Barcelona

So the intentions were there. Given that we are always on the move and that we never seem to get everything we should get done, done, I had finally got a device that should help me somewhat. I have got a new phone which comes complete with office mobile. I had done most of the typing on the plane coming back, and also some more on a train - when I struck an unforeseen memory error and lost most of my muses. At this point, motivation wasn't particularly key - so my diary has been left to languish until now - so without further ado, a weekend in Barcelona (clap clap).

So another bank holiday weekend and another trip to Europe . This time, we had been convinced that we should go to Barcelona by the sheer fact that everyone raves about the place.

Once again, we flew on Friday evening and the plane was only an hour late. Thank goodness I had decided to pay double as a Ryan air flight would drop us off an hour from the city. So despite it being Spain and the tapas bars still remaining open, we were too tired to eat.

The first morning we decided to hang around Mont Juic.

(craig is in there somewhere)

This was handy to our hotel; about 5 minutes walk. We started at a replica Spanish village called El Poble which housed a plethora of artisans, galleries and restaurants. This was extremely pleasant and we came away with a couple of purchases!

After lunch, we sauntered over the hill (stopping to admire the view of the city from outside the Catalan art museum) over to the Joan Miro museum. As an aside, Parc Mont Juic houses a number of attractions including many of the venues for the 1992 Olympics. This includes the main stadium. So the museum was fantastic. Well at least to me. I had insisted that we get an audioguide so we could understand what was going on. The theory behind the art was of course complete bollocks, but I could appreciate that the depiction of the intangible unconscious was revolutionary for the time. Craig did not. What Craig did appreciate was the siesta in the park afterwards.

You decide!

That night, after dinner, we went for a stroll down Las Ramblas and down to the marina. Although well developed, I thought that the formula was the same as most major cities, and a little over-touristed.

The next day we bought tickets for the Bus Turistic - a hop on hop off bus that does a few loops of the tourist spots in the city. Much like Paris and London. We stopped at the Picasso museum which was fascinating. I wish they had taught art history in the same method as they had laid out the gallery. They had presented it as a chronological story, rather than periods of a style of a number of artists which seemed to pervade the teaching method at the University of Auckland. But I guess that is the advantage of relaying the development of just one artist.

Where we stopped for lunch was a random spot where we jumped off the bus and just walked. We happened upon a very busy cafe with outside space and loads of locals. Perfect. So now was the time that Craig thought he would start to try and drink beer as he is now bored off diet coke and OJ. What we didn't know was that the paella was going to take over an hour - rather than the 20 minutes that the restaurant had suggested. So down went another beer - in around 25 degrees sun and whilst we were hungry. The waiter had apologised, and to make it up to us, brought us a third beer. Needless to say, we left feeling full after the yummy lunch and Craig singing sea shanties on his land yacht 'Bus Turistic'.

The rest of the day, we carried on touring around the architectural splendour that was cemented by Antoni Gaudi. For those that don't know, he was a Catalan architect who created works in the modernistic (art nouveu) style in the late 1800s. Consequently, none of the buildings really have corners and are modelled on nature - so one is likely to see plants and dragons and the like built into his works. The beauty of having him as being such a huge influence in the city is that architects that have post-dated his era, have also taken their designs up a notch to most cities. Case and point the park (Parc Diagonal Mar) that we visited at the end of what used to be an industrial wasteland on the peninsula at the end of one of Barcelona's main beaches. This was built around or just after the Olympics and was quite amazing. The park was one of sustainability and built on the estuary that goes to the sea. The surrounding apartment buildings all had different shapes to them, rather than just a rectangular building that one normally sees.

Our last morning in Barcelona saw us go to the Sagrada Familia. This is probably the most impressive work by Antoni Gaudi - a cathedral he started around 1884 and worked on for over 40 years of his life until he got killed by being run over by a tram. The cathedral is still not finished and relies on donations to keep the work going. Apparently it is due for completion in 2026.

Later that afternoon, and after yet another meal of tapas, we went to another of Gaudi's buildings - Casa Battlo - complete with a dragon on the roof terrace.

And so, another long weekend in Europe drew to a close. My verdict on Barcelona? It was everything that people had talked it up to be and is a city that one could visit a few times over without getting bored. In fact, I could be so bold as to say that it would be a great city to live in. There is great art, architecture and food, beautiful warm weather, and spacious. It is close to the beaches and only an hour or two from skiing and other mountain activities. I think the only drawback was that we discovered that the week after we had left, the authorities had to ship water in to the township as it was suffering a severe drought. So I guess that answers our questions as to why none of the many fountains were not running.