After spending just a few hours the previous day in New York (complete with unspeakable cab fares to get from LaGuardia to JFK to Soho and back to JFK, and a fantastic lunch at brother Jeff's recommended brunch spot, Balthazar), we caught a few hours of fitful sleep on our transatlantic flight and arrived in beautiful Barcelona. I'm not sure what I expected but I was amazed at the large port city spread out before us and was anxious to see what it had to offer. We viewed the Olympic stadium and giant torch as we drove from the airport to our hotel. We also passed the port area where we would embark on our adventure in two short days. It is hard to describe the sprawling city that is both very old and very modern at the same time. The architecture is very interesting and different from any big cities I have visited. Our hotel, the Hotel Arts was right in the middle of what was once the Olympic Village, and next to a beautiful beach, Marina and busy boardwalk area. The hotel itself was very modern and interesting in it's own right - very much like a W Hotel, this Ritz Carlton property was impressive from the minute we arrived. Each staff member was on a personal mission to make our stay a memorable one. They had it in our records that it was our 25th anniversary and took it upon themselves to upgrade us to an executive suite - that was a nice surprise and a much appreciated little perk. Our room was not ready, however, so we put on our swimsuits and headed to the 2nd floor pool, which overlooked the marina and the Mediterranean sea - absolutely spectacular! As you can imagine, within minutes Steve had made friends with the bartender, Charles, a waiter, Janek and a poolside attendant, Johanna. By the end of our brief stay they would be giving us free drinks and hugging us goodbye and we were tipping them generously and telling them to enjoy their upcoming visit from their mother. Our room proved to be another crowd-pleaser, located on the 26th floor of the hotel with panoramic views of the city and the sea. We walked to an early dinner that night (not being able to stay-up for the traditional 10:00 dinner after an over-night flight), so we set out in search of some paella! Being the Chatty Cathy that he is, Steve had the brilliant idea of asking a homeless, shoeless man napping on a bench, if he knew where Set Portes might be (a restaurant recommendation by our friends, Stuart and Jeanie Sikes). Surprisingly, the homeless man, who had probably not been to an upscale paella restaurant in recent years, if ever, could offer us no assistance. We somehow stumbled upon the restaurant, however, and the black rice paella and sangria was delicious! But the sun and travel had taken its toll and we were back at the hotel and sound asleep by 9:00, long before most Barceloneans (sp?) have headed out to begin their evenings. I did regret on our walk back to the hotel that we didn't save our leftover paella and deliver it to the homeless man; however, he had left his bench by the time we passed by again.
The next morning we slept in until past 10, and missed out on the planned walk down by the beach and marina. But it was off to see the city - mode of transportation would be the subway system. It was a beautiful summer day, in the high 70's and we had just a few destinations in mind. First it was La Sagrada de la Familia - an indescribable cathedral in the middle of Barcelona, that has been under construction for almost 100 years. It was designed by the famous architect, Antoni Gaudi and it was truly amazing to see this building that is a literal piece of art in itself, being created. We were able to go up into one of the spires via lift, and come back down by way of some very narrow stone steps and view the building from the top to the bottom. It was quite an experience. We then visited a park area, that was also designed by Gaudi, and had some of his trademark architecture. Then we went to La Rambla, which is the main walking area in the center of the city. Much like parts of Manhattan, there was a Mercado for fresh fish, fruits and veggies, as well as fresh flower stands along the walking area. We ate lunch in a cafe in the middle of all the action, where there were people dressed as statues, taking pictures with tourists for tips. Then it was back to the hotel for a brief sit by the pool before getting cleaned up for dinner. Dinner was at the proper hour of 10:00 PM at a wonderful Tapas restaurant recommended by he hotel concierge, (Steve's BFF, Jenny). Then we walked through a funky bar area that looked like deep ellum during the days of romeo and juliet. It was centuries old buildings with narrow alleyways, but well-lit with restaurants and bars tucked behind doorways with limited identifying markers to promote themselves. It was very unique and actually pretty cool after walking around a bit losing my initial feeling of uneasiness. We stopped into one unidentified little open air place and had a quick Mojito before calling it a night. We managed to stay out until 1:30 AM that night and surprised Chase when we called her on her cell phone (she knew immediately how late it was where we were and asked what we were doing up!!).
We surprised ourselves by sleeping until 11:00 AM the next day, and were pleased with ourselves that we had arranged for a late check-out. We once-again had to for-go our plans for an early morning walk on the boardwalk and instead made one last trip to the pool to see all our friends one last time. More free beers for Steve - no more Mojitos for Tracy!
Now it is off to the Port to begin the next part of our adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment