So on Wednesday morning I was planning a nice early start. Unfortunately I overslept so that wasn't what I got. Obviously recovering from the horrendous night's sleep before. A quick breakfast later, I was up and about walking in the fresh morning air of Barcelona on my way to Casa Milà, Gaudi's last apartment block he designed. At the till to get in, which I was surprised to find not many people in line for at 11am, I flashed my Bus Tour coupon and my ISIC card and the lady pointed to which one I could use. Inside audio guides were included in the price and thank god too. What I've noticed about Spanish sites of interest is they're not overly keen on giving you info as you walk around. There is never usually anything labeled or something to read up on in the particular place you're in. So if offered an audio guide and it's not included, I'd recommend you'd go for it to get the best out of your visit.
At the Casa Milà I found more out about Gaudi himself and other things he designed such as furniture. This information mostly given in the loft of the building. Then you are guided down to a typical recreated apartment of the period in which it was completed. And this is the overall sense of the museum I got – not something completely on Gaudi but more about life and arts of the period. This is heaven for me as I love anything Art Nuevo and turn of the century. In the gift shop (a must of course in Capitalist Tourism) I found a print book of Alonso Mucha's work which I've been looking for. That was purchased along with a book of Chanel turn of the Century designs.
That museum took up until lunchtime and I had planned on taking a bike to the next one to save time as I knew I wanted to do a lot that day. I had noticed, from the bus tour, that along with a fantastic looking tram system, Barcelona offered another unique form of public transport. As you explore the city you come across several handily situated Bicycle Stations. Here you swipe some sort of a card at a post which then unlocks a bike from a bar at the side of the street where many bikes are docked. However I was told at the hostel that I would not be able to use the system as I was not a local resident. Barcelona has many bike lanes making getting around the city this way incredibly easy and safe. When the system was first introduced a few years ago, local bike tour companies wanted tourists to be banned from using it for fear of competition. Personally I feel it a bit of a swizz but one sees the point.
So I walked to my next destination as I didn't want to spend money on metro tickets. I hadn't invested in the 10ride ticket as I thought being overland I'd see a lot more. Singles are more expensive than Madrid costing 1€35c. Though, I probably should have taken them Metro to the Joan Miro foundation Museum because it was up in Montjuic hill overlooking the city. By the time I got up there after lunch I only had a little over an hour to smooch round. Worth it though if you are into Modern Art. Though the guy at the hostel thought going to Barcelona's official Modern Art Museum, MACBA, was a better option. It was centrally located also. But it was a good walk round for me, no audio guide I'm afraid. But there were the odd info boards in English. The museum is situated just down the road from the City's overhead Cable Car system that gives good views of the city and park. Here I decided to splash out on the metro back. Bit of a treat down to the city – the metro carriages are on a slope and I think cable operated.
That evening I crashed out in front of Barcelona vs Athletic in the Spanish Football Cup final in the common room with other guests. Barcelona won and the city didn't sleep that night. I did however and the next day rose, on time, and dashed out for breakie on the run. I was on my way to Pueblo Espanyol. This is a faux Spanish village that was built for the 1929 International Exhibition. It's aim was to show visits examples of architecture from across Spain's different regions. Now it plays host to many artisans workshops where they sell their wares and numerous places to eat. I had breakfast here in a café overlooking it's Plaza Mayor. Again, with audio guide in hand, I spent near on 4 hours ambling around, taking in the various info about Spanish building styles and checking out all the things being made in the little shops. By the time I had finished I hadn't much time left before I had to catch my bus back to Madrid. I caught metro back to the Gothic quarter of the city which is the oldest part and very atmospheric. I walked from here back up to the hostel, of course it was then that it decided to start raining, how terribly British.
I checked out, managed to leave my towel there in the process and took the metro back to Estacion Nord. Barcelona's bus station isn't bad, if a bit tatty. Bus was practically empty back and the journey passed fairly quietly except for a few outbursts from a rather uptight bus driver. And this is when 'The Bus Story' comes in. Pulling into some random town, a woman wanted to be droped off somewhere quickly. So bus stopped she got off and then we headed back to open road. A good few minutes in an old man crawled his way up to the bus driver. A few Si, claro hombre's and stressed por favor's later we turned round as the driver didn't announce the stop and people had missed it. Yes I know it well.
I had remembered to bring the earphones from bus tour to plug in as Alsa busses have personal earphone things that I wanted to check out. Unfortunately, out of 8 channels, only 3 worked and when the film did eventually pop up on screen, none of these channels offered the soundtrack. This annoyed me a lot as it was Something About Mary being shown and I'd never seen that. Mind you probably would have been dubbed anyway. I could lip read well enough.
Barcelona: Great for Architecture, playing volleyball on the beach and remember your Audio Guides.
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