Then I drove on to Tarragona, an old Roman town... here is the view from my balcony (room was only $120/night)...
There was also a Medieval town there, so I walked around there that evening and found a place to eat (which for a vegetarian in Spain means olives, beer, cheese, bread, salad)...
This restaurant was in a square built around some Roman ruins... the kids were playing soccer around them...
A slice of life in the square video:
Amphitheatre at night:
And sunrise the next morning...
BARCELONA
Drove to Barcelona, took a long time to drop off the car and get to the apartment I'd rented, so I didn't get settled until around 3pm. The apartment was great, one block to the Plaza Cataluna, and very nice and modern.
Bought a 2 day pass on the double-decker hop on/off bus, and went around one of the routes that afternoon... these were taken from the bus, so composure isn't the best...
One of the Gaudi houses...
Architecture, sculptures and statues were fascinating throughout the city:
That evening, I walked around the Medieval Quarter...
Found this Roman graveyard... look at how the street level has built up over a few thousand years...
Stumbled across this small square and sat down for a beer... There was a stand across the square selling Moroccan food... started spotting little girls all dressed sparkly, kids with fireworks, men in strange costumes... and then a band showed up. There were hardly any tourists, mostly just the local Moroccan community, so I had a second beer and stuck around...
People were dancing, and then all the little girls lined up and gave a performance of Moroccan dancing!
The band playing:
The band with dancing in the crowd:
The girls dancing on the steps of a church... people coming out of the church during the performance... by the second number, some little boys couldn't stand it anymore, and had to get in the action:
After the performance, I wandered back to the main drag, Las Ramblas, which, on a Saturday night, was quite crowded, with vendors, performers. Found some breakdancers who were pretty good...
Next day, I went on the bus again, a different route. Got off at the Sagrada Familia, a church designed by Gaudi, but never finished... he started the project in 1883, worked on it for 43 years, until his death in 1926. After that, the project stopped and was resumed in 1956, and is expected to be finished in 2026, the centennial of Gaudi's death. Unfortunately, his plans were burned in the uprising of 1936, but some plaster models remained.
The line was around the block to get in, so I had a choice of seeing only the Sagrada Familia that day and nothing else, or just see the outside and continue on the tour and have an excuse to come back to Barcelona... I chose the latter. ..
On the corner, was a street musician, a one-man band, and his little doggie...
Sagrada Familia:
Another Gaudi house:
Gaudi had a benefactor, Mr. Guell, who asked Gaudi to design a community, built around a town square. The elaborate entrance and square were built and only 2 houses, before the project was abandoned, and it's now Park Guell... Some of the pics from one of the houses, in which Gaudi lived until he moved into the Sagrada Familia in the years before he died.
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The pillars holding up the town square:
Entrance:
One of 2 gate houses:
View from town square:
All around the town square were these mosaic benches:
Tables and chairs around town square with the other house in the background, there were supposed to be around 80 houses surrounding the square:
After visiting Park Guell, I went to the hotel where my cousin Gary, wife Sandy and her parents were staying, to meet them for drinks and dinner. They had been visiting Paris and Lourdes, and had just arrived in Barcelona; I was leaving the next morning.
We went to the Medieval Quarter for dinner at the 4 Cats....
The door:
Juan and Xenia... Xenia is of Chinese descent, but grew up in rural Mexico, and they like to tell the story of how she chose Juan as a young girl, as the girls looked over the boys and vice versa in the town square of their village... they are still in love...
Me and cousin Gary:
Next morning, caught a 6am flight to Florida... :(
