Jack Johnson, palm trees and perfect weather: what else can you ask for in a weekend? I took the overnight bus from Aix to Barcelona on Thursday: a 6.5 hour ride for just 35 euro round trip: really not a bad deal. Miles and I met up in the Barcelona bus station at about 5:30 am and hung around for awhile until we got up enough energy to trek to Hostal Fernando. After dropping our things off in a locker there, we headed straight to the port: we both had a clear craving for the sea. The port of Barcelona is amazing: very welcoming. There is a nice boardwalk/promenade with benches right on the water. We basked in the rays for awhile, soaking up the sun and loving every minute of it. At 9:30am, the opening hour of the "biggest aquarium in Europe", we were the first in line, along with 3 large groups of Catalunyan school children. We did our best to avoid the masses of Barcelonan ninos, and very much enjoyed the exhibits. We left the aquarium starving, jonesing for some alimentacion. All of the good looking lunch places being closed (it was only 11:30 or so), we killed time checking out the shops in the Barri Gotic, eating deliciously ripe plums from a fruit stand and sitting in the Placa near one of the huge churches. The Barri Gotic, which is where our hostal was, is awesome, by the way. An interesting melange of lively nightlife (LOTS of Irish bars), chic shops, modern art museums and ancient architecture: it's very dynamic and alive. Eventually we happened upon a great veg restaurant called Vegetalia. Miles had miso soup and I had a "seitandwich"...it was delicious and really refreshing to find vegetarian food that doesn't take the form of a cheese crepe. Afterwards, feeling exhausted and a bit dirty from the bus ride, we checked in to our hostel, showered and relaxed for awhile. We ate a late dinner at Maoz: the greatest, cheapest (VEGETARIAN!!) falafel house in all of Europe. Miles' is spoiled with a Maoz in Madrid, but as I'm not, we stuffed our faces. We ate there three times over the course of the weekend. :) The next day we got up relatively early and headed first off to Park Guell by way of La Rambla: the main street in Barca with street performers, palm trees and lots and lots of sun. We metroed to the park where we discovered a great view and LOTS of Gaudi art: sculptures, and his famous never-ending, tile mosaiced (sp?) bench. We spent some time there marveling at Gaudi's amazing style, then grabbed a quick lunch and headed on to the church Sagrada Familia. Though under heavy construction, the church was amazing. It strongly resembles a sand castle, and is absolutely massive. We waited in the line to go up in the towers: big mistake. Packed with tourists, it took almost an hour to get up. The view from the top was nothing special, and the crowd-induced claustrophobia drove us both crazy. Needless to say, we were happy to be back on Catalunyan soil. That night was the big event, the main reason we were in Barcelona in the first place: JACK JOHNSON!!! We headed out to the venue about 3 hours before opening time: to our surprise the crowd was quite small, and we were about 5th in line. I was not surprised to find ourselves among a largely American crowd: lots of fellow abroad students, some on high school rotary exchange. We people-watched and ate strawberries, cheese and baguettes. As the sun went down, it got pretty damn cold as there was a slight sea breeze: nothing a bottle of cava can't help :) (By the way, we bought the cava at a stand in the Barcelona indoor market, right next to a meat stand selling pig feet and tails!!! I'll post pictures: look if you dare.) Finally, the doors opened and we rushed in. Our seats: general admission, FRONT AND CENTER!!! Couldn't have asked for better. After two openers, Jack Johnson started playing at about 9:30. (Previously we had worried that the crowd would be small, “poor Jack”: but at this point we looked around, and it was absolutely packed). He went straight for about 2.5 hours. He was amazing: great voice and absolutely gave us our money's worth. His stage presence is very refreshing: a little bit shy and reserved, but still interactive. He even threw in a Spanish phrase now and then..."mi espanol es muy mal". He really played like he meant it, and we sang along. The encore was amazing: surprisingly long. We took the metro back to the hostal, absolutely high on Jack. The concert made us both feel at home, Miles especially with the ties to UCSB. A seriously unexpectedly uplifting experience. The following day we slept in, and checked out of the hostal at which point a minor bit of drama commenced. Without us knowing it, my laptop bag was stolen from the hostal. We were alerted by two Spanish "guardias urbanas" that the robber had been caught, and that we would have to follow them to the station for the collection of the stolen item and for a declaration of the victim. We walked alongside the police car, the culprit in the back seat and my bag laying on the dashboard. In the four short blocks to the station, the car was backed into by a cleaning truck: I'm glad we were walking. That created more drama. We ended up sitting at the police station for about an hour while Spanish bureaucracy followed it's slow and circuitous path. The police, who spoke no English, were very accommodating and actually quite amusing: typical policemen with machismo attitudes and not a whole lot to do. Miles did a great job translating all of the paperwork for me: good practice for him, and good luck for me. After all the paperwork was filled out (passport number, parents names, address, phone number) we were on our way. The irony of the situation: my laptop was at home in Aix this whole time. The bag contained a pair of cheap boots and my slippers. Though very dear to my heart, I can't say these shoes would have been a grave loss. Joke's on the criminal :) We spent the day walking around town, meeting with a UCSB friend for cafe, eating Maoz (3rd time). We saw more Gaudi architecture and spent some study time at Starbucks, enjoyed the perfect weather. We ate a great relaxed lunch of cheese pizza and huge glasses of delicious sangria, just what we needed, right near the Arc de Triomf (Catalunyan spelling is the weirdest).
In the hours we spent “killing time” before our late evening bus rides, I had time to collect my thoughts about Barcelona:
SOOOO much more laid back than the typical French city. Seemingly more liberal since people seem to be more free, and actually wear COLORS!!
Absolutely beautiful: amazing mélange of history and modernism, with fascinating Gaudi architecture and swaying palm trees everywhere.
Best spent with a best friend, a good camera and a large glass of Sangria. Salud!!!