Barcelona. June 19

This morning we followed Ash’s route that she had discovered the previous day, detouring to have a look at La Sagrada Familia. The line to get in was in the sun and ridiculously long, so we decided a bit sadly, that we would sacrifice having a look inside. We had a look at the facades of the cathedral, which from what we could see were as wonderful and ridiculous as we had imagined. As we would find out later in the day from a guide, the cathedral has never been completed and is under constant construction. Apparently, in Gaudi’s old age, he built complete models of how the cathedral should look and be constructed, and they follow these exactly today, as no one else can figure out how it would work.

La Sagrada Familia

We kept walking and reached the Arc de Triomf, which is pretty cool because rather than being built in big, white stone blocks, like most of these structures, it was made of heaps of thin red bricks. We walked on towards town and to Gaudi’s fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella. We also sat for a while in the garden Ash had found the day before, and Elise was able to see the giraffe heads! Hooray! Also we think it was world giraffe day, or maybe it was just some time that week, but either way, A++ Ash for good timing. We also saw people chasing a peacock around.

Mastering the art

Classique photobombs

Water fights at the fountain

We walked down to the beach area, although didn’t have to go to the beach itself, and strolled up ’Las Ramblas’, the main tourist trap street in the city. So we got trapped and at some paella here for an outrageous cost. Heh heh heh, classic tourists. It was actually, pretty nice though.

We rushed from lunch to meet our tour group, and when we got to the meeting spot we realised we had just missed it leaving. Luckily we were told where to go and were able to run and join the telling of the first story from our loud, tall, American guide. He was actually pretty fun, and knew heaps about the city. The group was huge, and he took great joy in having a huge amount of people follow him wherever he went.

On the tour we saw ancient roman aqueducts standing opposite an entrance freeze by Picasso. We saw the Europe’s oldest synagogue, which technically means not the oldest standing, as that is found in Prague, but the one that has been functioning the longest. The door was super tiny because when it was built, synagogue doors had to be smaller than any church door in the city.

Piccasso 

Synagogue

We came to a small square where we were told a lot of history had taken place. Our guide first told us about how Gaudi, in his old age and very religious, had decided to live simply, making quarters for himself in La Sagrada Familia. Every day he would pay penitence, by walking the all the way from the Cathedral to the small church that leads off the square. One day, coming from here, he was sadly hit by a tram driver and left for dead, only being recognised days later by a nurse in the cheapest hospital, but unfortunately he died soon after.
The second story was how Franco used the church as a symbol for his regime, and it became known as the execution site for many prisoners. You can still see the marks from the bullets along the wall, which is pretty horrific.
The third story is about how a scene from ‘Vicki, Christina, Barcelona’ was filmed there and that they got to play footsies while eating at a fake restaurant. Lawl.

Bullet holes in the walls of the chapel in the square

We also came to the square where they hold he Castellers festival (the one where people from all over Catalonia compete to build the largest human tower)! Below is a picture of the largest ever, Guinness World Record holding tower. Amazing! Also, side note that will relate back to this; In Barcelona, people don’t talk about being citizens of Spain, they talk about being citizens of Catalonia, which is the area Barcelona is the capital of. The general gist is similar to how Scotland feels about being part of the UK, and they want to be their own country. The flag for Catalonia is a gold background with 4 red stripes across it, referring to the story of Wilfred the Hairy, who helped King Charles the Bald out in some war. Injured in battle, Willie carried the Baldy to safety, smearing the blood on his four fingers across his breastplate as a sign of commitment. Or something along those lines. SO, back to the tower story, the person at the very tip has to be a child, and the have to be able to reach up with one hand and raise 4 fingers as a sign to Catalonia. The end.

But not really. We have so much more to tell you. Soz.

Tallest tower!

At the end of our tour, we finished outside a large building that looked just like any other city marketplace. Turns out, when they were digging the foundations they just happened to come across a huge area of ancient ruins, and decided they would incorporate these into the building, rather than moving it. What even is Europe? We don’t even know.

Regular marketplace, ammiright?

NEWP!

After this we walked all the way back to our building, getting gelato on the way, obviously. Also it was chocolate and raspberry and it was the best ever.

At home we collapsed for a bit after climbing the ridiculous 5 stories. We heated up some Napoli sauce from the night before and dipped bread into it, and it was super delicious. We also started watching ‘Vickie, Christina, Barcelona’ because it was appropriate and some youtube king uploaded the entire film.

