Barcelona

This is possibly the most fascinating city I've been to, and really lives up to all the hype. As you can see from the pictures, it's architecturally unbelievable (1). Everywhere you walk you run into buildings you wouldn't dream of finding anywhere else in the world. The facade with the dragon sticking out of it was on a street corner near the hostel I stayed in.

I spent most of my time walking about town, just taking in the feel of the place (and dodging the thousands of other tourists doing the same thing). The old centre is mostly pedestrian, so you can really get about the place on foot. The church (2) above is Montjuic, which was also a smack in the mouth. I walked up there from the last place the train takes you, and had this tremendous view over Barcelona. When I got to the top and did the rounds of the church, I treated myself to dinner in the restaurant, which has a view over Barcelona.

It's strange. I don't understand why tourists prefer to eat overpriced snacks on a terrace, which ulitmately end up costing them more than buying a proper meal, rather than spend about 5 euro more to eat in a proper restaurant. I was the only person eating in this place, to begin with, and then only two groups showed up, both of whom were locals, the whole time I was eating there. For 20 euro, I ordered veal in a roquefort sauce, a half bottle of a local red wine, and a really good dessert and coffee. After walking the whole day to get up to this place, it didn't go amiss.

As I got the train (3) to get back into town, I thought that Barcelona is one of the only places I've been to in Europe where the city would commission artists to spray paint trains. In Paris, they'd throw them in jail overnight, or put them in straightjackets.

That evening, I wandered into the Harlem Jazz Club, which was literally in front of the door of my hostel. I had read about it in a guide, and heard that there was a 'Blues Jam Session' on that evening. It was fucking tremendous. The whole night, musicians turned up, meeting each other for the first time onstage, and improvised blues standards. The wealth of musicians this city holds is just unbelievable. Like halfway through the night, as the third set of musicians were cheered by the hyperactive crowd, a horn section turned up. For each song, they worked out harmonies and played rhythm to beef up the band, and then successively played some solos when allowed. Not a single dull moment there either.

I'm completely bowled over by this city. Will have to do a Barcelona recharge sometime.