Saturday

We left Valencia by 10am Saturday morning and headed north along the coast for Barcelona. We were rewarded with clear blue skies and coastal views for most of the trip. As we got closer to our apartment in the northern suburb of Gracia, we only went the wrong way once – which wasn’t too bad in busy Saturday afternoon traffic. But I’ll not lie, it’s stressful waiting for the sat nav/mapping app to re-route!

The apartment has (only) 40-odd narrow stairs to our front door. We settled in and set out to explore the neighbourhood which included a recce of the metro, a few groceries and what was essentially a sausage in a croissant for Hamish and Rod, from one of the many, many bakeries.

 

Sunday

Overwhelmed with a choice of things to do in Barcelona, we opted for a 2 hour ‘Introduction to Barcelona’ walking tour with a company called ‘With Locals’. We met our host Karim, at the metro in front of the Liceu Theatre, in central Barcelona. Karim is a young man from Lebanon, who moved to Barcelona to complete a Master’s Degree a few years ago. He is an architect by trade and an accomplished violinist to boot. He gave us a very interesting, art/architecture/history inspired walking tour of Barcelona, including a few Antonio Gaudi sites (his award-winning lamp posts & Guell Palace).

He managed to keep Hamish’s attention with churros and chocolate mid-way through the tour, and discussions about the finer points of MineCraft, school and music. A constant theme of our dialogue with Karim was the separatist intentions of the local Catalans, so stumbling upon a boisterous demonstration, with both sides actively engaged, was an unexpected highlight.

At the end of our two hours, Karim recommended a local restaurant for lunch near the beach. We found it quite easily: Salamanca. It was authentic Spanish cuisine and the place was packed with locals. The staff were very friendly and our food arrived very quickly. Hamish’s chicken ordered off the children’s section, was in effect, half a roast chicken with chips and fried green capsicum. Rod and I shared seafood paella. It was a grand lunch. Rod’s hands were stained yellow with saffron from peeling his prawns; I used cutlery…We did our best to finish the lunch, but we just couldn’t.

Before the bill arrived, small squares of cake were put on our table. It would have been rude not to have a bite! Then as Rod went to pay the bill, the waiter told him to sit down! She said, ‘digestif’ and put down two small glasses of something. We sipped the liquor – it packed some punch! In the meantime, she took Hamish away to show him a picture of when Lionel Messi ate at the restaurant. I asked about the drink – it was grappa. It had no flavour other than heat and pure alcohol!

We sauntered along the esplanade and found our way back to the metro easily. Hamish had clocked up his highest step count – 21000. He only mentioned his feet were ‘killing’ him a few times. What a great job he’s been doing.

 

Monday

 We all kind of needed a slow day today, so we didn’t plan too many activities. I had accidentally stumbled across ‘Placa de John Lennon’ a short walk from our apartment, so this was our first stop. It’s a little play ground and square with a dedication to John Lennon. We stopped for morning tea (at midday) at the Lennon Café and the boys played a few John Lennon songs on Rod’s phone in tribute.

Our next stop for the day was Park Guell – another Antoni Gaudi site. We packed a picnic lunch and walked around the amazing gardens and surrounds, which is just a few minutes behind our apartment. It’s a beautiful outdoor space and has incredible views over the city. Pigeons, sparrows and parrots (akin to green lorikeets) are very interested in everyone’s lunch.

We headed home for a bit of down time, before walking to another Gaudi site – Casa Vicens (the first house he designed). The buildings of Gaudi are very impressive and they appeal to all of us for different reasons: the colours, the intricacies, the fun design. You don’t have to be an art lover to enjoy the Gaudi buildings. Tomorrow we have tickets for the La Sagrada Familia: we’ve left the best church to last.

Authentic Italian gelati helps with the trip home.