We left the movie halfway because we wanted to go out and see the Font Magica of Montjuic, aka the Magic Fountain. We got there at about 10.30pm and it’s up the boulevard in the centre of the city. The place was packed, as a music festival called Sonar was on, and people from all around Europe, UK and the general world population were there. The fountain display goes for half an hour and it’s super good. You probably think you can imagine it. You can’t. Many lights, and water spurts and greatness.

Such magic. Very lights. Wow

We decided to go out for a bit because the vibe of the city was so amazing, and found a nice local bar where we sat for a while. We ended up getting back a whole lot later than we probably should have as we had to leave super early in the morning. Oh well!

Love A&E

Barcelona. Bilbao. June 18

Elise. Bilbao. 

This morning I got up pretty early and went downstairs to get a croissant from the bakery under our building before my taxi arrived. The light was till coming up and it was a pretty lovely morning, so I didn’t mind standing outside waiting.

On the drive I passed a few of Gaudi’s buildings, which was kind of surreal after having seen photos of them for so many years. I wanted to stop the taxi so I could have a good look! I was dropped off at the airport, where I took the plane to Bilbao, making some friends along the way with a Spanish family. At the airport I waited at the bus stop to get into town, and met an American man who needed help getting into town because there was no where to get euros in the airport. We chatted on the way to the city, and then suddenly, as we came over a crest, I saw the Guggenheim for the first time. It’s sat next to the bridge into the city, and is a huge, shiny, swirl of goldy silver metal, impressively standing next to the river. I took the next stop and walked back to the museum, this time coming to the entrance where Jeff Koons’ ‘Puppy’ sits in all its colourful, floral glory. I spent some time here, as I had always wanted to see it  and then headed inside.

The top floor was closed, however there was, by chance, a large Jeff Koons’ retrospective covering the entire 2nd floor. I spent some time here being amazed and then headed to the balcony inside to look down on Richard Serra’s collection of gigantic sculptural works now collectively named 'The Matter of Time' .

The central atrium

I went downstairs and straight into the Serra room, where I spent ages wandering in and out of the spirals and passages of his works. Although a lot of time was also put down to dodging the many, many, many school children running around.

I also had a look at the two other works on the bottom floor, one, a lovely video work which is hard to explain but beautiful. As I left I had a look at the collection of outdoor sculptural works by the river, including one by Anish Kapoor and also Louise Bourgeois' 'Maman (Ama)' spider.

I still had some time up my sleeve so I sat outside looking at ‘Puppy’. I also walked around town for a while, and also got a little lost. I made it back to the airport with plenty (a ridiculous amount), of time and finally took the plane back to Barcelona. I took the taxi back again, and met Ash at home.


Ash. Barcelona

I had an amazing sleep in and then long breakfast/generally being lazy and didn't leave the apartment until 12pm ish. Leaving the house, I didn't really know where I wanted to go or what to see but thought I'd wander towards the south, the more touristy area where most of the key sights are. I walked down to the Arc de Triomf and through the park that follows it. I explored the park, finding the GIANT FOUNTAIN and then taking a seat at the end. As I was sitting I glanced over to the edge of the park where there was a high fence. All of the sudden a giraffe neck and head appeared and I died. Turns out I was at the edge of the zoo. I spoke to my giraffe pal and said my goodbyes and headed along the promenade. It was pretty cool, and very beautiful. Also very hot and sunny. Then I went up this Main Street called !!!!,!, and somehow got into the laneways, which are packed with all these unexpected famous buildings, like the gothic cathedral MORE. After somehow leading myself out, I walked the 30 minutes back to apartment to escape the heat and have some lunch. I went back out at about 4.30pm and this time went further north. On one of the maps on the apartment walls I could see that there was a big and pretty well known park, park Gueliz, basically north from our place. So I kind of wandered again in that general direction, realising it was on a hill and strugged to get up to the top where the park is. Once I reached the entrance I looked over to see an escalator that basically takes you all the way up, minus the crazy windy roads and hills I had just conquered.

Ride that bad boy right to the top (or just walk like a normal human)

The park though was incredible. It had an amazing view over the entirety of Barcelona. Peaking over all the buildings is Gaudis giant Sagrada Familia. I walked toward the busiest area of the park, where Gaudis house, OTHER THING, and the aqueducts are. It was all very cool and also unexpected. I had seen all these things before in pictures but had no idea they were all I. This park I had just decided to go to. Behind the park was a much quieter area, with significantly less tourists, where I was able to wander peacefully, finding a weird like fountain that ran right down some stairs to the bottom. After a few hours wandering, I went back to our place and waited for Elise to get back, and also de sweating because it was hawwwwtttt.

Hey Barca!

