30 Days in Europe with Evan and Jim

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30 Days in Europe with Evan

June 20, 2013 - Spain

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Restless sleep last night. Fell asleep soon after getting to our room at about 10:00, then woke up and didn't get back to sleep till early morning. Woke up at noon. Yikes! The day was half gone. Woke Evan up, dressed and went to the Boqueria market for breakfast. We noticed a place that looked like a tapas bar there yesterday that looked good, so we went there. It's the Bar Boqueria, and their menus were in both Catalan and English. Evan ordered a sausage and cheese sandwich, and I pointed at the things I wanted since most of the food dishes were on display around the counter. I had Catalan beans and chorizo, a big piece of spinach omelette and a couple of cafe con leches. Holy s*&% it was good!

Late morning on Las Ramblas on the way to breakfast.

Catalan beans and chorizo for me. Fantastic.

I also ordered a piece of spinach quiche, also fantastic.

A sandwich for Evan.

The Bar Boqueria. You should go there.

Another meat stall in the Boqueria market.

Bought another subway pass and headed over to Mont Juic on the green line. One transfer brought us to the funicular that climbs up Mont Juic. Getting out we were happy to find ourselves in a beautiful park. Nice change from the urban hustle bustle of Las Ramblas. We walked through various gardens up to the Olympic stadium, built it for the 1992 Olympics. Then on down to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC), aka. Catalan art museum. Evan got in for free. We started with Modern and Baroque, then whizzed through Medieval and Gothic. Saw a few Picassos and Miros, but was mostly impressed by landscape paintings of artists I didn't know. Evan OD'd on art fairly quickly as I expected, but he was a good trooper.

The Barcelona subway.

The funicular that climbs up Mont Juic.

View from Mont Juic.

A staircase in Parc de Mont Juic.

The Olympic stadium on Mont Juic.

A tower by the Olympic stadium on Mont Juic.

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC).

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.

Looking up at a dome interior in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.

Evan pondering a piece.

Ahh, modern art.

A painting from the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya..

Stained glass from the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya..

Sculpture from the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya..

A painting from the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya..

A carving from the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya..

From there we forged on with my Gaudi bucket list. Took the green line up to Gaudi's famous Casa Mila. Viewed it from the outside only. Very cool. Wonder how he instructed the crews to make all those organically shaped facades and railings.

Casa Mila from the distance.

Casa Mila from across the street.

Casa Mila.

Casa Mila balconies and railings.

Then a few more stops up the green line to get to Parc Guell. It's a park with various structures designed by Gaudi including spires, columned spaces and colonnades. Fanciful of course, and packed with tourists. We got pretty lost finding it and had to ask directions from 3 people. Got to see some residential areas with no tourists. I like Barcelona, it's nice. Plenty of very pleasant areas. Watched some guys play boules in a park on the way back to the subway.

Parc Guell.

Roof detail at Parc Guell.

Main staircase at Parc Guell.

Parc Guell.

Colonnade at Parc Guell.

Overlook at Parc Guell, the Mediterranian in the background.

Tourists at Parc Guell, late afternoon.

Boules in the parc.

The Ramblas was hopping when we returned. Showered back at the room, then headed out to dinner. We decided to go to La Crema Canela again. Evan had duck confit with pineapple chutney. I had Iberian pork fillet with sweet onions and mushrooms. We also had a "3 salads" salad, and again the wine. Fabulous. During dinner a troop of guys at the next door restaurant were doing a singing/drumming/acrobatics show that was pretty neat. Musicians we heard briefly the night before also reappeared, a clarinet, tabla and accordian. They were great.

Back at Las Ramblas, late in the day.

Dinner. Iberian pork fillet with sweet onions and mushrooms.

Iberian pork fillet with sweet onions and mushrooms.

Evan's duck confit with pineapple chutney.

The '3 salads' salad.

La Crema Canela in Barcelona.

A short walk through the Barri Gothic for Gelato as before, then we went into El Rival. Various tourist books warn about going too deep into it due to seedy surroundings, prostitutes and junkies. It was dark by the time we went in, and we followed a street about a quarter mile in. Bypassed some connecting alleys to round the block since they were unlit, narrow, and had some groups of people that looked a bit scary. Saw the aforementioned prostitutes on the leg back, but made it back to well lit streets and eventually Las Ramblas. Then to bed.

Entering El Rival.

The El Rival district.

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