Still in Vilafranca, no photos yet...
First of all, I apologize for the lack of photos. There have been... technical difficulties... Will sort it out a bit later. In the meantime, here are pictures of me with Oscar´s godmother Nuria (and a banana!) and me with the cat...
Anyway, getting back to the story of what Barcelona is like. First of all, it´s HUGE. The city is cradled between a series of big hills. It washes up the sides a bit, but mostly the hills stay covered with trees rather than buildings. You can´t see much beyond the hills because of the smog.
We went to the top of one of these mountainy hilly things to take in the view. We haven´t visited the The Sagrada Familia yet, but we certainly saw it from the top of the hill. It, too, is huge. And pointy! And very close to another building which resembled something you´d buy in an adult shop. Oscar was very amused.
Barcelona is also a centre of industry and Spain´s major port (so far as I know, anyway), and, as such, has huge ugly sections of boaty metallicness. Doesn´t stop the city from being an amazing place though.
Closer to the ground, I can say that Australia´s cities and Spain´s were built on a totally different principal. Australia is all about the sprawl; here everything is compacted. My sense of direction has also taken a holiday, as naviation by the sun and the sky is pretty damn hard when the buildings are all four or five stories high and the streets are narrow. Very cool though. Everything is tall and narrow and chaotic and old. The buildings are mostly small shops, cafes and restaurants on the ground floor and apartments with tiny balconies displaying drying clothes above. Some of the buildings are magnificant old architectual marvals. Usually next to some hideous bit of 20th Century ugly. Good fun!
So, what did we do with our one day so far in Barcelona? We wandered around looking at stuff, searched endlessly for parking and ate and drank a lot. Our favorite part was going to a Basque bar. You stand at the bar and drink. There are also, however, plates of bits of bread with a variety of toppings. Each one has a toothpick through it. You take whatever strikes you as looking good and keep the toothpick, then pay at the end. Very cool! Yummy also! I particularly liked the mushroom croquettes. Brilliant idea really - everyone knows that stuff tastes better on a stick.
We also walked along La Rambla, the main street/square of the city. Nice, cool, but rather tourist-ridden. Lots of street performers and shops selling postcards and... pet supplies? If anyone can figure out why, please let me know.
Ok, so that just about wraps it for our initial visit to Barcelona. Sorry it took me three days to get that down on the blog.
For the moment, we´re still in Vilafranca (Freetown), at least until tomorrow, when we´re heading to Oscar´s uncle´s place in Manressa. But first, we´re going to the town square here in Vilafrance for a festival, including human towers!
We are both healthy, happy and have eaten far too much at Nuria´s insistance :) Oscar, though, is rather annoyed that Chelsea drew against FC Barcelona tonight. He´s an angry little man.
Anyway, getting back to the story of what Barcelona is like. First of all, it´s HUGE. The city is cradled between a series of big hills. It washes up the sides a bit, but mostly the hills stay covered with trees rather than buildings. You can´t see much beyond the hills because of the smog.
We went to the top of one of these mountainy hilly things to take in the view. We haven´t visited the The Sagrada Familia yet, but we certainly saw it from the top of the hill. It, too, is huge. And pointy! And very close to another building which resembled something you´d buy in an adult shop. Oscar was very amused.
Barcelona is also a centre of industry and Spain´s major port (so far as I know, anyway), and, as such, has huge ugly sections of boaty metallicness. Doesn´t stop the city from being an amazing place though.
Closer to the ground, I can say that Australia´s cities and Spain´s were built on a totally different principal. Australia is all about the sprawl; here everything is compacted. My sense of direction has also taken a holiday, as naviation by the sun and the sky is pretty damn hard when the buildings are all four or five stories high and the streets are narrow. Very cool though. Everything is tall and narrow and chaotic and old. The buildings are mostly small shops, cafes and restaurants on the ground floor and apartments with tiny balconies displaying drying clothes above. Some of the buildings are magnificant old architectual marvals. Usually next to some hideous bit of 20th Century ugly. Good fun!
So, what did we do with our one day so far in Barcelona? We wandered around looking at stuff, searched endlessly for parking and ate and drank a lot. Our favorite part was going to a Basque bar. You stand at the bar and drink. There are also, however, plates of bits of bread with a variety of toppings. Each one has a toothpick through it. You take whatever strikes you as looking good and keep the toothpick, then pay at the end. Very cool! Yummy also! I particularly liked the mushroom croquettes. Brilliant idea really - everyone knows that stuff tastes better on a stick.
We also walked along La Rambla, the main street/square of the city. Nice, cool, but rather tourist-ridden. Lots of street performers and shops selling postcards and... pet supplies? If anyone can figure out why, please let me know.
Ok, so that just about wraps it for our initial visit to Barcelona. Sorry it took me three days to get that down on the blog.
For the moment, we´re still in Vilafranca (Freetown), at least until tomorrow, when we´re heading to Oscar´s uncle´s place in Manressa. But first, we´re going to the town square here in Vilafrance for a festival, including human towers!
We are both healthy, happy and have eaten far too much at Nuria´s insistance :) Oscar, though, is rather annoyed that Chelsea drew against FC Barcelona tonight. He´s an angry little man.