Barcelona

We ended our Madrid stay with a rather desultory meal in a restaurant called Nebraska where Anna and I ate limp, reheated fried calamari while True and Sky ate lasagna and spaghetti respectively. It is very difficult to get into the rhythm of Spanish restaurant hours.


Then it was shower time and the pleasures of a hotel bathrobe ...

... and an early night while Madrid bustled below.

We rented a car the next day and drove to Barcelona. It was a beautiful drive. We passed through a town called Catalayud that had a street lined with trees whose branches were grafted together into a long snaking chain from one end of the street to the other.

We stopped at a 12th century monastery that was in the process of being restored. Again, we missed lunch, but we bought some candied almonds and cookies made by the monks. We got to Barcelona after dark and had room service in the hotel. The hotel gave us nice big connecting rooms in a corner of the building.


The next day, we drove north to Figueres, where Salvador Dali was born and visited the Dali museum there. We then drove over a ridge to a fishing town called Cadaques where Dali once lived. The town and the sea were beautiful and we spent the afternoon walking along the water's edge, skipping stones.

The weather was blustery but clear.

At sunset, we had a nice meal in a harborside restaurant. The food was excellent - olives, fried baby squid, anchovies, grilled sardines and paella (brown, without saffron). Sky tried the anchovies - they were the salty kind. True had a steak and fries.

I took these pictures of Sky by the sea. I like them because they capture his sometimes pensive mood.


His hair is getting long.

His lips are chapped.

He doesn't look happy, but he was.


Today, Friday, we finally got to Gaudi's unfinished cathedral, La Sagrada Familia. We rented audio-guides, though True didn't want one so I pointed out to him the odd detail that I thought he might like. They say the cathedral will be finished within 20 years. Maybe.

Sky liked it. He took the pictures, including this one of himself with the steeples rising above him.

Later, we went to the park that Gaudi designed on the hillside above Barcelona and then rode on the top deck of a tourist bus through the town. We eventually got off and walked up the Ramblas, the avenue with a wide pedestrian walk up the middle that is full of street performers, or more specifically, human statues. We veered off into the Gothic quarter and looked for a restaurant and found a couple, but, of course, we arrived just at closing time. We ended up eating at a fast food place, much to True's delight. We walked back to the Ramblas and finally caught a taxi back to the hotel to rest our feet. We haven't moved since.