Today was another unhurried start to the day - we slept in and woke up without any alarm. I was up around 9:30 am and decided to upload the diaries of the previous 14 days to this online blog. Samia has given me the idea to also add to this blog the diaries that I had written for Turkey and Peru last year. I'll get to that when we are back in Calgary in a few days.
We got ready and left around 1 pm for a day of exploring Barcelona's Montjuic mountain and La Barceloneta beach. Since we had a late dinner last night, we didn't feel like having breakfast and just had lunch around 1:30 pm. We asked our hotel's helpful reception desk for another tapas restaurant recommendation and were given precise directions to a new and trendy place a few blocks away from our hotel. We decided to walk to soak up the sun. No tapas meal is complete for us without patata bravas (potatoes with garlic and mayo) so of course, we ordered that and also tried Spanish omelette (they call it tortilla), eggplant tempura with honey and calamari. Everything was decent and you could tell that there was thought put into the presentation of the food. It wasn't an overly fancy place but was quite popular and by the time we left around 2 pm, it was completely full with every table taken.
We then took the subway to the station closest to Montjuic and from there, we got on the Funicular train up the mountain to roughly its middle. Montjuic is not a huge mountain but is rather a gently inclining hill and its name translates to "Jew Mountain". Then we took a short scenic cable car further up the mountain to the Castle of Montjuic. This fort was built around the 17th century and is primarily a military fortress with numerous cannons still on display all around the fort. It was also used by General Franco's regime as a prison and for executions. The Catalan leader Lluis Companys was executed there in 1940 after he was handed over to Franco's government by Nazi Germany. We went to the top of the fort to get a nice view of Barcelona's skyline and the harbor. Sagrada Familia stands out since there aren't any towering skyscrapers close to it - they are mostly near the coast.
After taking in this bird's eye view of Barcelona and sitting in the sun for a while, we started making our way back to the middle of the mountain and took the return cable car. The plan was to walk to another cable car that would've taken us to the heart of the La Barceloneta beach district. When we reached there, we found out that they did not accept credit cards. As fate would have it, we were out of cash and the nearest ATM was at the base of Montjuic! So we took a bus and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. On the bus ride, we saw an abandoned Bullring that is now a tourist attraction. Catalonia has banned bull fighting so bullrings are no longer in use. The last stop of the bus was Plaća Espanya and we are glad we got a chance to see it. It is the largest square in Barcelona and is more like a roundabout with an elaborate statue fountain in the middle. It also has two giant towers known as the Venetian Towers. There are a couple of impressive buildings that were built for the International Expo of 1929 that was held in Barcelona. But perhaps the most imposing structure in Plaća Espanya is the Les Arenes bullring that used to be a grand bull fighting ring but has has now been converted into a shopping mall. We then took the subway to the Barceloneta station.
By this time, it was 7 pm and we were hungry so we walked to a restaurant that was recommended by our hotel's reception desk as the best place to have Paella in Barcelona. It had a view of the harbor and the weather was excellent so we decided to sit outside. Paella is a dish that originated in the region of Valencia and is somewhat of a Spanish specialty. The most famous variant has rice or noodles with seafood. Samia had the vegetarian version of Paella while I had it with cod fish and vegetables. It tasted unique since the rice are baked and are then cooked in gravy. Definitely something to try once but probably it's an acquired taste and we couldn't acquire it in our first attempt.
Then we strolled along the broad boardwalk and observed the people. We saw many people running and jogging. Others were walking their dogs, playing beach volleyball or just chilling near the water. We walked for almost 2 km enjoying the sea breeze and the relaxed atmosphere. The La Barceloneta beach was given a facelift for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and is in great condition. It's a very clean beach and not smelly at all. During our walk, we saw a garbage truck and cleaning staff picking metal objects from the sand so perhaps regular maintenance is the reason that the beach is in such great condition. We walked to the edge of Vila Olimpica or the Olympic Village and saw a giant modern-looking metallic artwork structure. We have an early morning 7 am train to Madrid tomorrow so we didn't have time to go explore the Olympic Village. We boarded a bus back to the Barceloneta subway station and then took a train back to our hotel.
Now it's time to pack our bags and go to bed. Barcelona has been the most relaxed part of our trip so far and it was intentionally planned this way. Having said that, we still ended up walking more than 10 km today (as we did yesterday). In total, we have walked 160 km so far in the last 15 days!
