Judging by the thousands of bloody pictures I took, it seems I managed to cover quite a bit of ground in the last week. Managing to meet up with Kristy and Grace on Sunday evening we began our journey in search of tapas and sangria, I believe we may have been successful…
Monday was spent marvelling at the Sagrada Familia, the architect Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece that he devoted his life to, before being hit by a tram, (which were subsequently banned in barcelona)
So it’s still got 150 years or so before it’s finished (unless they stop taking so many bloody smoko’s) but still quite an impressive site as is. After an exhaustive look at the cathedral, it was down to the harbour for some sangria, a spanish michael jackson street performer and finally some cheap drinks at an irish pub…and then a couple more.. and then?
Tuesday saw us step out for another walkathon to see all the old style buildings, and trek up the hill to Montjuic castle that overlooks Barcelona and the big port. Amazing views and they even served beer at the top, what more could one ask for? Desmond the inflatable Kangaroo also managed a spot of excerise with us. (Desmond was gifted to me by Dan, owner of Desmond’s twin “Desmond” who currently resides in Central America)
The following day the weather turned a bit foul but we still managed a trip to the aquarium, a tour of the gothic quarter, a quick trip out to Camp Nou, the massive stadium of FC Barcelona before running through a crazy thunderstorm to meet up with a friend of a friend living in Barcelona and watching from a crowded bar, the Chelsea-Barca champions league match. Needless to say the locals weren’t happy with the result but we trooped off afterwards to an absynthe bar for some flaming shots that in hindsight cast a hazy cloud over the remainder of the night. Bizzarely enough I managed to find my way through an endless maze of winding streets, dodging the frightening overtures of back alley prostitutes, looming gothic cathedrals and finaly back to the hostel.
The following day was spent wandering through the meandering Park Quell, home of Gaudi and some amzing buildings he’d created there. A stunning collection of mosaic work is the definate standout of his architecture here.
In aid of an attempt at brevity, we flew that afternoon to Ibiza, did some sight seeing of the old city, lazed in the sun, drank cocktails, danced, drank, swam in the ocean (blessed be!) lazed about and oh yeah i forgot.. drank.
The problem with this however was that, although Grace and Kristy managed to make their early flight sunday I slept through my wake-up call (if you believe the front desk guy, personally I think he forgot)
Woke up like a stunned mullet, raced to the airport and arrived ten minutes after my flight closed. Rather agitated at the time, considering the purchase of another ticket that left the following day, i walked along the coast for a few hours, swam around, and gradually chilled out. Luckily for me, it turns out the flight i was meant to be on malfunctioned and my seat was astonishingly ejected from the cabin somewhere over France, thankfully no one was injured.
So stuck another night in Ibiza, I was disinclined to pay a stack for accomodation after forking out for another flight. This resulted in me sneaking into the luggage room at the hotel and bunkering down for an uncomfortable night, that on the bright side guaranteed i wouldnt oversleep.
So here i am back in London, and yes it’s overcast. Looking forward to a good rest before heading off Friday for Geneva (apparently they have some convention they’d like me to have a look at.)