Barcelona

I realize as I start writing this that my first trip to Barcelona was pre-blog.  Wow.  That seems like eons ago.  To recap: Julie and I did a whirlwind two weeks through Spain, including four glorious days in Barcelona.  We drank sangria, ate a lot of jamon y queso, and saw a lot of Gaudi.  And went to the beach, because it was July and hot.  It was a great trip.

Now, a colleague is living abroad in the city and invited me to visit during my travels.  I flew on Level Airlines, a subsidiary of Iberia that has just started running direct flights out of Boston.  It wasn't a very comfortable flight- I was in the last row and the bright lights in the service area stayed on all night long, and the seats weren't well padded and were very narrow.  But it got me there direct, which is the first airline to do that route, so I didn't complain much.

A and M's place is awesome, right in the heart of the city.  I'm incredibly jealous of the life they've created there.  Cute dog, great apartment, tons to see and do just outside your door.  I hope I get to live that life someday.  A was a great tour guide too.  She knew where to get the best almond croissants (Hofmann's), where to get the best tapas (Cuidad Comdal), and when to walk vs when to take transit.  I'd given her a list of a few things I wanted to do, but honestly, just walking around the city was my favorite part of my visit.

We took the Metro to the Catalan National Art Museum on my second day there, which was one thing I wanted to check out.  They have the most amazing medieval frescoes there.  They figured out how to remove them from churches and have recreated the domes and niches in the museum so you can see them all together.  It's really an amazing space and seeing such vibrant color of them art really changes your perspective of the "dark ages".  I loved how cartoony they looked.  They were almost modern in that sense.  Some of them even felt like wall displays ripped from a graphic novel.  The museum also had a good collection of Renaissance art and a cool modern exhibit.  While not my favorite genre, the thematic arrangement was interesting and I really loved the works by Joaquin Mir.

Another must-see on my list was the Picasso museum, which I skipped the previous visit due to cost and being over-museumed in general.  It was a wonderful collection.  It is mostly on "how Picasso became Picasso", so a lot of early works that show his stylistic evolution.  A showed me the delightful room of pigeon paintings from Picasso's week on vacation.  They were quite whimsical and amusing.  Best of all, the museum is free on Thursday nights with reservations.

We ate some great food in Barcelona.  Trendy bowls for breakfast one day, delicious croissants, Asian dumplings and Peruvian ceviche (ok, I don't really like ceviche, but I tried it).  And tapas.  We went to Vinitus (same owner as Cuidad Comdal) one night for a feast of Spanish delights.  The goat cheese and grilled veggie thing was my favorite, though the patatas bravas was a close second.  And of course, sangria.

Best of all, another coworker and her boyfriend flew over while I was there, so I got to see more friends and have some grand adventures.  We went to Montserrat one morning, the last site on my wishlist.  We rode the funicular to the top for amazing views.  We could see the snow-capped Pyrenees in the distance.  The church was beautiful, but it was the mountain that stole the show.  After, we stopped at the beach for lunch and to see the Mediterranean up close.

The visit wasn't without hiccups.  I was supposed to leave by train to Aix en Provence, but the strike in France cancelled those plans.  Stranded, I ended up staying two days longer and then flying directly to Rome from there.  Someday, I'll get to Spain, but it's hard to be mad about extra time in Barcelona.