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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
By the time we reached Barcelona, we were losing some urge to try new foods, figure out another metro system, and wake up early. Back in Madrid, Caren mentioned she was waking up in the night to cats jumping on the bed, an experience she likened to phantom blackberry vibrations (where you think you feel your phone ringing). We were clearly losing steam as the end of our trip was in sight.
The multi-phased trip to Barcelona didn't help- baggage claim took forever while Chad and I watched an obnoxious dog make a deposit nearby, we scrambled to board for our long train ride, we debated about what metro ticket to buy, our bags were heavy, and the directions to the hostel were vague at best. Finding our hostel was an exercise of faith. But, once we landed at our back alley accomodations, we were relieved to find a helpful manager, a spacious room, air conditioning, and our own large bathroom. Daily our bathroom would flood SEVERELY, requiring the maid to cover the floor with the hostel's stock of towels.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
Having heard that Barcelona was a hub for pickpockets, we were on our toes. Wallets went to front pockets, my backpack moved to the front or stayed home, and we carried on with as little as we could. In Madrid, Chad had a few dirty tissues laying around and called them "Mike Chinich tissues", a reference to his dad leaving out used tissues back home. Though I never acted on it, if necessary I thought we could pocket Mike Chinich tissues, giving us an effective theft deterrent from pick pockets.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
Barcelona was very different from our other stops. Narrow, gridded streets guided tourists and hippies through the city. A lucky turn would lead you to a gellato joint or a sudden plaza, which brimmed with hippies and university students after dark. Each trek was led by Cathy or myself with an oversized map in hand. I am terrible at folding maps, and after a minute or 2 of trying on my own, I just hand the mess to Chad. Apparently, watching my attempts was torturous. "Who needs waterboarding...?", Chad asked. Then usually I'd need to recheck the map.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
The city was still glowing the nights following the FC Barcelona championship win. I would come back to Dubai to see a large FC Barcelona flag waving from my balcony for all beach-goers and incoming sailboats to see.
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We took a metro to Las Ramblas Street, a section of the Old Town lined with gift shops, pet stores, and the full spectrum of costumed "statue" performers available for photo ops with donation.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
Sorry, no pictures of performers- I couldn't be bothered to donate.
There were several things about Barcelona that made me stop and ask if I wasn't really still in Dubai. T-shirt and gift stores resembled Karama. Haggling for the "last price" with Pakistanis, the salesman would run out to another store to exchange one shirt size for another. We saw several Lebanese restaurants selling shish tawooks and shawarmas, hommos and kebabs. Tourists were out in force. And the sun was hot.
Just off Las Ramblas was Barcelona's famous Mercat de la Boqueria, also known as St. Joseph's Market: A good photo stop for produce and meats, but I imagine a lot of pockets get picked in the cramped aisles.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
We walked down to the Marina Port Vell to check out the sailboats, and we spent some time wandering the Maremàgnum Mall.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
The next day, we checked out La Sagrada Familia, a massive Roman Catholic church and tourist Mecca (the Catholics probably wouldn't like that inter-faith comparison). The project was started in 1882 by Catalan Architect Antoni Gaudí and is scheduled to finish in 2026. Sections are open for touring, but we arrived without reservations, so we just marvelled at the outside and tried to finagle the camera to take pictures of us and the full structure in the background. To her annoyance, I kept yelling at Cathy, "Waist-up! Take the picture waist-up!"
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
We also trekked up the enormous hill of el Carmel to Parc Güell, a landmark garden, trail system, and home to some creative architecture and mosaics. The park was designed by Gaudí, built between 1900 and 1914.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
"Serpentine" mosaic benches surrounding the plaza.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
The iconic Dragon Fountain
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
While closing out my last few nights, and in effort to save euro, we sat on the beds, ate snacks, listened to the iPod, and played Hold 'Em and Spades. We thought about bidding with gummy bears, but Caren brought up a good point that we wouldn't want to eat them after passing them around to each other. We picked up bags of Lays' jamon-flavored chips and receta campesina (farmer's recipe)- buying a bag qualified us for a chance to win 2000 Euros a day. After eating most of the chips, we couldn't spot the promotional code on or inside the bag of chips required to enter the contest. Cathy suggested we ask the hostel manager to help us find the codes. I mean, he had been pretty helpful to us and knew his way around the city, surely he knew his way around a bag of Lays.
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After a morning of window-shopping, we returned to our hostel to prepare for my departure back to Dubai. After giving some time for our maid to finish drying the bathroom floor, I begrudgingly pulled myself away from the others and embarked on the arduous journey home. After a metro ride, a long train ride, a flight to Turkey, another flight to Dubai, and a taxi ride to Al Fattan, I caught a few hours of sleep and drove to the office to start the week with the rest of my coworkers.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
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Gemma's parents were in town from Barcelona while I was away, and I was able to speak to them much more easily following plenty of real-world practice. The night of my return, we talked about callos and bull fights and paella recipes.
A part of me wanted to stay in some of the cities I visited- to make them each my own, like Sarah in Madrid (bless her heart). While travelling and feeling some urge to go back to Dubai and resume my life, I felt motivated to make better use of my time in Dubai and grow as much as I can while I'm still here... instead of just sleepily awaiting my next vacation.
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| From Barcelona, 2009 |
1 comment:
I love the images of you fumbling with the map and booby-trapping your pockets.
We're praying for you and trust you will continue to make good use of your time abroad.
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