Our next update will be from Madrid, the capital and the largest city of Spain. Till then, take care and good night!
We got ready and left around 1 pm for a day of exploring Barcelona's Montjuic mountain and La Barceloneta beach. Since we had a late dinner last night, we didn't feel like having breakfast and just had lunch around 1:30 pm. We asked our hotel's helpful reception desk for another tapas restaurant recommendation and were given precise directions to a new and trendy place a few blocks away from our hotel. We decided to walk to soak up the sun. No tapas meal is complete for us without patata bravas (potatoes with garlic and mayo) so of course, we ordered that and also tried Spanish omelette (they call it tortilla), eggplant tempura with honey and calamari. Everything was decent and you could tell that there was thought put into the presentation of the food. It wasn't an overly fancy place but was quite popular and by the time we left around 2 pm, it was completely full with every table taken.
We then took the subway to the station closest to Montjuic and from there, we got on the Funicular train up the mountain to roughly its middle. Montjuic is not a huge mountain but is rather a gently inclining hill and its name translates to "Jew Mountain". Then we took a short scenic cable car further up the mountain to the Castle of Montjuic. This fort was built around the 17th century and is primarily a military fortress with numerous cannons still on display all around the fort. It was also used by General Franco's regime as a prison and for executions. The Catalan leader Lluis Companys was executed there in 1940 after he was handed over to Franco's government by Nazi Germany. We went to the top of the fort to get a nice view of Barcelona's skyline and the harbor. Sagrada Familia stands out since there aren't any towering skyscrapers close to it - they are mostly near the coast.
After taking in this bird's eye view of Barcelona and sitting in the sun for a while, we started making our way back to the middle of the mountain and took the return cable car. The plan was to walk to another cable car that would've taken us to the heart of the La Barceloneta beach district. When we reached there, we found out that they did not accept credit cards. As fate would have it, we were out of cash and the nearest ATM was at the base of Montjuic! So we took a bus and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. On the bus ride, we saw an abandoned Bullring that is now a tourist attraction. Catalonia has banned bull fighting so bullrings are no longer in use. The last stop of the bus was Plaća Espanya and we are glad we got a chance to see it. It is the largest square in Barcelona and is more like a roundabout with an elaborate statue fountain in the middle. It also has two giant towers known as the Venetian Towers. There are a couple of impressive buildings that were built for the International Expo of 1929 that was held in Barcelona. But perhaps the most imposing structure in Plaća Espanya is the Les Arenes bullring that used to be a grand bull fighting ring but has has now been converted into a shopping mall. We then took the subway to the Barceloneta station.
By this time, it was 7 pm and we were hungry so we walked to a restaurant that was recommended by our hotel's reception desk as the best place to have Paella in Barcelona. It had a view of the harbor and the weather was excellent so we decided to sit outside. Paella is a dish that originated in the region of Valencia and is somewhat of a Spanish specialty. The most famous variant has rice or noodles with seafood. Samia had the vegetarian version of Paella while I had it with cod fish and vegetables. It tasted unique since the rice are baked and are then cooked in gravy. Definitely something to try once but probably it's an acquired taste and we couldn't acquire it in our first attempt.
Then we strolled along the broad boardwalk and observed the people. We saw many people running and jogging. Others were walking their dogs, playing beach volleyball or just chilling near the water. We walked for almost 2 km enjoying the sea breeze and the relaxed atmosphere. The La Barceloneta beach was given a facelift for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and is in great condition. It's a very clean beach and not smelly at all. During our walk, we saw a garbage truck and cleaning staff picking metal objects from the sand so perhaps regular maintenance is the reason that the beach is in such great condition. We walked to the edge of Vila Olimpica or the Olympic Village and saw a giant modern-looking metallic artwork structure. We have an early morning 7 am train to Madrid tomorrow so we didn't have time to go explore the Olympic Village. We boarded a bus back to the Barceloneta subway station and then took a train back to our hotel.
Now it's time to pack our bags and go to bed. Barcelona has been the most relaxed part of our trip so far and it was intentionally planned this way. Having said that, we still ended up walking more than 10 km today (as we did yesterday). In total, we have walked 160 km so far in the last 15 days!
Our next update will be from Madrid, the capital and the largest city of Spain. Till then, take care and good night!
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