With our flight leaving at 22:10 hours in the evening, we assumed that no supper was going to be served. But to our pleasant surpised a warm meal we served, as we watched a movie on our individual screens. When traveling East, it is best to try and sleep a bit to help adjust to the new time at arrival. But flying Economy gives me so little room, that while I might have napped here and there, it was quite uncomfortable to say the least.
We picked up out bags, cleared customs in minutes then hopped into a cab to make our way to town. We walked along the small narrow pedestrian only streets of the El Born neighborhood, looking for an even small street where our apartment was located.
As we turned onto the street, a jovial Xavier introduced himself and helped us with our bags. Located within an old buidling, the apartment itself is newly renovated efficient and very comfortable.
We changed, and headed out to explore our new neighborhood, and get some of the essentials. My first prioroty in a new city is to get a SIM card to avoid the excessively high rates we are charged for roaming. I had already scouted out a nearby telephone boutique prior to leaving home, and we made our way there first. We walked up the street and walked along Santa Caterina Market, then headed west and walked in front of the Cathedral then continued along a picturesque narrow street. We found the Orange store, enquired about the SIM card, but then found out that non-Europeans required a passport to activate the card. Disappointed but understanding the reasons why, we retraced our steps, and did some shopping in the Santa Caterina Market.
The fruits and vegetables looked lovely, but it is the seafood and even more so, the various hanging legs of ham that is most impressive. How to choose? A friendly clerk offered us each a sliver of ham that we were looking at. It was so so so delicious that it was impossible not to buy. So we bought some ham as well as some cheriso, along with some cheese.
We got some fruits and vegetables at a another stall. It was mid afternoon and many shops were starting to close up. We found a couple of bakery stalls, but they were out of bread. Delicious food, but we needed bread, so we exited the market and found a little grocery store to buy some other items as well as bread.
We emptied our packages at home, and had a bite to eat. It might sound simple, and it was, but just bread and thin slices of ham made such a delicious meal. Ham in Barcelona is a real delicacy. While proscioto is delicious, the ham here is so intensively flavoured. We are most certainly going to try the various hams here on a regular basis.
Fed, but a bit jet lagged, we headed back out to get the SIM card, then found a quiant little cafe to get some coffee to give us a boost. Being coffee drinkers the weak little cup of coffee we got on the plane prior to landing was simply not enough. The coffee was just perfect to recharge our batteries, and we headed a bit further west and found ourselves on La Ramblas.
La Ramblas is probably the most pleasant boulevard in the world to walk along. It is a wide street, with an enormous median. Almost everyone walks in the median which is wide enough to hold cafes, flower stalls, and little pet shops, along with various street performers.
While Santa Caterina market is almost across the street from us, the most famous market is La Boqueria Market. We knew we were not going to buy anything, but strolling the market is always worth the experience. The variety of produce is amazing. Again, it is the huge assortment of seafood and the meats, particularly the hams that steal the show. Exiting the market, we continued our stroll down the Ramblas for a distance.
A bit tired on our first day, we headed back up, then followed one of the narrow side streets towards the Cathedral. At Santa Caterina market we head south, found our little narrow street, and were back home. Modern travel includes a fair amount of electronic gadgets. Cell phones, tablets, laptops, camera and camera bateries. I had bought a few extra adaptors for the European plugs, but.... we forgot to bring them. So I headed back out, and found a small Oriental electronics store and bought a couple of adaptors. No doubt over priced, but most stores would be closed the next day (Sunday) as well as Monday since it was a local holiday.
A hint for travelers, stay awake your first day, even if tired, and go to bed at the local bed time hour. By doing so, we awoke the next day fully adpated to the local time.
We took our time Sunday morning, after all, we are on Holiday, and left our apartment late in the morning. Our apartment is ideally located, so close to everything. I knew that in front of the Cathedral, the local Sardana dance was danced. A nationalistic dance that was banned for so long, but now is danced by locals each Sunday (and I believe Staurdays arond 6pm). The music is a bit hard to place. It has a European flavor for sure, a bit regal, but far from pompous. It is a circle dance, and various circles would spontaneously form as locals danced, and some tourists joined in.
We spent a bit of time enjoying the music and the fesitivities before we headed onto one of the small streets leading into the Barri Gotic area.
Without any preconceived plan, we meandered along the various tiny winding streets, taking side streets here and there. While most shops were closed today on Sunday, it gave a different flavor of the streets and its architecture.
We passed Roman ruins, walls and some pillars of the Temple of Augustus, as well as an old Synagogue. FInding ourselves at the south end of the Barri Gotic area,
I decided to head further south towards Barceloneta and the beach. Barcelonata, where sailors once stayed, feels like a little town that was annexed. In fact, most of Barcelona is really areas that were annexed on to the original Roman town of Barca. The streets of Barceloneta, while reminiscent of the rest of Barcelona, has its own distinctive flavor. We bought an orange as we walked, that hydrated and nourished at the same time. Soon we found ourselves at the beach. While there are wonderful beaches not too far from Barcelona, for a city beach, this was wonderful. We followed the beach eastward, stopping here and there. Again, for a city beach, the beach is quite long, and various handsome looking restaurants lining it.
Ahead of us was a crowd and music playing. As we approached, we deicphered that it was a Latin American fesitaval as many stalls had various Latin American meals to be had.
Unfortunately the wind that was blowing had become stormy, and the rain started to fall. We were fortunate to had our raincoats with us, as the rain fell lightly, then heavier, and then it poured.
We ended up at a tapas bar. The service was slow, which I have heard of. The rain had stopped, but, the food looked delicious. We moved clsoer to the bar area, hailed a bar tender and ordered our drinks and three tapas.
The first was a shrimp wrapped in potato strands that was fried, the second were lightly battered small fish, and the third tapas plate was cheriso sausages. All were delicious, but I had to agree with Hera that the tastiest was the simple fried small fish.
We started to head back. But soon it started to rain lightly. Unfortunately it then poured heavily once again. We hopped into a cab and decided to call it a day. By the way, while Barcelona is defintely an easy walking city, the cabs here are very reasonable and worth using. (As is the transit system but that will be for another day.)