Look at that lovely stream

*Also note, there were many more photos of the cool aquaducts and views and Gaudi's house from this park, but sadly Ash's phone decided to no longer live on our last day in Paris so these photos no longer exist. :'(

Both!

After we met up again at the apartment we went out to find paella as we had been told it was the cheapest and freshest on Thursdays. Unfortunately, it's a lunch time thing, so after looking around for ages, we got peckish and decided we needed some gelati to get us through the rest of the search. So we got some super tasty refreshments and eventually found a pretty nice little place to eat. We kinda just ordered what we knew, a variety of tapas, including: potato wedges with a delish sauce, sauteed mushrooms, potato, egg and jamon, a blue cheese, walnut and lettuce salad and manchego cheese. The waiter then was like, do you want bread with tomato? and of course we were like YES WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THIS. And it was actually the best ever. Mainly it was all the best ever and so so so tasty, we weren't even sad we missed out on paella.

Love A&E

Madrid to Barcelona. June 17

First day of eurail! How exciting guys!

Elise wanted to see Picasso's 'Guernica' at the Reina Sofia gallery that was right near the Atocha Renfe train station where we would leave for Barcelona, so Ash waited with the luggage while Elise ran across. A quick 30 minutes later we were headed for our boarding gate, so official, before which we had all our bags run through a baggage scanner and our tickets checked. We then queued at our platform gate for our tickets to be scanned before descending to the platform to find our carriage and seats. The train itself was pretty nice and also pretty quick to get to Barcelona. On arrival we had to catch the metro, two lines, both with only a few stops. The metro was not the best for luggage, much like the London Underground, there would be points of only stairs which we had to haul our bags up. We are getting good at this though, we promise! We got to our station, Joanic, in the more northern part of the city, but still pretty well located, and walked the few blocks to our apartment. Sadly again, it was quite high up. This time we had to battle five flights of stairs. It was v tough and our host volunteered to take Ash's bag up before realising it was in fact a solid 20kg. Let's just say he struggled and regretted that choice.

Outside Reina Sofia (couldn't get Guernica)

Atocha Renfe station

After settling in, we decided to explore the area just west of us, Gracia. This neighbourhood is popular with the locals and not so touristy, having apparently the best restaurants and general food. We found an amazing Italian deli and decided to buy some cheese and meat and pomodoro to make a yummy pasta. Also we found a great gelato place nearby and ate that in the little square the shop was in. On our way back to apartment we found a really cool jewellery store, with handmade necklaces, rings and bracelets and we couldn't resist adding to our collections. Just beneath our apartment block is a bakery, which is just perfect for us (in case you forgot, we love bread/anything related to bread). We got a really good loaf of wood fired bread and these incredible croissants filled with a vanilla custard and covered in chocolate. AMAZING.

Ash strollin' in Barcelona

We found a crystal man

Back in the apartment we cooked and relaxed on our couch. Our apartment is huge, with both of us getting our own rooms! We attempted to watch some TV, the only English channel was Disney channel, so that became our viewing for the next three days.

We had to get an early night because Elise is flying to Bilbao in the morning and Ash was preparing for a really good sleep in.

Xoxo A&E

P.S. After Ash turned off the lights, ready to sleep, she got a huge shock/fright/became concerned. Ash's room was painted and in the daylight was just odd scenes with people and animals and other things, seemingly random. But in the dark, a vast portion of the painting glowed in the dark. Ash's WHOLE ROOM lit up. It was very very weird.

Madrid. June 16

Today we met another free walking tour in the Plaza Mayor in the centre of town. The tour was great, as usual, and our guide was pretty fun. He was super into history and Madrid, but also very into human rights and equality, made evident in the huge rants he would go on, although we loved these and always agreed with him anyway. Madrid’s architecture is very mismatched and he pointed out the buildings from different eras of rulers. The Habsburgs those Flanders royals with the big jaws, were super into the pointed roofs from home so there were a few grand buildings around in this style. Then after a ‘mysterious’ fire, a new Royal palace was built by a French king, so it now looks a bit like a mini Versailles.
Another interesting thing in terms of history and architecture is that Madrid is technically referred to as a town rather than a city, due to the fact that Madrid never had a Cathedral, or at least, not until 1993. The cathedral was so many years in planning, that every face, or even two parts of a face, looks different to another, as the style changed and no one wanted to continue in the previous architects style. It’s pretty good and silly. The façade of the cathedral that faces the palace is full of holes and repairs, due to gunfire during the Spanish inquisition.
At the end of the tour we were given a full-blown royal history run though from our guide, who used all the men in the group as props. It was as interesting as it was hard to follow, but we got the general gist of how incest pretty much killed the monarchy. Super gross. Also please look up the Habsburgs and mostly poor Charles II.

