Greetings from Barcelona, where daughter and I are now thoroughly at home in our fourth-floor apartment in the city´s L´Éixample district. W´re right by Gaudi´s La Sagrada Familia (Church of the Holy Family), which has become the symbol of Barcelona – not bad for a construction that´s been under scaffolding for well over 100 years, and is nowhere near completion. We ate under its shadow on our first night, marvelling at the crazy towers and treelike pillars.
Today we have walked, and walked and then walked a bit more – south from the Placa de Catalunya, which seems to be the nerve centre of the city, south along the Ramblas, the famous tree-lined boulevard that stretches eventually to the sea.
Turning left, we found ourselves in the Barri Gotic, the atmospheric old town that contains the city´s moody medieval cathedral, again covered in scaffolding, and big posters announcing its fundraising appeal and ´sponsor a stone´ - uncannily like its cousin in Canterbury.
A big thrill was finding Mercat Santa Caterina, the most amazing covered market topped with a curving, multi-coloured roof that looks just like a flying carpet. Inside, the fruit and vegetables had to be seen to be believed, though my vegetarian companion found the meat displays a little hard to take: sheep´s stomach, anyone?
Weaving our way through the narrow alleys and the gorgeously distracting shops of the El Born district, we kept heading south until we got to the sea and Barca´s reinvigorated harbour. The beach front is amazing, only created in 1992 when the Olympics came to town and while they may be artifical, they are immaculate and make a fab addition to a city that has already stunned us with its many faces.
We plan to join the beautiful people there tomorrow, as yesterday´s clouds have transformed into temperatures nudging 30 degrees, and we´ll be checking out the kitesurfing too – note to Monkey, it´s breezy and sunny and they go like rockets here!
Off to hunt for tapas now – it´s a hard life.
Sarah in Spain