Catalan exerperiences for last day in Barcelona

We decided to go first to the Palau de la Musica Catalana (Palace of Catalan Music) to see about an English tour. Supposedly they are offered every hour but when we got there we found out that there were no tours today because there was to be a concert at noon. The tickets were 10€ each and the tour is 18€ each so we thought we came out ahead. We went off to check out a couple of shops Sue had told us about in the vicinity, then back in time for the concert. The palace is amazing, designed by a contemporary of Gaudi, very grand in the modernista style, lots of tile mosaics and with a layout a bit like the Opera in Paris.  

A sculpture at the front of the building.

Ceiling shots.

The concert was by three separate Catalan choirs. Our main goal was to get inside to see the interior, but the incredible bonus was the finale - a massed choir (all 3 choirs together - about 100 voices) who finished with "El cant de la senyera" (the song of the flag), the Catalan anthem, with such passion and with audience participation. In reading the history we found that Franco had forbidden the singing of this anthem, as well as use of Catalan language. At a concert in this hall in 1960, it was authorized for the orchestra to play the music, but without any singing. However, several rebels stood up and sang anyway. They were arrested and imprisoned. This is now recognized as the Catalan anthem, and the conductor of the choir led it with fist pumping, not just baton waving. Everyone stood and an amazingly large part of the audience sang loudly in Catalan. 

It was truly an experience of Catalan Independence and their passion for their region. We feel very honoured to have witnessed this in the very hall where it was denied less than 60 years ago. 

Later in the day we headed off to Creu Cobert, just off Plaza d'Espagne to watch a display of castelleres or castlers - who daringly build tall human towers (castles). This is another distinctively Catalan activity. There were 4 teams participating today, with a goal of achieving a tower 9 levels high. 

Party atmosphere on the street

The men at the bottom of the tower wrap a very long wide sash around their middles, and other bandana-like wraps around their wrists. All are in 'team' shirts which climbers grasp during the climb up. 

They begin with a 'knot' of big guys at the bottom, and sometimes members of other teams pitch in to add to the outer layer. The first 2 or 3 levels are men, then women and on top - 2 or 3 young girls, probably ages 6-7. The little ones wear helmets. After they complete the level they are trying to achieve they slide quickly down one level at a time. It's just as important how fast you can deconstruct the tower as it is to build the tower.

It does get a bit stressful watching, I am so worried about those little girls falling but the look of concentration on all the holders and climbers faces shows that they are well practiced and know what they are doing. We did not watch until the end, but one of coaches told us they would go to 9 layers tonight, easy, he said. We started walking home after 8 layers. The top person holds up 4 fingers when they get to the top signifying the 4 stripes of the Catalan flag.

There was music as they performed the castles. A band with drums, horns, cymbals and tambourines. Even this little guy participated. Definitely a family event.

We stopped for dinner on our way home since it was a 3/4 hr walk back home again. We went into this circular brick building, that had been Barcelona's bull ring for many years. In the late 1970s it was converted to a huge shopping mall where we found the lowest level had many restaurants and food courts etc. It was pizza tonight for us. 

And that marked the end of our Spanish holiday. We have many more things on our to do list for Barcelona. So we will be back.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Gatwick then back home the day after. Thank you for travelling with us. We will be off again to Europe on another adventure in the fall.

Marion and Wendy

New sites and an old friend in Barcelona

Friday was a fabulous day in Barcelona for us. It was warm but not as hot as yesterday. We wandered around in the morning, back to our "old stomping grounds" when we rented an apartment in the El Born area of the city for a week In the fall 2015. We found our favorite pub that was just around the corner from that apartment and made a reservation for 7:30. It's so busy we can only book a table from 7:30 to 9, then they have another reservation.

If you ever wonder about the crowds in Barcelona, this is the cathedral with crowds that just seem to accumulate here. There are buskers, beggars, tourists and local folks hanging out at any time of the day.

We met one of our favorite Tasmanians, Sue who took us on a little tour of some of her favorite places in the area. We stopped here for lunch where she says the food is typical Catalan. Her husband is Catalan and she met him walking her first Camino. They spend half their time in Spain and half in Australia.

I had this delicious salad for my first course: goat cheese, pears, cooked pumpkin and walnuts. Wonderful! Sue had a lentil dish and Wendy a noodle meat dish. I didn't take pictures of theirs as I was totally focussed on my salad!!!

We all had the same secondo, a lamb skewer with mint salsa. Delicious.

After we had cafe con leche and postre (dessert). What no picture! I guess I ate mine too fast to stop to take a pic. When we go home to Victoria we will be eating lettuce for a month.

