Day Five: Barcelona and Figueres
The morning started with breakfast and zumo, the best damn zumo I’ve ever had. The we hopped the L3 to Estacio Sants to check out train tickets ahead of time (sorry Carol, I had to do it). After acquiring our ride it was back on the metro to exit a La Ramblas and the entrance to the Gothic quarter.
As we wandered down the narrow streets looking for the Picasso museum, Zak stumbled on his sword store. After scoping out the purchase we grabbed a card and headed on.
The Picasso museum is in an old palace and an amazing place. There was a Kees Van Dongen guest exhibit to warms us up and then 60 decades of pure Picasso. There weren’t too many famous works but an amazing variety of paintings, sketches and clay.
After we exited it was narrow streets, roman towers and gothic cathedrals filling our senses. Zak stopped in to buy his sword and they helpfully packed it so we could take it on the plane. After a walk through the chaos of la Ramblas, we quickly stopped for pizza and cava before returning to the hotel for our bags and a taxi.
Estacio Sants was a chaotic sight after the two older and more sedate train stations we had experienced so far. The alarming running red text in indecipherable Spanish made for a few curious moments before the Catalunya Express arrived at gate 14. It’s crowded getting on the train and we have a lot of bags, we dump them asap and go looking for seats.
So here we sit watching the Spanish countryside roll by and wondering if we should’ve hauled all the luggage closer to our seats at the very front of the train.
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After the train:
The train keeps telling us it’s 38 degrees and we are getting nervous. Luckily as we disembark we discover it’s only a mild 30, so we are good to go. This taxi ride is one of the shortest and most expensive but as our luggage multiplies, even a five minute walk uphill is too much. We take a short break in our room at the Hotel Duran, a favorite of Dali’s with an absolutely stunning dining room; later we find clippings on the wall of Dali eating there with his friends.
After a brief break I check my email and discover enjoygardening is down and my booked boat has broken down. Unfortunately I can’t fix the website and fortunately it means we get an upgrade on the boat. Ying and yang.
Dinner is an absolutely stunning seafood brochette and beer for me. Followed by more beer and a pleasant walk around Figueres. Tomorrow will be museums or a bus ride to the coast. We’ll see.