Love, Poetry and Revolution - Barcelona Edition 2nd September 2023

My intention had been to write regular posts from Barcelona - I even bought a tiny Bluetooth keypad so I could type with my Kindle - but we were so busy there really wasn't time.

I have been to Barcelona before, almost 10 years ago, with E and sons 1, 2 and 3. I really loved the place and we visited some interesting places, but E was already suffering really badly from MS-induced fatigue and still in denial. (No Spain, not Egypt)  This meant we couldn't do as much as we would have liked and that the effects of fatigue affected many of our outings.

After a very early start at around 2:30 in the morning I found myself seated on a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 with Q and Φ ready to fly from Liverpool to Barcelona. 

Later that same day we were due to be joined by Q's brother and his wife who were flying in from Finland.  After we checked into our apartment and had a brief rest, we headed into town to the Museum of modern art (MOCO).  This was a fun start to our stay and, after soaking up the digital vibes, we headed out to be greeted by a soaking of a different sort.  Barca has had a very hot summer with little rain, but now the heavens opened and rain of Biblical proportions fell upon us accompanied by thunder and lightning. (Very, very etc)

Every day was crammed full of activities - too many to mention in detail - including a tour of La Sagrada Familia, a trip to the beach for swimming and paddle boarding (for some), a tour of Parc Guell and a spectacular outing to Montserrat.  I also enjoyed visiting the Joan Miró foundation ( I may have been in the minority on this one) which had the added bonus of a ride on both a funicular railway and a cable car.

We also had some great food at local restaurants including baby squid, spider crab and a lot of meat and cheese. One of the great discoveries was that every coffee shop had lactose-free milk as standard, something you don't find in the UK.

After the rain on the first two days (the locals were very happy to have rain) it was sunny every day.  It never got too hot, though sometimes the metro was very humid.  

When we left there was still much to explore: if we'd had time I'd've loved to have travelled out of the city to the Salvador Dali museum, but we'll save that for the next time. There are also great beaches north and south along the coast from Barca.

We're back in Liverpool now enjoying the pleasures of home cooking after a week of eating out two or three times a day.  It was a fabulous holiday and great fun from start to finish. 

Karda Estra /  'The Atom Age Sense of Impermenance'  / 'Alternate History, Vol. 2'

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