Life of the City

One of the greatest part of Barcelona is the city's pulse. Whether it's day or night, there are lots of people, interesting landmarks, and delicious food. One of my favorite parts of the city was Las Ramblas, despite the many tourist trap areas. It was just plain fun to walk along. One of the many reasons it was fun were the performers dressed as statues. I've seen this done in the states in many cities, but here they were all lined along the street, sometimes only a few feet apart. My favorite was the seaman, so I took a picture and gave him a few euros. He rung his little bell in thanks. It was awesome.

At the opposite end of Las Ramblas from Plaza Catalunya was the water. Walking over a bridge took you to a shopping mall, which was highly unexpected! Our first day there we walked across in the evening, and outside the mall was a band on stage. I have no idea who they were or what they were singing about, and we didn't stay long. But we did get to look back across as see the city lit by the moon.



Throughout the city were many statues, plazas (with statues and fountains), and old buildings. One of my favorite statues was a very high one in a plaza just before the water of Christopher Columbus. Luckily I have a 12X zoom and could get a clear shot of him.



There were also murals, and mosaics, many of which were older than our entire country. Perhaps that's why the city seemed to have a life of it's own, because the buildings belonged there. Even in the newer developments there was a sense of belonging.



Other than people and building watching the main attraction is definitely eating. I had the best ham and cheese sandwich of my life multiple times in Barcelona, and I don't particularly like ham. Well, I don't particularly like American deli ham. I am now officially obsessed with bocadillos. Some of our lunches came from the grocery store, whereas others came from the market. El mercado puts our farmer's markets to shame, especially by the frequency of occurrence.



MMMMM....food heaven. Of course, that doesn't even touch on dinner. We had fabulous tapas, as well as late night snacks of tiny sandwiches and wine. The wine is the main focus because when we ate at Taller de Tapas we had a wine called Rey Santos. We split the entire bottle, and I may even have had more than half. If you know me, you know this never happens. But the wine was THAT GOOD. Of course we ate so much food at the same time that it hardly mattered. I was most excited by the fact that I understood most of the menu without looking at the translation, I was able to order in Spanish, and I even finally got to order that wonderous "cafe con leche" we had "ordered" all through high school Spanish class.



Oh, Barcelona, how we miss you. But we'll be back, don't you worry!