1605 Last day in Barcelona

Another huge day. Caught the Metro to Jaume I in the Barri Gotic which is part of the old town and walked around the narrow streets. We have been extremely frustrated by our map which has few streets marked on it and those that are marked, are not signed on the streets so orientation becomes impossible. Anyway, we managed with a few hiccups.

A street in the Barri Gotic (sorry, have to look up the map for the name)

Walked around the cloisters in the cathedral. This is a classic Gothic cathedral and so simple compared with Salamanca's over decorated facade. The cloisters are built around a square rather than a rectangle, and in the square there is a peaceful garden with some huge trees, a fish pond, fountains, and the coup de gras was the flock of geese which I presume are pate de foie gras or Christmas dinner on the hoof.


Next, back on the Metro to the Sagrada Familia for a second look and also to queue up to see the interior. The day before the queue was more than an hour long. This time we waited for about half an hour which wasn't too irksome. Once inside the cathedral all memory of the wait evaporated. This is one of those buildings that takes your breath away. The pillars had the appearance of trees reaching up to the sky. On these pillars were lights which actually made me think of aliens' eyes (not that I've seen many of them). Instead of a dome there is a hole in the roof which is like an eye to the heavens. The sun shines through this hole no matter what time of day it is, and the light picks up the colours in the tiles in the cone shaped ceiling. This was magic. There is a golden glow from the sun in the cathedral. This is a totally unique building with such unusual features.

The hole in the roof


The first thing I saw as I walked in the entrance
We went up in the lift to catch the view of Barcelona and then descended down the very narrow spiral staircase. We had the option to go down in the lift but I was very pleased we walked down as we could see the towers with strange bundles of fruit on them.

Back to the Metro and we rode to the sea-side end of La Rambla with the intention of walking back to our hostel from there. We stopped at a cafe and shared a Paella as it was our last night in Spain. Then we took a detour and walked into the El Ravel, another old sector, which gave the impression of being the rough end of town. Steve heard a woman scream and saw a young teenager run off; an attempted robbery. There are signs everywhere in Barca warning of pickpockets and to keep your eye on personal belongings. We never felt threatened.

Finally we went back to our room, tired out, and made a salad and had a chat with a couple of American girls who were visiting a few places on their way home from a semester of study in Florence (nice work if you can get it, says I).