As you enter
this city there is no denying the electric feel that touches your skin. Its
people like its blood flowing freely through the streets, giving life to it,
making it move in constant unexpected ways. Surprises lie around every corner, and
the eyes are constantly filled and satisfied by its beauty and diversity.
I had a very
near miss at Nice Airport, I boarded a pretty bumpy flight and finally touched
down late at night to a busy terminal. After a bus ride to a separate terminal and a slight panic thinking I had flown to the wrong city to meet Tom, we set
off on the €5 bus to the city centre.
We stayed at
Hotel Grums, which was pleasant enough but given the choice again I would
consider one closer to the centre, especially if the only transport you possess
are your Jesus wheels and you don’t intend on spending your weight in gold
being taken around in circles by local taxi drivers.
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| What Tom looks like after a loooong day of walking |
Anyway after a good night’s rest we were
ready to hit the town nice and early the next day. Before we’d set out, we had
each picked a surprise activity for the other and mine was the……drrrrrrrrumm
rrrrrolll…..Barcelona Zoo!! So big, people ride golf carts around it, and so
beautiful it was like something out of a fairy tale book. We walked and walked,
saw everything from the mighty Tiger, to a pygmy Hippo and many things I have
never even come across before and my favourite of course, the meerkat.
We were also fortunate to catch the
dolphin show in which a baby dolphin ignored all the commands and ate all the
fish. He was definitely my favourite. We also came across two aardvarks
wrestling (?) and the lion pride roaring and after lunch and an ice-cream, we
had already reached late afternoon.
We strolled up La Rambla which was
buzzing with its markets and teeming with foreigners offering parties and
drugs, and Tom, a natural GPS, managed to guide us back through the maze of curious
and ever changing alley’s.
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| The Magic Fountain |
Even if I do say so myself, we cleaned
up quite nicely in collared shirt and LBD onto our next surprise. We jumped in
a taxi and found ourselves just in time for the Magic Fountain (that’s what it
is actually called, I didn’t make it up I swear). It is directly in front of
the National Museum of Art Catalunya which makes a spectacular backdrop to the
crowds gathering to see this extravagant combination of lights, music and water
display that smoulders and sprays and will definitely not hurt in helping you
get some if you know what I mean ;)
We couldn’t stay too long, however
because it was time for my surprise next….
I got this idea from the movie, ‘Its
About Time’ and thought when in Barca?
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| Tom and I freezing our asses off at the Ice Bar |
It’s a little place called Dans Le Noir
which literally means “in the dark”, on Passeo Picasso.
It’s a restaurant which operates on the
theory that if you take one sense away, others will be heightened and a
seemingly ordinary act can be turned into an oddly exciting experience.
You are served your choice of a two,
three or four course meal in complete darkness by either blind or visually
impaired waiters. There is no need for cutlery, although it is provided, and a
great need for liquid courage which is why we chose the four-course with
champagne to start and a glass of wine with each course. The menu is only revealed afterwards so
I ended up gobbling down beef carpaccio, which I thought was salmon and Tom
devoured a kiwi salsa…even though he doesn’t eat kiwi? I smashed my champagne glass
and poked Tom in the eye but we managed to keep our clothes free of food and
ended up getting quite sauced up. All-in-all it was highly successful and a
definite recommendation for everyone, everyone.
Feeling very merry we decided to head to
the beachfront and as if it wasn’t cold enough, the Ice Bar. -9 degree’s in
temperature and glasses made of ice, it was a definite experience but in my
tiny dress we decided not to hang around and instead headed to Opium for some
hubbly, or as the English call it, Shisha. Before long it was time to call it a
night.
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| CDLC |
Sunday morning started with a hunt for
breakfast, some starbucks lattes and a very successful Christmas jumper find.
We then decided that walking was too much effort and jumped onto rental
bicycles. La Sagrada Familia seemed like a pretty appropriate place to go on a
Sunday but after cycling there, seeing the ridiculous line and trying a very
unsuccessful online ticket purchase we decided to head for some lunch instead.
We found ourselves back at the beachfront
and this time headed down to the CDLC – Carpe Diem Lounge Club. This eclectic
restaurant served everything from Lamb to Sushi and only of the utmost quality,
which naturally led to food envy for me so I will definitely be returning to
try all the delights they have to offer. If you go, go hungry!
Sadly the weekend had to come to an end
and it was a sad goodbye but it was masked by the amazing things that Barcelona
had to offer. This city is definitely one of my favourites and will not be
forgotten anytime soon.
