Posts
O
Two walks, no yoga and don’t ask – the daffodils are still
striving in last year’s soil and last year’s
basket. On the upside, however, I am writing this in Barcelona, the sun
is shining, we have another two days to spend here and apparently, there is a great
vintage shop around the corner.
Every year in February, my daughter and myself head off to a
European city for a couple of days and this year we are in Barcelona. Every year, in spite of all good intentions to learn a bit of the language and read up on what to do, the day of travel always sneaks up.
Before I know it, it is Saturday,we bake, I do the market in Carlow, came
home and finish the paperwork for the week to get everything ready for the
wonderful people who will pick up my hours till Wednesday and then head off
to Dublin. Next morning we were at the airport at an ungodly hour and I slept
for most of the way to Barcelona. Waking up as the plane hit a rough patch, I
discover the snow topped pyrenees just below us and finally open that guide
book.
Short breaks are a wonderful way to travel as you literally just go and all of a sudden, on a sunny Sunday, find yourself not at home, lazing about and recovering from a weeks’s work while thinking you should really be doing a bit of housework and prepping for next week’s dinners. Instead, we were walking La Rambla, the wonderful main street in Barcelona which all of a sudden ends at the sea and an even more wonderful La Rambla de Mar which swings over the harbour. While at home winter is fighting to hold on and frost rules, we were sitting in the Café Zurich, peeling off the winter layers and sitting in the sun drinking the local beer and having lunch, wondering why we only packed jumpers. Later we found our flat ( Airbnb) in a wonderful tiny street – just on the dodgy side of town. A lovely third story room with a kitchen and bathroom and a tiny balcony is to be ours for the three days. The street is so small that I can talk to the parrot in the cage in the room across from us and marvel at the open door and open window policy in February. Obviously not a place that ever gets very cold or a place that anyone takes a car to. The only noice you hear is the cacophony of people talking, of skateboarders being terribly cool and scooters even more so. Settled in, we went to the Musee Picasso because it was going to be closed on Monday and being told it was full, sat in the Placa Reial and had a pitcher of sangria instead. What a shame. We found amazing pastry shops which will have to be investigated and apparently the most famous vintage shop is just around the corner somewhere. Considering we brought the wrong kind of clothes, that might have to be no 1 today. And then there is the market that needs to be seen and so many other things which you may neverhear about because I can’t get the wifi to work………..
and so the blog is late. Tuesday today and while the computer irrated me for hours yesterday, it decided today for no known reason to work and catch the internet. As I keep bakers hours even on holidays it is early and no one else stirs on the road. The parrot across the way is still undercover, the rubbish has been collected on the street and I only hear once tourist couple – speaking English with difficulty and walking with even more difficulty back to their hotel – which I really hope they find. Yesterday, we found Gaudi and all in one day found the coolest house and the funkiest church I have ever seen. Travel really is so amazing. Even for a few days, we see so many new ways, so many different ideas and cultures. From the lovely habit of walking the streets at night, wondering whether the expression "going for ramble" comes from La Rambla, this most amazing of all street and wondering how it must effect a people to take a balmy night in February so entirely for granted, a night that we would appreciate in July. A people that own the Cava and the Sangria and the most amazing jambon ( cured ham ) at every street corner. A people that live with the beauty of Gaudi and with the amazing power, energy and feeling of the flamenco. Here for a day and a half with another day to start in a little while, we pledge to keep travelling, to keep turning the pages of this wonderful world, to not be too afraid of Donal Trump but to trust in the goodness of people."The world is a book", said St Augustine, "those who do not travel see only one page" and here in Barcelona, Christopher Columbus stands in the port, pointing far into the distance into the meditereanena.
Go find out
for yourself.
Short breaks are a wonderful way to travel as you literally just go and all of a sudden, on a sunny Sunday, find yourself not at home, lazing about and recovering from a weeks’s work while thinking you should really be doing a bit of housework and prepping for next week’s dinners. Instead, we were walking La Rambla, the wonderful main street in Barcelona which all of a sudden ends at the sea and an even more wonderful La Rambla de Mar which swings over the harbour. While at home winter is fighting to hold on and frost rules, we were sitting in the Café Zurich, peeling off the winter layers and sitting in the sun drinking the local beer and having lunch, wondering why we only packed jumpers. Later we found our flat ( Airbnb) in a wonderful tiny street – just on the dodgy side of town. A lovely third story room with a kitchen and bathroom and a tiny balcony is to be ours for the three days. The street is so small that I can talk to the parrot in the cage in the room across from us and marvel at the open door and open window policy in February. Obviously not a place that ever gets very cold or a place that anyone takes a car to. The only noice you hear is the cacophony of people talking, of skateboarders being terribly cool and scooters even more so. Settled in, we went to the Musee Picasso because it was going to be closed on Monday and being told it was full, sat in the Placa Reial and had a pitcher of sangria instead. What a shame. We found amazing pastry shops which will have to be investigated and apparently the most famous vintage shop is just around the corner somewhere. Considering we brought the wrong kind of clothes, that might have to be no 1 today. And then there is the market that needs to be seen and so many other things which you may neverhear about because I can’t get the wifi to work………..
and so the blog is late. Tuesday today and while the computer irrated me for hours yesterday, it decided today for no known reason to work and catch the internet. As I keep bakers hours even on holidays it is early and no one else stirs on the road. The parrot across the way is still undercover, the rubbish has been collected on the street and I only hear once tourist couple – speaking English with difficulty and walking with even more difficulty back to their hotel – which I really hope they find. Yesterday, we found Gaudi and all in one day found the coolest house and the funkiest church I have ever seen. Travel really is so amazing. Even for a few days, we see so many new ways, so many different ideas and cultures. From the lovely habit of walking the streets at night, wondering whether the expression "going for ramble" comes from La Rambla, this most amazing of all street and wondering how it must effect a people to take a balmy night in February so entirely for granted, a night that we would appreciate in July. A people that own the Cava and the Sangria and the most amazing jambon ( cured ham ) at every street corner. A people that live with the beauty of Gaudi and with the amazing power, energy and feeling of the flamenco. Here for a day and a half with another day to start in a little while, we pledge to keep travelling, to keep turning the pages of this wonderful world, to not be too afraid of Donal Trump but to trust in the goodness of people."The world is a book", said St Augustine, "those who do not travel see only one page" and here in Barcelona, Christopher Columbus stands in the port, pointing far into the distance into the meditereanena.
Enjoy, because it will be cold and damp when you get back. But makes me want to check Ryanair for a cheap flight to the sun....
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