Barcelona: We meet again...

Barcelona Day 1: 6/10/2018

The setting:
2018 has brought me back to my beloved Spain. While in Venice (No post complete), during our last few nights in Italy (September 2017) we found ourselves wishing we had gone to Spain. We had been to Spain in 2011 and again in 2015 and were tempted to make it a third trip in 2017. Ultimately we decided it was better to branch out and explore Italy but during the end of that trip there was a sense of... remorse. Spain has been our shared loved since our very first trip abroad.

Back in 2011 when we first came to Spain we went to Barcelona. Nobody spoke English. Internet was difficult to come by and we had to actually pack a camera. It was my first trip outside of the United States as an adult. It was a 17 day whirlwind adventure on a shoe-string budget. But it all started in Barcelona. On our second full day in Barcelona we went to the Aquarium, the Picasso museum and then planned to have a fancy multi-course meal at the restaurant Montiel. Our dinner reservation was at 10pm and while we were walking around beforehand we stopped at a small very informal cafe that served coffee and ice cream and cheap sandwiches. It was on the wooden deck of this mostly forgotten establishment that Sean asked me to marry him. It was September and we decided we wanted to get married on our anniversary November 11th. He didn't have a ring. And he didn't plan on asking me before it happened. It was a huge life changing moment and yet we didn't even mark the occasion with a picture or take the card of the cafe.

Over the years we have independently scoured google maps to try and find the location of this fateful cafe. Our memories were hazy and influenced greatly by each other's recollections. This November we will have been together 10 years, a decade,  which is a crazy thought. We will have been married for 7 years and we are thinking about adding a member to our family soon. With this in mind we hastily planned a short trip to our beloved Espana. Many of our previous trips were the work of meticulous planning done months in advance with every accommodation and every train change carefully planned to maximize our enjoyment. We booked plane tickets to Bareclona less than 2 months ago. We still have not booked accommodation for our last two nights.

We are again starting this trip with a few days in Barcelona, the city that captured our hearts and imagination. We are very different people now than we were then. More traveled. More confident. More secure with our place in the world and each other. We are excited to see the city from this new perspective. To walk the streets and look for what has changed and what has remained the same.


Our journey begins...
We arrived in Barcelona late Saturday night after nearly 16 hours in transit. Knowing we'd be arriving late, we opted for a hotel our first night instead of an apartment to ease check-in. We stayed at a relatively inexpensive hotel a few km outside the main city center in the Clot neighborhood. This neighborhood dates to medieval times when it was part of the former municipality of Sant Marti which only became part of Barcelona in 1897 during the city's rapid expansion. Historically El Clot has been a manufacturing district near the port. The history reminded us a lot of our own home in Ballard, which was a Scandinavian fishing and manufacturing city that was only incorporated into Seattle in 1907.

Sean campaigned heavily for this photo he took of me to be included. His exact words were "It is a side of Krystal most people get to see." Not sure what side that is but I have included it so you can see it. Whatever it is.

Much like Italy, there is a very short window which dinner is traditionally served in Spain: between 8:30 and 10pm. By the time we got back to the hotel, took a shower, changed and were ready to go out it was after 10pm. Even on a Saturday night, seeking dinner after normal dinner hours can be a challenge. Luckily after scouring a few blocks we walked past El Rovell del Clot (Translates to 'The Yoke of Clot' in Catalan). Their sign depicted a vibrant raw egg yolk that was quite eye catching and to top it off they were crowded. They managed to seat us on the patio and offered us their menu in Spanish since much like our time in Girona, they tried to speak to us in Catalan and well they just aren't that similar.  Far from the traditional tourist districts, we were the only native English speakers in the restaurant. The menu focused on Catalan Gastronomy and fusion cuisine. We started our meal with two vermouths each garnished with olives and an orange slice. We started with our favorite fried padron peppers although in June none were spicy. Sean and I both ordered from their chalkboard of daily specials. Sean got a Catalan-Japanese fusion dish: A teriyaki style pork cooked in a wok and I got the Tuna tartare. We ended the meal with a tiramisu style pudding and coffee. It was an excellent start to what promises to be a very exciting trip.

Three Gaudi works. Sagrada Familia (Left). Casa Batllo (Middle). La Pedrera (Right).

Gaudi part 1: Our hotel, tucked away in the quiet neighborhood by the port, was named Catalonia Sagrada Familia which might make one believe it was near the famous Gaudi-designed church; however it was a good half a mile away. We woke up early on Sunday morning and tried to get a jump on our first full day in the city. We both shared fond memories of waking up early and getting tickets for the Sagrada Familia, having had the church much to ourselves for the first few hours it was opened when we were here in 2011. We made our way over to the church only to find they held Mass on Sundays and that they had no tickets available for that day until 6:30pm and they don't sell any tickets in advance for subsequent days (only online). The prevalence of internet bookings for tickets had made it challenging to be spontaneous. But we made the most of our morning. We stopped by a tourist counter to inquire if they had a walking map for Modernism architecture (what Barcelona is most famous for) and the woman laughed telling us that no one would walk between all the places. That it was a 2 hour walk between the Park Guell for example and the Casa Batllo.

