Barcelona

If you had to guess the most expensive city we’re visiting this summer, would you consider Barcelona? Probably not. And yet, finding a place here not too far over our budget was difficult. In fact, the only accommodations I found in Barcelona were docked sailboats (where our bathroom would be the communal building at the marina).

Which is why we ended up in Badalona, a working class suburb at the very end of a metro line. And (unbeknownst to us when we made the reservations) steps from the best beaches of the greater Barcelona area.

And that is why, although we were next door to a historically, artistically, culturally, and culinarily rich international city (which we paid a lot to be in), we spent half of our precious visiting days merely splashing in the Mediterranean Sea. (Well, that and the heat wave, which made that water oooh so inviting.)

In terms of immersing oneself in a culture, though, a local beach is a pretty good place to learn what the people are like. We watched babies drink sea water out of the inflatable play tub their moms placed in the shade of their umbrella. We watched teenage boys play pickle ball and pretend to throw each other in the water after a medusa (jellyfish) was spotted. Women of all ages in social gaggles (topless, always) alternately dipping in the water and laying out in the sun. Families bringing bags and bags of prepared food in Tupperware containers and blankets and litter soda bottles. Lots of summer camp field trips where the teachers blasted rap from speakers on the march back to school. And we bought churros and chocolate from the churros truck (but only 100 grams, unlike the señor in front of us who ordered 400).

And we invested in a couple cheap snorkel masks to watch fishies, dive for shells and sea glass, and try to find a ray again (the girls swear they saw one our first day).

Yes, we also went into the actual city of Barcelona. (I do think I’d like to go back in February, when the streets and all their accompanying big-city smells aren’t steamed with the baking sun and humidity.) Gaudi’s work, of course, was a big draw. The only building we shelled out the cash to go inside was his (still under construction) masterpiece: La Sagrada Familia. Whoa. Just, whoa. You’ve never been in a church like this. Or any other building either.

He was a big nature guy, so it’s meant to feel like a forest in there. The supporting columns are huge trees (made of different stone types to imitate different species), branching up towards the bright sky. The stained glass windows are not the mishmash of kaleidoscopic colors you’re used to; they are coordinated to make a gradient rainbow, the color wheel projected massively onto the stone walls. And no fussy statues crowding all the corners or peering from on high or making shadowy nooks. (Save that for the outside, and then some!) It’s airy and light and … big in there. Construction is supposed to be complete sometime this decade (begun in 1882), so mark your calendars for a trip to see it!

Also, we took ourselves to a few air-conditioned museums. One for art, specifically Joan Miró and his colorful surrealist paintings and sculptures. We had a lovely time sketching and learning and wandering and playing there. (Bright colors sometimes make art more accessible somehow.)

And then to a science museum where there were lots of hands-on exhibits and good English translations and a whole big flooded room meant to simulate the Amazonian rain forest. It took us a full 15 minutes just to get in, actually, because the entrance is a huge spiral ramp going down 4 floors, a beautiful tree carcass entwined in a pattinaed copper ribbon in the middle, with helicopter seed pods fluttering to the ground.

Overall, Barcelona was okay, feeling a bit more gritty and urban than is generally our jam. Some of that can be blamed on the timing of our visit, I’m sure. But without that, we probably wouldn’t have spent so much time in the sea on some of the best beaches we’ve ever experienced. So it’s hard to complain!

Now off to the middle of the country, to Toledo (and hopefully a little peek at Madrid too)! Hasta luego!