Sue took us on a neat little walk around an area we had not been to before. Tucked down an alley and into the middle of some buildings are these very old Roman columns.

They are from the ancient temple of Augustus and date from the first century. Called Temple Roma  d'August. Imagine looking out your apartment building at these 4 columns and just imaging the stories they could tell.

Sue and Wendy, down one street and then another, pointing out places we should come back to.

This is like the bridge of sighs in Florence.

Another neat doorway.

After we left Sue to take the train back to her home village, 45 min. from the centre of Barcelona, we did a little food shopping at El Cortes Ingles, our favorite department store in Spain, for food and wine. We went back "home" for showers and siesta before heading out again at 7 to walk to Bar del Pla. They only serve tapas here and it's very popular. We had the crispy beef with foie gras, patates bravas and a salad that was just called refreshing salad but it had hazelnuts, pine nuts, watermelon, orange segments and salad greens with a balsamic vinegar. Nummy.  

We walked home from there and had dessert of our favorite Spanish chocolate , Valor puro, with some red wine. 

The end to a fabulous day. Thank you Sue. Next time maybe we can meet up in Tasmania.

Abrazos

Marion and Wendy

On to Barcelona

We had to be up early this morning in Santiago to finish packing and be ready to leave the house just after 7:30am. Victor made us each a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice and then we were off after hugs with Lanzada and Clinete. Victor drove us to the airport so we could be checked in before 8. We had some breakfast at the airport then off to Barcelona, a 1 1/2 hour flight.

7am out our bedroom window at Lanzada's and Victor's.

We arrived in Barcelona on a plane that seemed full of other pilgrims flying from Santiago to catch their flights home. We met a gal from Edmonton who had just finished the Camino, her 4th. Her pack had been lost on her air canada flight from Edmonton to Toronto to Paris so she had only bare minimum with her. Luckily she had been wearing her boots onto the plane, like we do. 

We found our way out to the Aeroporto bus that took us right to the main plaza in town, Plaza Catalunya, and we could walk the block down to our hotel. We arrived at noon but had to leave our bags at the hotel in their left luggage after getting checked in as the rooms are not ready until 2 for check in.

We had just heard from a Guiding pal Cathy that she would have 2 hours free time from her bus tour and we could meet at the Hard Rock Cafe in the plaza. I think every tour bus and all the taxis disgorge their passengers right in front of the Hard Rock Cafe. But we did find her and the three of us went for lunch and had a lovely catch up. We have not seen each other for 11 years.  She does keep inviting us up to Flin Flon for a visit but we just don't seem to be passing through there very often and it's not on the way to anywhere except Churchill. 

Wendy, Cathy and Marion

We had a great salad, a glass of wine and a great visit. When we left her at 3 we made our way over to the hotel after picking up some supplies; wine, crackers, cheese, bottled water for me. We got ourselves settled into our room, had showers and a siesta. Later when it had cooled down somewhat we went out for a walk up Rambla de Catalunya, which is one of the main shopping, restaurants, and bar street, probably more for tourists than the locals who likely try to avoid all these touristy places. The neat thing about this street is that it has a wide pedestrian passage way in the middle of the street with a lane for cars on either side, and then more sidewalk in front of the stores. It is so walker-friendly, as are many European cities. 

We have just found out that one of our favorite Tasmanians who lives part time near Barcelona will be able to meet us for lunch tomorrow. We had thought she would be away for the whole time we were in Spain but dates changed for her and now we do get to see her. In fact we just missed by 3 days getting to see both of our favorite Tazzies.  These are gals we walked with on the Le Puy route in France in 2013.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Barcelona and already we realize we can't possible get around to do all the things we thought we would. That only means one thing!!!

A mañana, 

Marion and Wendy

Victor's Birthday

This is running a day behind now because I have lost this posting twice before publishing it. Computers!!!!

Wendy asked Victor to pick a place for us to treat them for dinner on the last night we were in town. The bonus was it turned out to be his birthday. He chose Amoa, not very far from their house and we could walk down there for the fashionable Spanish dinner hour of 9pm. It was still quite light but the temperature had really cooled down so it was very pleasant. We sat outside on their deck with their garden below us. So neat.

Victor and Lanzada chose the menu starting with the first course of small Coquille St Jacques, a tuna salad with tomatoes and carrots and pulpo (octopus) croquettes. The Coquille were especially delicious.

The second course was served by the owner, a good friend of theirs. He certainly knew what he was doing, no bones on my plate.

