Return to Barcelona

Gaudi's Apartment House

During the years when our daughter lived in London my wife and I had a good excuse to extend our visits there and travel through Europe. Why not? 

That's what being retired is all about! 

You can get on a train in London and in about two and a half hours you'll be in Paris. From there all of Europe is a short hop on a plane or fast ride on a high speed train. 

Air travel has gotten cheap with Easyjet, Ryanair and their competitors fighting for your euros. France's TGV, Germany's ICE and the Thalys trains connect city centers at 300 km/hour. Incredibly fast!

On one such journey we spent four days in Barcelona. This was a nostalgia trip for me, not having been there since 1963 as a navy sailor aboard the survey ship Michelson. I was eager to see places I remembered and see what changed over the years. 

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia

The 1992 summer olympics  probably had a lot to do with improving Barcelona. What was a sort of down-at-the-heels city is now much cleaner, more prosperous and yes, more expensive. It has a vibrant arts scene, fine architecture, a redeveloped harbor and more, and better, restaurants. The public open markets are marvelous, with fresh fruits and spanish hams. TV food shows have featured the tapas bars at the markets. You just belly up, order some wine and point at what you want to eat. 

The business newspapers claim that Catalonia is the economic engine of today's Spain. Under General Franco the Catalan culture was suppressed; now the region is semi-autonomous. The Spanish street signs are gone. Catalan is now the official language. 

The Gallery Hotel, associated with Warwick Hotels, was world class, in a good location and not far from restaurants and tourist attractions. The subway and buses are close by but we walked or took taxis.  Barcelona is a great walking city. Gaudi's iconic apartment house La Pedrera was just a half block away. A bit further away, his Sagrada Familia church is still unfinished, but attracts thousands of tourists taking pictures and videos of the surrealistic structure.

Nancy Examines Starfruit at the Mercado

We stopped by the El Corte Inglés department store, the Macy's of Barcelona. You can buy most anything there. Nancy was looking for seasonal clothes. It was kind of chilly there. We were unprepared for the weather as we were living in Hawaii at the time. A few days later while in Lisbon, another El Corte Inglés store was across from our hotel.

From the Plaça de Catalunya (the signs used to read Plaza de Cataluña) we took a stroll down the Ramblas. We had to stop by the open markets to admire the food. I didn't know that there were so many kinds of ham. The veggies and fruits largely came from North Africa. The fish came from the Med. 

Further along was the Liceu (Gran Teatre del Liceu). A fire in 1994 nearly destroyed this world famous opera venue, but what was left was incorporated into a rebuilt structure, opening five years later. The Ramblas remains a pedestrian friendly street with kiosks along the median selling touristy things and kids' toys. Traffic is one way now, south, toward the harbor.

Just across the street was the famous (to sailors) watering hole Cosmos. The place was still there, a lot tidier looking, with a much nicer storefront. I wondered if the waiters were just as surly as they were back in '63 but we didn't go in. You can still get a little table outside, have a beer and watch the world go by, just like in Paris.

The Notorious Cosmos Bar

 I think there is a cultural affinity between Barcelona and Paris. There's the common interest in the arts and fine food. The two cities complement each other. Barcelona has the public squares, parks and wide avenues of Paris,  all elements of the Haussmann style. Both places embody a leisurely, relaxed way of life. Suits me fine.  

Recently the French SNCF and Spanish RENFE railroads began high speed service between the two cities. From Paris Gare de Lyon to Barcelona Sants is about 6 1/2 hours on the double decker TGV train at speeds of up to 300 km/hour.

Barcelona's waterfront was unrecognizable. 

Where there once were scruffy cargo docks, cruise ships now operate out of piers with shopping and hotels. Directly across from the Columbus monument is a small boat harbor crossed by a pedestrian drawbridge (Rambla del Mar) leading to an aquarium, hotel, yacht club and the Maremagnum with retail stores and seaside restaurants.  We ate lunch at El Chipiron de Monchos which looks toward the marina and the city. The aerial cable car (Aeri del Port) with the not so nice looking tower midway is still operating. It is reputed to offer fine views of the city.

Snail Shaped Beer Tap at Los Caracoles

In most of Europe today intercity air travel is possible on a variety of budget/low cost airlines. Besides Ryanair and Easyjet you can get to Barcelona on Catalonia's own Vueling (pronounced VWELL-ing). We came in from Brussels and flew to Lisbon on Vueling. Their A320 Airbus planes are cleaner and more comfortable than the competition, in my humble opinion.

Our last dinner on the Barcelona nostalgia trip was at Los Caracoles (The Snails), the Michelson favorite back in 1962. It was still there, looked pretty much the same but without the goatskins full of wine. It attracts a lot of tourists in a city with a lot of good seafood restaurants. Some  photos are here.