I am staying right off of Las Ramblas, which is this super busy, super touristy street that can only be somewhat compared to Times Square. I had heard lots of warnings about how dangerous it could be in terms of pick pockets but I had no issues at all and didn't see any issues. It was pretty cute though and I still can't believe when I look around how old everything is. I feel like if there was stuff this old in the us it would be behind barricades and super protected but here it is like "oh that was built in the 1700s? That's not that old lets just walk all over it".
Anyway my first stop was the most famous market in Barcelona - Mercat La Boqueria. It basically is this big market with lots of stalls for fruits, vegetables, candy, meats, juices, nuts, etc. It was nice but to be honest I don't understand the hype - aren't there markets like this all over the world? I don't know what makes this one so special, but I guess people are into it.
Then I spent the next 3 or 4 hours exploring the Barrio Gothic. I loved it. It is essentially a neighborhood with a ton of little intertwining streets that are too small for cars to go down so it is all pedestrians surrounded by these beautiful tall old buildings. If you really get inside away from the touristy parts there are some really great local shops and I just couldn't resist buying this handmade vase. No idea where it is going to fit into my apartment but I tries walking away and had to come back 3 hours later to get it because I couldn't stop thinking about it. The place is called 'La Caixa de Fang' and it is just wonderful with a great little shopkeeper too.
Anyway spent many hours just wandering and getting a feel of the area and stopped by this bar called "Schilling" to have a little 'Queso Manchego' tapas and a delicious Rioja (and a great view, yum).
Then I decided to be a bit touristy and see the Barcelona Cathedral and boy am I glad I did. It is interesting - for some hours of the afternoon (I think 1-5:15pm or something) it costs 6 euros to get into the basilica of the cathedral but then from 5:15 to 7pm or so it is free. Who knows why but something great to take advantage of! Anyway, this cathedral was just absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. I've included an iPhone photo above but the stained glass, the architecture, the statues of the gods, just beautiful. And another place where things had so much history. There were many stones laid in the 1700s or early and we were walking on them as if they had been laid yesterday. There were tombs of people from the 1000s (I thinks, from the Spanish I could decifer) and many, many paintings of biblical scenes from the 1400s. I just stared and stared at the history of it all. I also spent an hour or so sitting in the pews taking it all in and "being all spiritual". As Hinduism says (and as I agree strongly with) there are many paths to God and all are valid and so I always enjoy sitting in churches and going to services of many denominations. It was nice to just stop and sit for a while and feel close to something bigger than myself. Especially given how self-indulgent this whole trip is (not that it's a bad thing, but some balance is good).
Once I was Jesus-ed out I did some more exploring and was absolutely pooped, even though it was only 8pm (because of jetlag I had only gotten about 2 hours of sleep the night before). So I bought some wine and dinner and headed back to the hotel to relax and sleep and get up this morning. Well, I ended up falling asleep in my jeans at about 9pm and not waking up until this morning. I missed the couchsurfing meetup I was supposed to go to, but oh well. I guess I needed the rest!
Today I have eaten breakfast and have done a little more exploring. I'm in line for the Picasso museum (my favorite!!) and then will go check out a bunch of the Gaudi sites. Then hopefully this evening (if it doesn't rain!) I'll get to check out some calleres (might be spelled wrong, will have to check). So excited!
Overall I'm loving this traveling alone thing. I'm not tied to anyone else's schedule or whims and just feel very relaxed. Although there are moments where I hate it - mostly at altus airport. I hate being at airports alone. But I guess that is what I gotta do if I want to travel solo.
In other news, there is this funny accent thing going on. As my family can attest, I am very, let's say "influenced by" accents. Whenever we would go to India I would start talking in an Indian accent soon after we got there. The same is happening here but who knows what accent I have. It keeps changing and it is some totally non-descript pseudo-European accent. I don't think about it or intend for it to come out of my mouth but it just does! And I'm sure when I was in Lisbon with someone from South Africa, someone from Sweden, someone from the UK and a bunch of Portuguese it was even weirder. Ah, the awkwardness of being me :)
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