City tour - Day 2 in Barcelona

All,

Day Two dawned under a rainy sky after a long night of DJ Next Level spinning some hot tunes.  Sometimes I amaze myself at my talent for this DJ business.  If I had been born at a different time, who knows where this skill could have taken me? But I digress.  I segued from current pop music to some of Marcia's favorite reggae songs.  I will provide a playlist of my jams at the end of today's blog.  Marcia got back very late last night and so we stayed up dancing and singing into the wee hours of the morning, much to Shahna's chagrin.  She said she did not know where from where we got all this energy.  However, this morning when the alarm went off, it appeared that all my energy from last night had deserted me.  However, I pressed along as we needed to get into the center of Barcelona to pick up our bus for our 4 /12 hour bus/walking tour.  We rushed downstairs for breakfast, which was not very inspiring and then jumped into a cab so we could ensure a timely arrival at the meeting place.

The tour was billed as an "English speaking" tour.  However, it turned out to be an "English also speaking tour."  Some of us spoke English only and some were Spanish speakers so our guide spoke first in Spanish and then English.  However, tuning him out while he spoke Spanish was easier than I thought as I just conjured up thoughts of being in south Florida and ignoring the Spanish speakers all around me, which I have to do on a daily basis, and all was well.  The mind is a powerful tool and it is a pleasure to be able to choose what we want to embrace or reject depending on the circumstances.  The old adage, "the mind is a terrible thing to waste" certainly rang true in this instance.

We started off our tour in the Gothic district, which is around the area of the Barcelona Cathedral which is a beautiful structure.  The interior of the church was spectacular.  As I stood there gazing in awe at the beauty of the church, I saw some nuns genuflecting in front of the cross.  The thought crossed my mind.  What if Christianity is some cruel hoax?  What if at the end of my days, there is somebody waiting at the pearly gates with a big smile saying "Gotcha, we just wanted to see if you would behave and do the right thing."  What if it doesn't matter if you are Ted Bundy or Mother Theresa?"  You all know I would be very pissed right?

We walked through some winding back alleys and saw the official government buildings and our guide was very informative about the "Catulunya" political structure.  To cut a long story short, these "Catalunyas" want to secede from the rest of Spain, sort of like Texas from the U.S.  The Catalunyas believe that they are not getting a good return on their investment being a part of Spain because their economic infrastructure is much more solid. 

We were also taken to the "old" Jewish quarter.  Once again the story here is very familiar.  The Jews were doing well and the Catholics got pissed off and killed them all.  Oy veh.  Does this story not sound familiar?  Why doesn't everyone love Jews like I do?  They are wonderful people, very open minded, willing to try all kinds of obscure Jamaican foods, make good movies, finance good movies and finance many good things in general.  So what is they are good at making money?  Must they be eliminated from every country and culture?  Where is the justice in this for my adopted people?

We then got back on the bus and proceeded to ascend into the one of the mountains surrounding Barcelona called Montjuic.  On the way to the mountain, we passed the Barcelona waterfront, which was totally redone for the 1992 Olympics.  On Sundays it is the only place that shops are open as the rest of the city ensures that they observe their one day of rest.  When we got to the top of the mountain, we got on the cable car so we could see an aerial view of the city.  I conquered my fears and got into the cable car and managed to stay calm for the 20 minute ride.  We came off at the castle at the top and took pictures and then Shahna and I walked down to a café where we were we met the rest of the tour party.

It was on to the Spanish Village or El Poble Espanyol, which was built in 1929 for the World Fair that was held in Barcelona that year.  Instead of building booths, they built permanent buildings representing the different areas of Spain.  The compound was quite large and we strolled through typical Spanish places, observing artisans at work and passing by different restaurants and souvenir shops.  It was raining pretty heavily by this time but we finally reached our "Cava" tasting destination.  Cava is basically Champagne, but Champagne is copyrighted so they cannot use the word champagne to describe the Cava.  Shahna tried it and said it was pretty good but they served us some crackers with it, which were very good.  We had some free time and we strolled through the shops and window shopped.

After leaving the village, the bus passed by the Olympic Stadium, which is still very well maintained and then we passed by the Olympic village. 

The tour was about 4 ½ hours but we really enjoyed ourselves and I am glad that I took it because I would never have gone to some of these places on my own.  We asked our guide for a recommendation for tapas and he advised us to go this place called "Cuitat Contal."  When we got there, it was packed but we were able to get a table within 15 minutes or so.  We tried some kind of potato dish with a garlic aioli and a tomato sauce, a California salad with avocados, pasta and a lime dressing, a mini hamburger with caramelized onions (delicious) and grilled calamari.  There was this kind of cheese toast that came with the salad that crisp and delicious. 

It was pouring rain so we took a taxi back to the hotel.  After surviving on such little sleep last night, it was time for a nap.  I awoke feeling refreshed and Shahna and I are in the hotel room while Marcia is off to dinner.  We are going to order room service and DJ next level will start the party shortly. 

Tomorrow we are off to mountain of Montserrat and the beautiful Church located there.  There is supposed to be a service at 11:00 and we have been told the high mass is absolutely beautiful.  No, I will not be struck down by lightening.  I know that is what you are all thinking (lol).

Barcelona is a very picturesque city.  I urge you to put this on your bucket list, if you have not already been. 

 

Besos,

Liz

 

P.S.  Sheryll, I have been on the lookout for you as requested for attractive or rich men and looked around at the people on the bus.  While these adjectives are entirely subjective, I think I can honestly say that the men I encountered today did not fit into either of the aforementioned categories.  Hope springs eternal and I still have 12 days to go.  All is not yet lost. 

 

Some Songs on my Playlist

I Cry                             Flo Rida (not Florida for you non-hip people)

Who Booty                  John Hart

Dilemma                     Nelly and Kelly Rowland

Bonafide Love             Buju and Friends

Whistle                        Flo Rida

Love is Overdue          Gregory Isaacs

I Don't Wanna Fight    Tina Turner

Fresh Vegetable          Tony Rebel