopping at Zara which is Spain's most well known fashion label. I spent 140 euros on 14 items which averaged out to 10 euros per item. Such a steal.
Yes, I couldn't resist walking into the "boulangeries" (bakeries in french) of Spain. And, of course, I had to buy something. I bought 5 big THICK bars of vanilla and milk chocolate weighing over than 1kg! Lol.
What was new to me was seeing the protests against Israel over the war in Gaza. For political and legal reasons, I must add that I did NOT take part in these protests. I simply took photos.
The rowdy protests stood in stark contrast to what was taking place below ground level in the metro stations where old couples danced (on the open landings of the station) to beautiful Spanish guitar music.
I will definitely come back to Barcelona - either in summer or winter! This time with Shaz! Heh! Next stop, LONDON!
