Barcelona: Burn it Down

Have you ever been so enthralled by something, so spellbound, that you had the irrational urge to destroy it, because you realized it couldn’t be yours? Barcelona is like this for me. Just one day here is simply torture. It is like taking just one small sip of a freshly poured Guinness, then having it taken away. Like being allowed to watch only five minutes of the Godfather trilogy. Like only enjoying one oyster from a platter of dozens. I am filled with a sense of disgust and frustration (much like with the women of Seville) that knowing this place exceeds my grasp. At this time, that is. I will come back here. I would like to live here for a bit. Southville, Sevilla, Beirut – these are all wonderful cities, but Barcelona is now first in my mind. Plus, people here like dogs – big dogs. I like that.


Kids and dogs near the Gaudi cathedral

I left Madrid by train after visiting the American School in the morning. The Spanish countryside is everything you’d imagine the Spanish countryside to be. Close your eyes and think “The Sun Also Rises” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” because there was too much glare on the windows for me to take pictures. Besides, I was too busy looking, and wishing I had a little villa.

I arrived in Barcelona after dark and took a cab to my hotel near the center. After a shower I walked to Las Ramblas, a central series of avenues bracketed with many bars and what not. Several were Australian or Irish in nature, so I stopped here and there for a few pints. After this I wandered about, eventually finding a bar on the corner of Rambla del Ravel where I met a group of American students. I hung out with them the rest of the night, until it was just three of us at an after-hours night club on Plaza Reial. Then to bed.


fresh produce




I woke late in the morning, but with plenty of time to make my appointment on the north side of town at The Benjamin Franklin School. Afterwards I returned to the hotel and changed clothes. I grabbed my camera and decided to go on walkabout. Using a hotel map, I hit La Pedrera (Gaudi) and then the La Gracia district. There I found a local art school where I picked up some info, then a great little jewelry shop where I bought some more presents. I got into a conversation with the owner, a woman who had been making this jewelry for 40 years. Her son is a psychology professor at Harvard. She has a factory attached the shop, which she showed me. I asked if she’d be willing to take on students and she said yes. I am going to find some Spanish-speaking student an incredible internship.


Sagrada Familia


Under Construction

After this I made my way to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s still unfinished cathedral masterpiece. It was every bit as cool as I thought it would be. I parked myself Indian-style on the sidewalk and just stared at it for awhile. Then I went to the Irish pub opposite and had a pint of black stuff to fix the memory. As the light was dying, I took the Metro to a stop way up in the hills, Avenida Tibidabo. From here I trekked up even farther, where I got quite a view while sitting at a little tavern on the crest.


View of Barcelona from cafe-bar at the top


Restaurant in Tibidabo

Rather than return by Metro, I decided to get some exercise by walking all the way back to the hotel. Having worked up an impressive appetite, I went to the Hard Rock (hey, I didn’t want to go to a “real” restaurant by myself) for a bite and some brew. I ended up talking to an older English couple for about an hour. Once they left, I joined a group of three girls who’d been making fun of my gesturing behind the backs of the English. Two were Argentinean, and one was a Peruvian named Mily, all working in local hotels. We spoke Spanglish all night, from Hard Rock to the same club I’d been to the night before. Up quite late.


More Gaudi

I managed to wake up in time to pack and get to the train station in time for my all-day journey to Paris. Slept most of the first leg. Watched the countryside roll by later on.