Jason's Daily Notes

The sun rises late in Barcelona in January, largely due to Spain's time zone offset (it is set one hour ahead of where it should be). Thus, when we awoke and the sun was just rising, it was a surprise to discover that it was already close to 10am. Oops.

I looked out the window and saw a glorious church/cathedral on top of a mountain in the distance (it was Temple de Sagre Cor, atop Tibidabo). I decided that we would go there today. The hotel didn't offer complementary breakfast, so instead we consumed the coffee in the hotel room. We set off on the tram (were we supposed to validate our tickets?) and took the metro L1. When we changed trains at Catalunya, we bought donuts from the Dunkin Donuts in the metro station. We took a train all the way to plaza de Tibidabo, and were going to get on the bus to take us to the funicular, when we learned that the funicular was closed. Disappointed, we decided to take a bus back into the city. (I turned on the data on my phone and learned that the funicular was closed for all of January.) I could feel myself becoming upset, so my mom and I agreed that we should just take a taxi up the mountain (because when I decide to do/get something, I do/get it!). It was like a 7km drive uphill, costing us only €12, but the views were spectacular the whole way.

We were dropped off atop the entire city of Barcelona! The view was amazing, and the sun was brilliant. In fact, my eyes were straining without the protection of sunglasses. There were a few other visitors around, but not nearly as many as I imagine would be there if the funicular and the amusement park were open. We explored the temple, walked onto its large balcony and took in the spectacular view. It was simply ah-mazing!



We waited nearly 30 minutes for the bus going down the mountain. It was a petite bus, about 1/3 the size of a normal bus. I figured this was for it to fit on the tiny, winding streets of its route. The bus filled up with visitors, and it took us to another funicular, where everyone alighted and took that into the city. We transferred to another metro and returned to the city center.

Hungry, I looked up a restaurant to go to. We ended up at a highly-recommended/rated tapas bar called Cerveseria Catalana. Every other restaurant nearby was empty this Sunday afternoon, but the cerveseria was packed when we walked in. It was a 40 minute wait for a table, so we waited. I read the newspaper in Spanish and could understand much of it! (I really think that if I lived in Spain, I could pick up Spanish really quickly.) We were soon seated, sharing a table (sort of; it was pulled apart but still connected) with a young family. We ordered a variety of tapas, including octopus, shrimp, salad, sausages, fried camembert, and potatoes. All of the food was excellent. The gorgeous milf across from us started talking; she was visiting from Venezuela and they were going to the Barca game tonight. She recommended that we eat at Fonda del Port, which I took note of. We had coffee and cakes for dessert. I like this style of eating :)

We then walked to Sagrada Familia as the afternoon began to wind down. It was too late to go inside the work-in-progress, but the views from outside were more than enough to satisfy us - it was simply gorgeous in the golden light!

We wanted to take a bus home, and I had no bus map, but I figured that there would be a bus going down Avenida Diagonal. Wrong! We walked for a while, draining my family. Soon we were back at Glories, the tram station we had alighted at in the morning. We got on the tram and went home to rest.

My mom and uncle are constantly amazed that I could figure out the metro system in a completely new city. I think this should be normal, right?

My uncle wanted to go to a local bar to watch the game. I was in Barcelona and Barca was playing - how could I say no to that?! My mom rested in the hotel room. I looked up several nearby choices, and we walked a couple blocks to a nearby dive bar/diner, where we got a table. The place seemed to be run by a Chinese family. Many of the local clientele looked like they were immigrants from Central America. It was really cool. Barca scored 4 goals right away. I told my uncle about Lionel Messi. We ordered some food - calamares and potatoes, and finished 2 beers each. Good times!

On the way home, we bought some food (sandwiches and more calamares) for dinner for my mom (and for us).