Barcelona, SpainOctober 28, 2007
N41°23.190
E002°10.480
Barcelona is… well, BCN is easy. The metro system is efficient; taking you everywhere you can’t or simply don’t want to walk. The alleys are densely lined with restaurants and bars serving local and international cuisine. It seems you’re never more than 50 meters from ice-cold Estrella and a bocadillo.
In an effort to really get to “know” BCN we decided to hang-out and get the flavor of each neighborhood for at least three consecutive nights. A sort of BCN barrio taste test; we will ultimately decide which ‘hood we like best at the end of our stay.
Last night we strolled through the hip and trendy Born neighborhood. We ambled through the streets filled with people; pouring out of restaurants and bars, sitting on benches drinking beer, enjoying pizza or kebabs from one of the many take-away joints. We hit three different bars, enjoying a beer and second-hand smoke in each one. We just scratched the surface of Born, but hey… we have two more nights before we move on to another neighborhood.
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We got home early, 1:00 AM. Woke up at 10:00 AM, then we realized it was really 9:00 AM since Daylight Savings ended today (spring forward… fall back) so we stayed in bed for another hour. We decided to avoid the large tourist areas on the weekend, saving them for the week when tourist traffic will hopefully be less. Marc made coffee while I cooked-up some eggs; it’s nice to have a kitchen, and then we headed out the door. We jumped on the metro with a plan to visit the parks in the city designed by Gaudi, Park Guell and Park Ciutadella.
Park Guell was teeming with tourists. It seemed to be a place that was on everyone’s check-list of “must-see” BCN attractions. The fall sun was warm and occasionally a cool breeze would pass; reminding me of Indian summer in San Francisco. We spent an hour walking the trails and climbing to the summit of the park overlooking the city. However, the hazy skies didn’t help the already non-descript BCN skyline and we strolled back down the trail and made our way across
the city to Park Ciutadella.
Ciutadella didn’t seem to be on the “must-see” list. We found a park bench in the shade and watched. A wedding party exiting from the park church, balloons swinging from tree branches, children singing, screaming and crying as they celebrated birthdays, people napping and lounging on grassy knolls, the familiar squawk of parrots overhead, bright sun bleeding through the remaining leaves of sycamore trees, a slight chill in the air.
This was the park we wanted to find. The best part, it’s very close to our apartment and a great place to take a picnic. We’ll definitely be back for another visit.
Park Guell was teeming with tourists. It seemed to be a place that was on everyone’s check-list of “must-see” BCN attractions. The fall sun was warm and occasionally a cool breeze would pass; reminding me of Indian summer in San Francisco. We spent an hour walking the trails and climbing to the summit of the park overlooking the city. However, the hazy skies didn’t help the already non-descript BCN skyline and we strolled back down the trail and made our way across
the city to Park Ciutadella.Ciutadella didn’t seem to be on the “must-see” list. We found a park bench in the shade and watched. A wedding party exiting from the park church, balloons swinging from tree branches, children singing, screaming and crying as they celebrated birthdays, people napping and lounging on grassy knolls, the familiar squawk of parrots overhead, bright sun bleeding through the remaining leaves of sycamore trees, a slight chill in the air.
This was the park we wanted to find. The best part, it’s very close to our apartment and a great place to take a picnic. We’ll definitely be back for another visit.
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