Having been in Barcelona and done most of the touristy things previously, there is no main intention to do anything touristy this time round, but I still managed to see some old spots and even new ones.
The Barcelona vibe still feels the same, though maybe with slightly less tourists as compared to pre-pandemic times.
It was nice to also have friends make time for me for a catch up. Met with Martin Escondido at a tapas place 4 Latas Letamendi and Pau again.
Pau even made the time to show me around Badalona (neighbouring town to Barcelona) where he stays and I also got to see his cat Harold. I have to say Pau is super neat, maybe a little on the OCD side 😂
He also made the effort to spent time with me on Saturday - it happened to be St. Jordi Day. The legend goes... a princess was captured by a dragon, and St. Jordi killed the dragon and rescued the Princess and so on 23rd April, it's celebrated with the men being gifted books, and the women get flowers as gifts.
A number of the streets were closed to traffic, and there were lots of vendors on the streets selling books or flowers. This is an annual event and I was told that this is the first year since the pandemic that they are running it in the city again. I suppose that, combined with it being a Saturday, the streets were packed with people.
There were also a number of government places that had open houses eg. Mirador de Maria Aurèlia Capmany which had amazing views, as well as City Hall.
The City Hall building has a statue of St. Jordi slaying the dragon at the entrance.
The queue to enter the City Hall was so long that we gave up queuing on the 1st 2 attempts, but finally got in on the 3rd.
Almost every room walls and ceiling were decorated, and all were different.
I was surprised we were even allowed into the Mayor's office!
The room they call "Sala del Plenari Carles Pi I Sunyer". Full City Council meetings are held here.
And this is "Salo de Cent". All the major decisions and events eg. Mayor crowning is held here.
And yes, there are still more rooms with different themes, and textures to the walls too.
I really love these 2 intricate display cases, they are super beautiful!
This wooden piano is also exquisite and even plays!
To mark the day, there are people dressed up in characters walking around the City Hall. Some even provide background about the different rooms in the City Hall, though they are all in Catalan.
There's also a puppet show to entertain kids.
This guy was dressed up as St. Jordi, trying to find his princess 😂. Very coincidentally Pau knew him, as they played together when young, though they haven't seen each other for some time.
I have to say Pau is really knowledgeable, he pointed out to me about this sculpture of Joan Miro, a famous artist in Spain. There's also a painting of Joan Miro in the building which Pau also pointed out to me.
He then showed me a very old school shop dedicated to music. Just check out all those old scores!
Strangely, the days I spent with Pau had quite a fair bit of showers, more on the day when we first met which later stopped once we headed over to Badalona. But on St. Jordi Day, though we had only intermittent showers, when it rained it was hail!
The other sights visited included :
Plaza de Catalunya
Mercado de La Boqueria - lunch
Marina
Cathedral of Barcelona
Casa Padellàs
Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar
El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria with Roman Ruins
Casa Batllo, I also got to see them put up roses on façade for the weekend.
Building next to Casa Batllo, Casa Amatller
Similar gothic style, but not designed by Gaudi, but rather by Josep Puig i Cadafalch. I am annoyed with myself for not taking a better picture of the inside.
And of course Sagrada Familia, a sight I would make a point to visit when I am in Barcelona. The only thing I didn't do this time was to enter the building.
As it was a super wet day when I visited, the only good thing about the weather is that you get to see the original colours of the Sagrada better in this light than under bright sunlight
The last time I was here was about 5 years ago, and it doesn't seem that much progress has been made. No idea when they intend to complete this building, and not sure if it will even happen in my lifetime!
I also walked into a Desigual store and was pleasantly surprised with its indoor slide.
Random walking around the street also made me came across a few stores selling dick shaped waffle, which I thought was funny!
I also did couch surfing for half the time I was in Barcelona, moving over to Stefano's house for the last 2 nights. It is very centrally located near Sants Station and a spacious apartment where I got to have my own room and bathroom.
There was a nice Peruvian restaurant nearby, and since it's been a while since I had Peruvian food, I wanted to check it out. They had a daily menu for €12.90, and even though I was there at 2pm, I was the only one there. A few people started coming in only later!
I chose a Ceviche, Arroz con Marisco and Cheesecake using cheese from Andez. Food was OK, but I suppose since it's a daily menu, I would discount a little for the food quality.
Montjuic was just a 15 mins walk from Stefano's place, which was another place I would make it a point to visit while in Barcelona. A pity I didn't make it for the musical fountain and light show, something I would have to do at some point.
Cirque du Soleil was in town, and together with Stefano, we went to check out their new production Luzia. The production was based on a Mexican theme and there were times we couldn't follow the storyline, but at the end of the day, it was really fun seeing all those acts.
My favourite would had to be the spinning hoops, the patterns made using water and the best act in my opinion was the contortionist! The clown never failed to make us laugh too.
Stefano cooked fried rice on my last day which we had for dinner. We then stayed indoors and watched a movie about the truth behind personality tests and also played a game called "jamming' created by Stefano.
It was however a nightmare trying to get hold of Singapore Airlines to confirm my ticket, something which I had been trying to do for the last 3 weeks, as there was always one excuse or another, and the agents doesn't seem to be on-the-ball. But I was so glad to had been able to confirm it 2 days before my scheduled flight.
4 days went by pretty quickly in Barcelona, and also marks the tail end of my trip. I am ready to head home.
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