Day 1, Barcelona - Avoided pickpockets, encountered Gaudi

When I first started planning a trip to Spain, I had intended to do a language immersion course for 10 days and devote just a week to travel.

When I first started planning a trip to Spain, I had intended to do alanguage immersion course for 10 days and devote just a week to travel.I had just completed my Diploma in Spanish in Mumbai and thought such acourse would help me dig my roots deeper in the language. But as Istarted looking at all the places I wanted to visit in Spain, all noblethoughts of studying just poofed up and disappeared. Just listening tothe language as I make my way around the country and chatting withlocals would be a course in itself, I decided. So here I am embarkingon my fun-only Spanish Sojourn.

First stop: Barcelona.
Ifyou Google 'Barcelona and safety' you will find gazillion articlesabout how safe it is. Of course the same articles then go on to listvarious precautions you should take to protect your belongings fromlurking pickpockets and bag snatchers. Hevre, the owner of the hotel Iwas staying in had advised me to take a cab from the airport.

Your bag will be a dead giveaway that you are a tourist,' his email had said.

Mybag?? What about the fact that I am brown? What am I going to do aboutthat? I paid heed to his advice and took a cab which was a good movebecause it also saved a lot of time.

I am not a 'chain hotel'kind of a person. In most cases I find them impersonal and boring andnot value-for-money. I much prefer independent, quirky places that havea character of their own. Casa Hevre in Barcelona is exactly that kindof a place.When I am booking a hotel online I look at the pictures andgo by instinct. I know, not a very smart move in the age of Photoshopbut to my credit, I do read up reviews of previous guests. Casa Hevredoes not disappoint. If I ever run a B&B, this is exactly how itwould be. It is spread over one flat on the top floor of a building,just like many B&Bs in the larger cities in Spain are. It has 4rooms each done up in different colours and styles and as luck wouldhave it I get the one I had liked on the website.

I chat alittle bit with Hevre and when he learns that I have studied Spanish heinsists on talking in Spanish. I must practice, he says! After somehelp and directions from him I am ready to start off for the day. But,first I must take some steps to disguise my touristic appearance. Nopurses or wallets so I calculate roughly the money I would need for theday and stuff it in my pockets. The camera and phone go in a smallsling bag which is camouflaged under my over coat. A woollen cap andscarf to protect against the cold.
"So, do I look like a tourist?" I ask Hevre.
"No. More like a spy."

Aah well, that should definitely keep unwanted elements away. Who ever heard of Bond getting pick pocketed!

SinceI had lost half the day travelling to Barcelona I had decided to golight on the sightseeing. I started off for La Sagrada Familia, a15-minute walk from Hevre's. The construction of this church started in1882 and hold your breath, it is NOT YET COMPLETE! In fact it isexpected to take anything from another 30 to 80 years to complete! Itis a massive structure with intricately carved towers piercing highinto the sky. On the pavement leading to the structure, I foundtourists crouched, bent in strange postures trying to capture theentire height in their cameras. Gaudi who has shaped so much of theBarcelona skyline conceptualised it and started building it in 1882.When he died, in 1926, only one of the four facades was complete. Thereis a lot of talk about how the succeeding architects have strayed fromthe original style and the difference in the material used, etc. But,to an architecturally clueless visitor like me, the structureimpresses. While there is no denying the architectural genius involvedin designing a structure of these proportions, it is the interior ofthe church that took my breath away. To be able to create a room thatcan house almost 8000 worshippers and yet lend it a feeling ofintimacy is an achievement.

The next destination is Park Guelland I am told the subway would be the quickest way to get there. I lovethe simplicity of the subway system in most European cities. It is soeasy to figure out that within minutes you are riding it like a local.

Thereare a couple of entrances to Park Guell depending on which side you areapproaching from. But wherever you are entering from, be prepared, thisis no walk in the park! A half hour climb up a winding path brought meto the summit of the Park. The view makes up for the spent energy. Theentire city stretched under me. And in the distance I could make outthe towers of La Sagrada Familia as well as the palace atop Montjuic,my destination for the next day. The summit is crowned with a stoutstone tower mounted by three crosses. Very uneven stone-laid stairslead up to the crosses. The climb is rickety and the view is not muchdifferent than from the base so attempt it at your own peril. As Istarted making my way down, I could see the towers of the two buildingsthat stand at the entrance you are meant to enter from. I had enteredfrom the rear and was thus seeing it from the direction opposite thanwhat Gaiudi intended! This part of the Park is strewn with Gaudiesqueelements. There is a huge terrace with dozens of pillars holding up aceiling studded with obscure mosaic-work. A large stairway leading upfrom the entrance is split by a water-spewing reptile studded withcoloured stones. And the entrance itself is flanked by two buildingsthat look like elves and other fairy creatures may run out of them anyminute. Beauty may lie in the eye of some beholder but Gaudi's work isdefinitely interesting and amusing in its bizarreness.

It wasnow time to call it a day. Not just because it had been a long day butalso as I realised that I only some loose change left on me. I had beenwarned to carry only as much money as I would need for the day and whencalculating my requirement for the day had forgotten to account forfood and water!! Trundled back to the hotel for food and a warm bed.

Las Ramblas tomorrow...

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