Multifaced cathedral

The Palace

We left the group in the gardens by the palace and then found lunch in a café, where we stayed and chatted out of the sun for a bit. We split ways here and Elise went off to see Prado Museum of Art, while Ash went to explore the sights of Madrid. We will write how our respective afternoons went below.

Elise:
After walking to Prado, rushing past as many of the school groups heading the same way as I could. I arrived at the museum to find the main entrance ‘Velasquez’ closed, and covered for repairs, which was a bit of a shame. I got lost trying to find the entrance, and once inside I got lost/ overwhelmed for another 20 minutes before actually entering the gallery I wanted to start in. My plan of attack was to find the key works I had always wanted to see first, and then fill in the gaps after, a rule I followed for the most part, although in a building so big, sometimes I chose to finish the wing I had started. I was able to see a huge collection of Goya’s paintings, including the ‘The Second of May, 1808’ and ‘The Third Of May, 1808’. I also saw Velasquez’s ‘Les Meninas’ which was pretty cool to see in person after spending so long studying it in school. There were lots of other amazing paintings to see, that I won’t bore you all with naming.  After I finally found my way through the entire museum, checking the rooms I was in off as I finished them (tactic is key), I headed out of the museum to meet Ash at the city gardens behind the gallery. I passed through a great entrance gate and up some grand stairs to the lake in the middle.

Ash:
After leaving Elise I attempted to head back to the Palace as a starting point and walk up from there to other sights, before crossing the city. I was firstly distracted by an apple store, I desperately needed new earphones so I grabbed those on the way. Then I was distracted by many other shops. New rule, Elise can't leave me alone for long periods of time because I'll just end up shopping, oops. So a new top later I got to the Palace and found these lovely manicured gardens above it. I then wandered from here to a park which features these Egyptian monuments, called Temple of Dabod. These were originally built just south of Aswan early in the 2nd century BC, and now reside in Madrid after the help Spain provided when these monuments were at risk after the Aswan High Dam construction in the 1960's. The park was very tranquil compared to the city and I spent some time here relaxing and reading. From this point at the top of the city I walked towards the other Park to meet Elise, via the main shopping street Gran Via. I know, I know, more shopping. But you don't understand how much cheaper Zara is in Spain! I bought things, which I will not disclose, let's just say my bag only just shuts now. Finally I made it to the park and sat watching tourists trying to row boats on a small lake in the middle of the park until Elise arrived to meet me.

Temple Debod

Plaza de Cibeles

We sat at a while at the monument watching the leisure rowers in the middle. We had our classic romantics, clumsy school girls, boys who thought they were gentlemen rowing boats full of laughing girls around, tourist families and go-proers. Eventually when we had taken in as much as we could of the spectacle and headed for the south of the gardens. We passed a man passionately singing/miming for a music video, lots of dogs, two girls failing at tandem biking up a hill and many skateboarders, all while eating our cornettos.  We stopped at the Crystal Palace, an empty glasshouse now used as an exhibition space, which today contained a huge tent made of colourful fabrics. Inside people were lying down and relaxing, while a man made Moroccan tea! Amazing! We refrained however.

Watching the many fails

"Is he for reals in a music video?"

Much enjoyment, many wows

The tent inside the Crystal Palace

V crystal, much transparency 

"How get out of giant park?"

We continued our walk through the gardens and then around the streets, and ended up at the Mercado San Miguel. The Mercado is a large, glassed in marketplace full of food sellers and mini bars. We wandered around all the stores and chose to start with a shared plate of chorizo paella. It was obviously super yum, but we wanted everything, and next shared two pinchos, one with whipped buffalo mozzarella, fig and honey on bread, and the other was a rolls of mozzarella, pesto and tomato, also on bread. These were both super tasty, and we were satisfied, but we obviously couldn’t go without dessert. Or maybe even double dessert? First we shared some churros with dipping chocolate, which is a must in Spain, duh. And then we decided that with all the frozen yogurt stalls around, we had better try some, and each got a bowl of frozen yogurt and delishioso toppings. Ash had brownie sauce and oreo and Elise had thick hot caramel and oreo. So pretty good. Also we are bursting full by now.

We walked, or maybe waddled, back to the central square and the evening light was amazing, so we took a few detours to have a look around one last time. Eventually we made it back to the apartment, struggling our way up the many stairs to our room and as soon as we could, into bed.

Madrid constellation

Elise letting us into our place

Love A&E