A fish similar to turbot and (picture below) sea bass. Both good but I thought the sea bass the best. These were served with potato wedges sprinkled with lots of pepper and salt.

Clinete from Brazil, Lanzada, Victor, Marion and Wendy

Dessert was served out on the deck at home under the stars. Tarte de Santiago with chocolate icing made by Victor and we had Cava to wish him good health. We sang Happy Birthday in English and Spanish. What fun to be able share this evening with such special friends. 

Tomorrow Barcelona

Marion and Wendy

Last day in Santiago

We went off a bit earlier this morning to try and avoid some of the heat expected today, 32 C. We headed for the public market first to pick up some fruit, cheese, bread and a bottle of wine to give to Victor as it is his birthday today. 

There are vendors inside the market who have the same spots every day the market is open and then there are vendors who do not have a stall but just come to sell whatever they have.

These two gals are selling just around the corner from the market, one with 1 head of lettuce and bunches of carrots and the other with just two heads of lettuce.

We went into an old fashion hardware store that was amazing, stuff piled up high but seemed very organized. We got a kick out of his filing system hanging at the back of the store.

We could just imagine bills due this week in the left hand pocket, next week in the right hand pocket!

Thursday is a civic holiday in Santiago called Ascension Day. There will be many musical events all around the old town over the next few days. We had hoped to catch some of it on Wednesday and were really lucky when all of a sudden we heard a band in Plaza Praterias behind the cathedral. We scooted over and there was a large gaggle of tourists and inside their circle was a group of dancers and a band with maybe 10 members all dressed up in old Spanish regalia. The dancers are called 

'Gigantes y cabezudos', (giants and big heads). They were parading from plaza to plaza so we watched them while they preformed where we were.

Went back to our favorite bar for our last tostadas and cafe con leche there. Really was our favorite place for a second breakfast.

We still had a little bit of last minute shopping to do.

While wandering the streets we saw this cool door knocker.

One last thing we wanted to do was meet Ivar who runs the Camino Forum on line. He provides a number of services including a left luggage storage place, an online store as well as the Forum where you can find the answer to almost any Camino question you can think of. It's always great to put a face to a name.

Ivar (pronounced Evar) is Norgwegian but spent a few years in the US and went to university there.

We headed home after that, fairly cooked to the core, for cool showers and some down time before going out for dinner to celebrate Victor's birthday, at the suitable Spanish dinner hour of 9pm.

Stay tuned 

M & W

Tuesday - still in Santiago

Once again we headed off downtown in the coolest part of the day, already over 20 C. 

We first went into a church that is tucked in behind the cathedral, Church of San Paio de Antealtares

where it was lovely and cool.

There is a museum of Sacred Art inside which we were not very interested in, but the door to the museum was very cool.

While we were there a tour group came in and sat in the pews of the church. Turns out they were from a cruise ship at Vigo and the interpreter they had with them was none other than our old friend from A Coruña and the Tower of Hercules, Manuel. We had a little wave from him when he recognized us before he carried on outside with his group.

We went to the Museum of Pilgrimage to the side and behind the cathedral. The plaza is packed with tourists but not a lot of them seem to go into the museum. It was cooler than outside and a gorgeous building newly redone in the last 5-6 years. They are trying to pull together the symbols of pilgrims and pilgrimages from different religions around the world. It has some interesting displays - maps, books, jewelry, etc. from different routes. I liked the exhibit of the clothes pilgrims have worn over the centuries.  I would not have done well dressed in the garb they wore a few hundred years ago, especially in this heat. 

Pilgrim from the 16th century and one from 21st century.

We both liked the display of walking sticks and poles that have been donated from pilgrims who have finished their walk.  

Ultreia is a word used as a pilgrim greeting such as Buen Camino. Ultreia means a bit more, encouragement to keep going or heading onwards.

After the museum we were so ready for a cafe con leche which we enjoyed again at Bar Suso before wandering a bit then going for lunch at Manolo's. It's a place that many pilgrims go to eat and have done so for many years. We had eaten there in 2001 the first time we were here. They have certainly expanded since then. We had the pilgrim meal which is a standard 10€ each and that includes 3 courses plus wine and water. Can't beat that. My first course was the salad which was delicious. Wendy had the Padron pimentos. All with a good local white wine.

2nd course was a veal cutlet with fries, very filling so couldn't eat it all as we both had to save room for the postre (dessert).

Mmmmmmm and so after that we needed to trek home for a nap. So hot, high 20's. It's great inside the old buildings made of stone but outside in the sun, too much.

Tomorrow will be our last day here.

a manaña

Wendy and Marion