After an hour of very little movement, I decided to celebrate my return to mobility by climbing the tallest hill I could find which was handily located right behind the hostel. Montjuic also happens to be the site of the 1992 Olympic stadiums so strolled past a few of them and up through a garden. I didn’t actually know what was at the top but there was a cable car going up there and I figured that if someone’s going to bother building one of them, there must at the very least be a pretty good view up there. As it turns out there was in fact a pretty spectacular view of the whole city. There was also a massive old fort that appears to be for sale, so if you know anyone in the market….”Finished the day with a nice stroll along the waterfront and a delightful shin bruise from the suitcase someone left in the middle of the dorm room (seriously all you could hear all night whenever someone walked in was THUD “ouch!*”
*language edited for parental viewing
Had a great start to the morning when one person in the dorm had their phone alarm go off every 5 minutes between 3 and 5am without once waking up or switching the phone off despite the repeated pleas and demands of everyone else in the room. Turns out it was the same person who injured us all with the suitcase so, yeah, very popular. Headed towards the big train station to reserve my seat to Pamplona but got held up for half an hour while every Harley in Europe thundered past. Made it to the station and 3 hours later left with my reservation (lets just say I am going to get a lot of Soduku before the end of this trip).
Headed back to the misguided Columbus monument where, after being temporarily used as free advertising for the walking tour, I joined 4 others on a bike tour. Picked up our bikes and started the tour with cans of beer on a beach made of imported Egyptian sand. Pretty fancy. Rode up past the bull ring to the spectacular Sagrada Familia, started by Gaudi in 1893 and still no end to the construction in site. Absolutely incredibly building. Had a few more beers while marvelling at its façade, and then rode on to see a few of Gaudi’s apartment buildings, including one owned by the Chuppa Chupp owners. Wound our way back down to the Arc de Triomph and the Par de la Ciutadella where I found out that the big fountain is actually Gauudi’s Fountain, though he didn’t really contribute to it as he was only an apprentice at the time.
Dropped off the bikes and headed back toStokes’s bar (now with the air conditioner fully installed) for a post tour beer and got a few battle tales from a bunch of Adelaide boys just returned from Pamplona. Joined 2 of my fellow bike tourers for a bit of Tapas sampling and huge dinner and then back to the hostel to try and remember how I fit all my clothes in my bag in the first place. Off to Pamplona tomorrow!
 |
| at the top of Montjuic |
 |
| bull ring...sorry couldn't rotate these ones |
 |
| Sagrada Familia |
 |
| the house that chuppa chupps built |
 |
| tapas, nom nom nom |
No comments:
Post a Comment