Images from our unguided walking tour of Barcelona. Including Roman Cemetery in Las Ramblas (Top Right), Passeig de Gracia street (Champs Elysee of Barcelona, Left Middle), Fountain in the Plaza Catalunya (Center) and Images of Sean and Krystal taking pictures of each other outside the Sagrada Familia (Top and Bottom Left).

Undeterred we set out to see much of the city on foot. Walking from the Sagrada familia to the Gothic center of the city passing by two famous Gaudi works, the Pedrera and the Casa Batllo. Each of Gaudi's works can be experienced from the street but to explore the interiors requires admission. At around 20 Euros per location, we needed to make decisions about which we wanted to explore. We decided on the Casa Batllo, after complications with getting admission to the Sagrada Familia, we took to the internet to secure admission! We found that they were having a special event that evening offering late night admission that included access to their roof top terrace at sunset, a concert by local band Roller Disco Combo and two drinks.Well they had me at Roller Disco Combo. So we decided to make an evening of it and booked admission to their "Magic Night".

After we spent the whole morning walking around the city, we took the metro back to grab our bags from the hotel and check into our apartment in the Gothic District. Our apartment overlooks a small plaza and faces the medieval Gothic-style church Iglesia de Santa Maria del Pi. There is a certain irony to the fact the pace of life in Spain is deliberately slow and yet the passage of time is marked so regularly by the bells of the church. Lying in bed in the morning with the bells going off every 15 minutes makes you feel like the minutes are ticking away.

Images from Zona d'Ombra wine shop in Gothic district of Barcelona. Including one of the best set of bathroom signs ever (Top), Krystal eating a Padron Pepper (Left), Snacks (Right).

After a siesta we headed to a well reviewed wine and tapas bar in the Gothic quarter. We enjoyed local Catalan varietals at the bar with a variety of local snacks. We managed to miss a sudden rainstorm that seemed to wash the city in brief but torrential downpour.

We ended our first full night at the Casa Batllo. This amazing structure feels like you're in some kind of mermaid palace under the Sea. This was originally built in the early 1900s as a private residence. The home features several stories surrounding a skylight that extends through the center like a core of light. Like many of Gaudi's unique designs it is inspired by nature and feels very nautical in theme. There are curves like waves. External windows are shaped like turtle shells. Internal windows are colorful stained glass. It is an amazing piece of architecture. The self-guided interior tour features an audioguide and augmented reality (AR) experience where they attempt to make some of the special features of house come to life. For example an augmented reality where if you hold the cellphone audio guide up to the windows that look like Sea Turtle shells the windows come to life and Sea Turtles swim through the space before you. It was a cool use of AR technology that really helps tie some of the design choices to their original inspirations.

Collection of Images from our visit to Casa Batllo. Featuring Roller Disco Combo (Top Right).

As the sun was setting, we made our way to the roof-top terrace where Roller Disco Combo, an indie rock band made up of three hipster looking Dads (two acoustic guitarists and an electric guitar) played a few original songs as well as covers of classic rock (Simon and Garfunkel, Beatles, Beach Boys). Enjoying a drink on the roof of a work of art listening to live music had to be one of the coolest and most surreal experiences. The waning twilight and soft rock creating this dream-like quality although I am pretty sure in my dreams no one is playing covers of Coldplay. The event was listed as sold-out but the number of people who stayed for the concert couldn't have been more than 60. It was intimate and memorable. Certainly one of the coolest experiences we have had on a vacation.

Images from our late night Kosher meal at Shaq Shuq. Yum!

The event ended around 10pm leaving us in a similar situation as the night before and to make matters worse it was Sunday. I have been to Spain three times now and I still do not understand the cultural rules for Sundays. It seems like a lot of things are closed. People do not eat dinner or they eat at home or they eat at a different time. I am honestly not sure. Walking back from the Casa Batllo to the Gothic Quarter looking for a restaurant was like being on a poorly designed scavenger hunt. We spent over an hour looking for a place to eat. No respectable restaurant was open. Most of the bars that served food seemed to cater to 'frat boy' culture. Whole streets were either completely vacant or filled with drunk young men. By 11pm, I was ready to settle for a Donor Kebab but a quick google search revealed none nearby. We had almost made it back to our apartment ready to give up when we came upon Shaq Shuq, a Kosher Israeli restaurant still open. Dinner was saved!



All in all it was a pretty special day in our favorite city. We walked about 8 miles soaking up modernisma architecture, went to a roof top concert in a work of art and managed to eat before midnight. Up next the Boqueria Market, Sagrada Familia, and the quest to find our engagement spot!