Spain

August 6-10, 2005

Sarah and I were hoping to do some serious hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees, but the transportation to get there was too difficult from Bilbao, especially since we were already planning to spend a couple of days in Barcelona. I really wanted to go to Barcelona to see the Gaudi architecture. I first learned about him a couple of years ago while taking a Design class at UW and ever since I have wanted to see his work. At first Sarah wasn’t that excited about another city, but then she had a great time and even liked the architecture!

We spent part of the first day figuring out train, buses and hotels to Barcelona and then in the afternoon we took the metro line to the last stop to hang out at the beach. Another RD, Gary, was with us and the three of us had a great time. Jim joined us for the trip to Barcelona and the four of us had a blast. We got a rough start since we took an overnight bus to Barcelona; it was about seven hours on the bus. The buses in Spain are very different from the U.S. They are much nicer and traveled by the average person. We had an interport student trying to explain this to us. She was contrasting Spain’s buses to the U.S. and she had first hand experience. While traveling in the States she took a bus from Pennsylvania to Michigan and was scared the whole time due to the odd folks aboard. On the way to Barcelona we were sitting in the second to last row and there was a very large man sitting behind us. He got up many times to use the bathroom and kept bumping Gary and I since we were had the aisle seats. He was so large he couldn’t help it, but it was tough for sleeping, especially for Gary. We arrived at the bus station at six-something a.m. and then had to wait until the bus company office opened to buy our return ticket. We had a nice breakfast of chocolate crepes and real, fresh squeezed orange juice while we waited. In the meantime we figured out the metro and bought a two-day pass. After stopping at our hotel we went to the Picasso museum since it was free that day. It was an okay museum. The security made you go through the museum in order and you weren’t allowed to just wonder, which was very annoying since we got there right when it opened so we were crowded in with everyone else. Anyway, it chronicled his life work, but didn’t have much cubism or any of his famous works. We were all glad it was free. After the Picasso museum we wondered around and stumbled upon this playground and this cool swing set thing.

Gary and Jim on the rope swing set thing

Later, walked down to the water via La Rambla to catch the sights. La Rambla is a long car-less street in the center of town. Kind of like a huge State St. in Madison. Since it was Sunday morning things were a bit quiet and we all appreciated that. We found a restaurant for lunch and then went back to the hotel for our swim suits and towels and took the metro to the beach. We were all ready for a nap so we spread out our towels on the sand amongst the locals and promptly fell asleep. Later Sarah and I went in the water. It was very warm and clear. You could see your toes even when the water was up to your chin, not what I expected for a city beach. While we were swimming a building down the way caught on fire. We heard sirens and saw lots of black smoke and big flames in the upper story window. We never did find out what it was. I just hope it wasn’t anyone’s home. The beach was so relaxing and exactly what we needed after our long night. Once we were rested up I dragged everyone to the Sagrada Familia church by Gaudi that is still not complete. It has been under construction since the late 1800’s. It was really neat, very different from the other type of art we have seen. Sarah decided not to go and enjoyed a snack outside while Gary, Jim, and I wondered around inside.

Sagrada Familia interior

For dinner we went to a tapas bar, which turned into a rather complicated and expensive meal. The biggest expense ended up being our drinks, which were way overpriced (and of course the price wasn’t listed in the menu).

The next morning Sarah, Gary, and Jim went to the Olympic stadium while I wondered around and shopped a bit. We met before lunch and Sarah and I headed off to see some more Gaudi art. We first went to the Park that has buildings that look like gingerbread houses and many, many escalators on the sidewalk leading up to the park. It was funny to see them outside like that. It was a neat place and rather revolutionary for his time (early 1900’s) since he used so many curves in his buildings. Later we went to the apartment building he did called La Pedrera. It is a very fancy place these days.

La Pedrera

Roof top of La Pedrera

Park Guell

We met Gary and Jim for dinner and then headed to the bus station. We all slept pretty well on the way back to Bilbao.

On the last day Sarah joined with a few other departing spouses and took a cab to the airport. I went back to sleep for a bit then went into town to see the Guggenheim museum and go shopping. The museum was pretty good. The building was pretty neat, very different. There was one exhibit that I liked by Serras. There was a large Aztec exhibit that I might have enjoyed more had I not been to so many museums this summer. I sort of breezed through it and went outside to take photos of the building.

I gotta say I loved Spain! Barcelona was my favorite city we went to all summer. I hope I get the chance to return and do some hiking. There is a 23 day hike in the Spanish Pyrenees that looks fun. Maybe someday I’ll return and do that.