Post by Ella
We made a pact that we weren’t going to push it here in Barcelona. The city is rich in art and architecture, food and drink, and like any big city, full of contrasting cultures. We thought, just relax. Walk. Look. Smell.
We’d booked advance tickets for the Picasso Museum today at 3:00 deliberately so we could spend a lot of the day wandering.
We headed first in the direction of Ille de la discòrdia (Catalan for “block of discord”), so called because on this city block are buildings by four of Barcelona’s most important modernist (early 20th century) architects. They may all be “modernist” but their styles clash (even to my untrained eye, I could spot big differences). One of the four architects is the famous Antoni Gaudi.
The Gaudi building on the block, Casa Batlló, was immediately recognizable. Those fantastical curves of sculpted stone and colorful fully patterned roof. Not to mention the long line of people waiting to tour the inside.
Time for food. I led us to the Mercat de Santa Catalina. It’s not famous. Just a local indoor market I’d spotted on my google map. And during lunch I was staring at my map to get a sense of which way to head in order to get to the Picasso Museum when I noticed the Museo Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. “Ya know, maybe we should go check this out.” It was free for the elderly but reservations required. I booked a 5:00pm entry.
After lunch, pleasantly full but not stuffed (I had two small dishes, the bombe and the anchovies) we strolled towards the Picasso Museum. More from Grubb on that. But I took a little zig first to see a tile installation. “The world comes to life with each kiss”
Now it was time to figure out the whole metro / bus / tram thing. We headed for the nearest metro stop and using one of the ticket kiosks decided the “72 hour unlimited journey“ card was our most cost efficient option. Took a few tries. We’d selected English but on the payment screen, the instructions reverted to Catalan. And then kazam, we were off on the L1 to the Montjuic neighborhood for some Catalunya art and, it turns out, spectacular views. See separate post.
We returned to our neighborhood via metro. I had a crazy yearning for empanadas. We didn’t want a restaurant meal, just a few empanadas at home (where I could also open the bottle of wine left for us by our host). Googling “empanadas near me”, I found “Delicatessen Argentina”. A combo butcher / meat shop with a small selection of ready-to-go empanadas in the back corner. And a jar of chimichurri.
Perfecto.
22,000 steps today Grubb tells me. Around 11 miles. Ah, that explains my desire to sit on the sofa and not move again for a long time. Except, groan, to brush my teeth and fall into bed.
