Still feeling the effects of what I think is a “shelf stabilized” milk affliction, we took it easy on our first day in Barcelona. Our Airbnb wasn’t ready when we arrived, so we went and had lunch and then walked around. The first thing we ran across was the Barcelona’s Arc de Triomf. I think my photo shows how I was feeling….a little right of axis?
This archway was built as the main entrace to the Universal Exhibition hosted by Barcelona in 1888. A short walk further down the road led us to the Parc de la Cuitadella, which was the original site of the Universal Exhibition. Now it’s a huge park with statues, lakes, and a ton of birds of various types. When this park was first built in the mid 19th century, it was the only green space in the entire city. At 70 acres, it dominates the city map.
The next day we walked into the Gothic Quarter (the oldest part of the city) to do some shopping, and ran across what looked like a market, only to find the original market building covered some ruins.
These ruins tell an interesting story, and shed some light on why the Catalans (these people will tell you they are not Spanish, so don’t call them that) are so vociferious in their quest for independence from Spain.
This is the former site of the El Born Market, the first large-scale cast-iron market building in Barcelona, built in 1876. After serving as a market for 95 years, the locals considered it an eyesore and wanted to tear it down. Fortunately that didn’t happen. It’s a beautiful building today.
During the discusson to determine the fate of the building and site, it was finally decided in 2002 to use the site as a library. While doing excavations to build the internal parts of the library, they ran across these ruins. All work was stopped to preserve them.
As it turns out, these are the ruins of a former portion of the city that existed until the Catalonian defeat in the War of Succession in 1714 (when they capitulated to Spain). As punishment, Spain destroyed this portion of the city to build a huge military fort they called the Citadel (which has since been demolished itself). The people who lived here were forced out, and in some cases forced to destroy their own homes. That would piss me off!
These ruins bring out their Catalan pride, and the site is an awesome site to visit. Forgot to mention…it’s free, and all of the signs are in English!
We then walked down to the beach, and wow…was it crowded! So much for the “down” season! There were maybe 4 cruise ships docked, and about 100 luxury yachts…..I need to make friends with one of those guys someday!
Trust me, I found a quiet spot on the beach….it was wall to wall people most places.
All along the beach there are guys building “sand castles” with their cup out for change. This is their job. There were some pretty impressive ones along the way, but this one was my favorite, and I actually gave him some of my loose change.
We walked the length of the beach and checked out the W Hotel. Unfortunately their 26th floor bar with a view of the city was closed until 6 PM. I’ve since found out that this is a “hip hop” bar, so I’m glad it was closed. Still, the hotel is beautiful, and right on the water.
Fletcher decided this apparatus needed climbing.
We had an excellent dinner at a little place called La Gastronomica, and then walked over to the Magic Fountain. Basically a Bellagio water performance set to 80’s music. They even played “Can’t Touch This”!
This went on for a half hour. Very cool! More Barcelona to come!