Barcelona: A magic fountain, bubbly and a lost credit card
After a long bus ride to Barcelona I arrived in the evening, hopped on the subway to find my hostel and immediately set out to find the magic fountain. I only had a few days in Barcelona and only one opportunity to see the magic fountain in action. This beautiful water fountain combines water, light and classical music to put on a free show that was nothing short of hypnotic. Located just up from Espanya subway station I found the fountain simply by following the crowd of people. I found a spot, sat down and proceeded to stare at the fountain for an hour.
Over the next couple days I went on three walking tours with Sandemans; one of the city centre, one for tapas and drinks, and one to explore the city’s architecture. Barcelona is home to some seriously beautiful modernist buildings. Modernism is characterized by its bold colourful designs, curving lines, meticulous detail and frequent references to nature.
The Sagarada Familia is one of the most famous examples of modernist architecture and is without a doubt the most beautiful building I have ever set foot in. Antoni Gaudí took over the project in 1883 and worked on the building until his death in 1926. The building is still under construction with a projected completion date sometime in 2026. The outside of the building features the story of Jesus from birth to death, and while the outside of the building is impressive, my favourite feature is the stained glass windows inside and the high ceilings that look like the underside of a forest canopy. When construction is finished I will definitely be going back for a visit.
On the tour around the city the guide managed to summarize a long and complex history in no time. The history of the Catalans would be a blog post in itself, so I will simply say that they seemed to always pick the losing side and as such still find themselves to be a part of Spain despite ongoing desires for separation.
I met another Canadian on the tour and we chatted about the Jays doing well and about the recent election (I am so far behind on blogging it’s a bit ridiculous). It was nice to catch up with someone who actually knows what you’re talking about when you reference the picture of Trudeau as Bautista chucking a baseball bat.
To finish off my walking tour experience with Sandemans I registered for a Tapas tour. At the meet up point for the tour I stood awkwardly with the seven other strangers taking the tour, each of us acting like it was our first day of school. Eventually, thanks to good food and drinks, we were soon chatting away like old friends. We visited five restaurants over the next few hours enjoying drinks and tapas in each. In the last restaurant we got to try drinking using a “porron” which is essentially a watering can for wine. The porron is used as a communal wine glass that is passed around the table. To drink from it you hold the vertical handle at the top, And pour the wine into your mouth. Unfortunately, the porron required coordination and skill that many of us no longer had. After spilling a bit and giggling away, we agreed to move on to another bar where we bought far too many pitchers of sangria. My phone sadly died at the start of the tapas tour so I don’t have any delicious food photos for you.
At the end of the tour I asked the tour guide if he knew a good cobbler who could fix the holes in my shoes (after 3 months of walking 5-8 hours a day, my shoes were giving up on me). Unfortunately I couldn’t find the store he referred me to and any shop I walked into tried to sell me a new pair of shoes. I’ll just have to keep avoiding puddles for now.
Over the next few days I continued to explore the city visiting both the Picasso museum and Montjuïc. You can’t take photos in the Picasso museum, but I highly recommend going if you have the chance. It’s the most extensive collection of this work and it’s housed in five medieval castles joined together into one beautiful museum.
On my last night in Barcelona I went out to a bar called the Champaneria with a friend from the hostel, Kuba. Kuba and I drank champagne while eating delicious tapas and after the Champaneria closed we found a corner store and bought a bottle of wine to drink on the board walk. Kuba is from America but his family are Polish so when three loud gentlemen were walking down the board walk blasting music and speaking Polish, they struck up a conversation with him and our party grew. Despite the guys’ best efforts to teach me Polish, I sadly have to say I’m not fluent yet. The five of us spent a while on the board walk sharing wine but eventually it was time to get some rest for my day of travel tomorrow.
All in all, Barcelona was one of my favourite stops in the trip. The beautiful architecture, interesting history, delicious food, good company and cheap champagne made for an incredible couple of days. That said, it was also in Barcelona that I encountered one of the most stressful situations of my trip to date; I lost my credit card. A more accurate description would be I wasn’t paying attention and forgot my credit card, but that is besides the point. On my last day in Barcelona I woke up, headed downstairs to check out and had a comfortable 2 hours until I had to leave for the airport. I made myself a coffee, sat down to go through photos and decided I should probably book my tickets to see Star Wars. Star Wars the Force Awakens was being released on December 16th in Italy (a day earlier than most countries) and I was dedicated to seeing it before hearing any spoilers. As I would be in Florence on the 16th I found a theater close to the hostel where I would be staying, and proceeded to payment. This is where the panic started.
I couldn’t find my card in my wallet, it wasn’t anywhere in my purse or my luggage or any of my pockets. Retracing my steps I realized I had only used cash the night before while we were out at the champaneria. When was the last time I used my card? I tried to calm down enough to think straight and remembered using my card to buy a ticket for the subway at Espanya station. I had walked into the station past a busker playing beautifully on a keyboard, had used the machine to buy a ticket, gone back to give the busker money, realized I was running late and ran onto the subway leaving my card behind in the machine. I explained all of this to one of the employees at the hostel and he sadly told me my card was probably lost. Refusing to accept this, I jumped on the metro, got to Espanya and was directed to the lost and found. In my rusty Spanish I expalined what had happened only to have the attendant look at me as though I was an idiot (probably deserved in this case). She consulted her book and with a tone of surprise told me that my card had been returned to them and was in an office to be processed, it would be at the lost and found office at Diagonal station for collection in 2-3 days. 2-3 days???? I explained to the attendant that I only had an hour and a half before I needed to leave for the airport, she tried her best not to laugh at me, and sent me to the lost and found office.
At the lost and found office I nervously waited to speak to an attendant, explained my situation in Spanish, and was told to wait. I think the attendant could see the panic on my face as he made a couple calls to the office where my card was despite expressing his doubt that there is no way the card could be delivered in less than an hour. I offered to go out to the office to pick up the card, but apparently that was not an option. After a couple phone calls and a lot of hand wringing he told me that a guard about to go on duty would bring my card from the main office to the guard’s office in the subway where I could go collect it. With 45 minutes to go I got back on the subway, asked for the security office and was sent to an unmarked door with no handle. I knocked, someone poked their head out, held up a finger to indicate I should wait and the door was shut again. I had 30 minutes until I had to leave for the airport. After five minutes I knocked again, someone poked their head out, held up a finger and the door shut again. I waited another five minutes and calculated that I had just ten minutes to spare if I was going to have time to go back to the hotel, collect my bags and get back on the subway to get the bus to the airport. After another five minutes I knocked again, was invited into the security office, and could see my card on the table. I signed a couple forms to have the card released, thanked everyone in the office until I’m sure they thought I was insane, and booked it out of there. Long story short, I was stupidly lucky to get my card back and I did manage to get tickets to see Star Wars.
Despite the hectic ending to my time in Barcelona, I already can’t wait to go back.
More to read
- Coimbra & Porto: Cloaks, Bats and Delicious Food
- Madrid: the City Built on Water, Surrounded by Walls of Fire
- Lisbon: Fado with a Friend and Failing to be an Adult
- Madrid: the City Built on Water, Surrounded by Walls of Fire
- Tilloy-Les-Cambrai Canadian Cemetery
- Paris: The Louvre, the Tower and Cafés galore
- Cork: Kissing the Blarney Stone and Visiting an Art Gallery with Lord Voldemort
- Dublin: Guinness, Fake Tim Hortons and Guinness
- Belfast: the Giant’s Causeway, the Titanic and the Troubles
