A leisurely start to the day with Pete bringing pastries the size of plates back to the hotel. We decided to be far more focused today and make sure our plans were carried out more or less to the letter.
We had been told by the Irish couple that the History Museum of Barcelona was worth a visit. We meandered to it, stopping for coffee on the way.
Then on to a flea market that was outside the cathedral. By today we really had got our bearings, which is always the way at the end of the holiday.
I bought another pair of earrings. So far I have bought 4 pairs of earrings while I have been here,none more than 5 euros. Today the seller is said the earrings were vintage from the 1990s -for god’s sake that’s at least half of my wardrobe!
Stopped wearing them due to wearing facemasks, kept loosing them.
We found the museum without any issues, phew! My feet have had quite a pounding, need to be fitter for Guatemala in the summer. Jesus that is such an entitled sentence!
The ruins of Barcino.
It was very interesting the way that they had set it out. Again Pete was in the mood for posing…..one day he will get us into trouble.
That said it makes for a great photo opportunity.
Upstairs there was a medieval exhibition but it wasn’t nearly as engaging.
However, I did like the building!
Whilst we have enjoyed the tapas here the food has predominantly carnivorous so not so great for us,but that is the be expected. In terms of tapas there have been staples of patatas bravas, tortilla, garlic mushrooms so as Barcelona is a diverse city we have eaten food from across the world. Today we had Ramen, a favourite of ours.
I had spicy ramen and tofu, Pete’s wasn’t spicy. When it came to be served his had been given to someone nearby who was busily eating it. Pete was offered chicken ramen and the other customer had been eating Pete’s tofu one. So case in point, the other customer was fine with it – tofu is great!
Another recommendation was the Miro foundation- to get to it we needed a bus as well as the Metro. So today we found out that bus travel is also really easy.
Somebody told us that this week is school trip week so wherever we have been there have been loads of children. Bah humbug!
Up another hillside in Barcelona, the building stands out but also fits in with the environment.
Opened in 1975, it is an awarding winning museum building designed by Josep Lluis Sert. Joan Miro is considered to be of Catalonia’s leading lights.He was born in 1893 and lived to the ripe old age of 100. Joan Miro was multi talented, a painter, sculpturer and ceramicist who is considered to hav challenged the conventions of art and gained a reputation comparable with Dali and Picasso for his pioneering work.
The Foundation holds 14,000 of his pieces, which were influenced by the avant garde and surrealist movements amongst others.
I loved the colours and shapes he created. The prize for the best titled painting goes to Man and Women in Front of a Pile of Excrement ….
Lurid colours said to represent the tragedy and torture of the Spanish Civil War. Miró’s choice of title was to use French and not Spanish. Miró said that the reference to excrement comes from a saying by Rembrandt who said that when it came to painting, rubies and diamonds were found in dung heaps.
We walked down the hill through the park back to the Metro.
We saw lots of orange trees and decided to grab some. Not certain if scrumping is just limited to apples.
What a god awful taste! The bitterness was awful. The only use for them is marmalade. Also if you are spotted by any officials you can be fined for tampering with council property. Lesson learnt – I will never, ever be tempted to try them again as it took ages for the vile bitter taste to go.
Walking down hill there was one learner driver after another,maybe learning hill starts.
On the Metro back there were swathes of United supporters shouting chanting with arms aloft. I can’t describe the shame I felt.
Over 35 years I have been involved in umpteen school trips. We drum into the children how they are representing Rotherham etc. I was utterly aghast at how they were behaving – like tribal orangutans. Drunk and looking for the next Irish bar.
i must admit I lost it. A group shouted in my face, singing some rubbish or other. I lost it I shouted and berated them. We must seem like utter and complete knobs. I want to wear a badge. One that says I didn’t vote for Brexit, I don’t support football etc. It is so embarrassing as it makes people from Britain seem like thugs, loutish and vulgar.
After a break we went to a free English language comedy night. It was at the El Paraigua. Drinks were eye wateringly expensive. But a beautiful place.
We were the only English people there. The comedians were Irish, American, Spanish, Brazilian and Estonian. As with these things some were amateurs and some professional, some hilarious and some not. A really great evening with genuine huge look laughs.
Random Acts of Travelling 