Barcelona

We decided to do the car thing again and drove from Madrid to Barcelona – we did albeit make a slight mistake – we were quite pushed for time and decided to take the quickest route. We didn’t think at the time we would spend over 50 Euro in tolls!!!!! The drive was pretty but of course not as nice as it would have been if we were not on the toll roads but anyway we arrived safe and sound although nearing dark – which is late here – at the beautiful coastal town of Calella; about 50kms north of Barcelona.

Our accommodation was camping style; onsite bungalows etc. Very unusual setup with the bungalows spirally placed on a large hill – which gave wonderful views but a good workout on the calves to get up the hill. The bungalow was basic but good and had a little kitchenette and we had not had anything cooked by us for about 2 months so we were hanging out for a home cooked meal. Alas our late arrival did not allow us to do any shopping as everything was closed but we did find a pub that sold ‘Bikinis’ these are basically ham and cheese toasted sandwiches – of course we accompanied these with sangria!! We watched a quarter of a basketball game – some European Final – Madrid against Tel Aviv. I have to say some of the Tel Aviv names were a bit dubious; Jackson to me sounds a little on the US side does it not?!?! We didn’t stay for the last quarter as we were tired and wanted to get an early start in the morning to take the car back.

The drive was interesting to say the least – there is a train line running alongside the beach – I mean right alongside the beach. Not very nice for the people who want to relax on the beaches OR for the people who live on the other side of the track with wonderful beach frontage with a bloody railway line in front of it!!!! Anyway we made it back into Barcelona without any problems and found ourselves the train station we were to get our tickets to Paris!! Very exciting. We then hit the streets – this is the first time that we did not take the big red bus but decided to do a walk ourselves instead. This can be ok but on this day with drizzling rain once again we found it a little tiresome. We’re sad to say a city is just a city and we do try and find the historical centres but if they’re just big buildings it gets a little ‘ho hum’. We did promise Iova from Carceres that we would go to a particular church; Familia Sagrada. We did find this church but it was late in the day and the line to get in was huge. But with the promise to come back and check it out the next day we walked back to the station to catch the train back to Calella (1 hour trip) to do some much needed blogging and pick up some food to cook!!!!

Not a great deal open when we arrived back at Calella so we picked up what we could to put a pasta together…not my best effort I’m telling you – when you have to eat crisps with it to give it some salt just ruined it a little!! Anyway we spent a quiet night and hoping the weather would improve for maybe some beach time on the morrow.

Not to be ladies and gentleman – it was actually bloody cold so we set ourselves up in the Internet Café on site where we drank sangria, ate pizza, olives and chatted with family on Skype. I have to say we also did a lot of uploading of photos – this is what holds us up most times as we can write the blog through ‘word’ but if the bandwidth is not good enough we can’t do the photos. And even when the band-width is good it takes ages – so we pretty much settled in for most of the day. It is always lovely to chat with my daughter Mandel and catch up on Uni gossip and what she’s been up to – I also think it is a little funny for the people around us to also witness this!!! The joys of internet cafes!!

Our final day required us to haul our luggage to the station which is a good 20 minutes walk but we did get to see a lot more of Calella – it’s funny what happens when you try different roads – was nice to see. Trip in was non eventful apart from my head spinning about the bloody train line being where it is – check out the photos – very close; you feel like you’re on the water’s edge!!

Anyway we headed into the main station and swapped trains to go to the station that the trains go to France. We arrived and were looking about for storage for our bags when this group of men came in with batons and grabbed these two guys  - very concerning – until you could see the handcuffs and guns on their belts; we gather undercover cops. Another lot came in from outside with another guy – talk about weird. Anyway would you believe this train station does not have any storage facilities and we had to go back to the main station where we knew they did.

Megs Typing

So after lugging our bags 1 hour from Calella, then half an hour to Barcelona Franca station, then half any hour back to Sants Station we were a little weary of carting all our worldly belongings around the city of Barcelona – but this is the way of travelling especially on public transport so Cest La Vie (just practising for France tomorrow).

Bags now safely stashed in lockers, we went out in search of sustenance as we had thought to eat breakfast once we had stowed the luggage - just easier when trying to sit in a café – so now it was really time for lunch. 

Once we had reenergised we decided to head back to the Familia Sagrada; so armed with a map we decided to walk.  Not a problem. The thing I have really started to appreciate especially since being in Europe is the use of scale.  It really didn’t enter into my thought system throughout Canada and the US (they must use a similar scale to us).  Europe’s maps differ from country to country.  What would take an estimated 10mins to drive distance wise in Portugal (by Australia mapping standards) take 90 seconds.  Spain is different again what you think is a reasonably close walk maybe 20mins tops turns out to be over and hour. But it was a lovely walk and we did get to see the (what we call) the gnome hotel – See photos. 

We arrived at Familia Sagrada and OMG what a construction (still underway), started in 1866 when Antonio Gaudi’s plans were approved, understandable with construction still continuing Gaudi did not live to see his church completed though the architects are working from his original plans with assistance from computer simulations.  The church can house 8 000 people for mass.  The construction should be completed in 2023.  See photos.

After a long day we headed back to the train station to gather our supplies for the over-night trip to Paris.  I have never been on a sleeper train before, I was a little excited about the prospect.  The cabins were cute and very space efficient and before long we went to sleep saying Buenos nochez and adios to Spain and ready to say Bienvenue and Bonjour to Paris.

This just gave us the giggles!

Bad Elonas everywhere

See!

This thing looks good at night all lit up but I have to say during

the day it looks like a very ugly vibrator!

Catedral de Familia Sagrada

One of the most unusual and amazing churches we have seen

Oh by the way we crossed the Greenwich Line

There it is - it's shaped to give the shadow of a line across the road - clever!

Interesting landscape on the way to Barcelona

Amazing

and varied - this was not an hour after the last photo!

Beautiful hills

Bulls everywhere

Fountains seem to be a favourite in every city

This is Catalunya Plaza - full of pigeons

More modern areas

Clever photo - it's me

Old with the new

Got to love the flamingo!

Interesting statue

Not as many statues within the city as Madrid had

From the adjacent park - Catedral de Familia Sagrada

This man is trying to get the whole cathedral in his shot - not an easy task!

This is the train line to Calella - most of the beach front apartments are

this close to the railway - crazy

This is the station at Calella - you need to cross the line to get to the beach

This is how close the water is on the other side in places! This

is from the train I promise you!

The beach on the left and the houses on the right

You can just see the beach past the fence

One of the many narrow streets of Calella

This is our accommodation at the end of the road up the hill

Great views - beach is just off to the left

There's our bungalow's view

What we called the Gnome building but again it is a Gaudi creation

Close up

There were some in mosaic colour as well!!

Inside Familia Sagrada - amazing windows

Lots of light and very spacious church without the cheap decorations

The highest point of the church - this is side on guys - sorry

Better view

The back view - the church itself is based on nature; the columns are 

representing trees and all over the church are different forest animals as

well as religious and science depictions: something for everyone :)

Beautiful work

This is an art silhouette reproduction - check out the shadow

Easier to see here

Us at the base - very difficult to get the whole thing in

Us at the park adjacent