Barcelona slowly (part 4)
Day 7.
On this day, they promised my son, for good behavior, a trip to the Tibidabo amusement park, but... The night before, I got into the Internet, and it turned out that the park was stupidly closed that day (Friday? ). As, however, and in many other days. His work schedule is strange, usually open on weekends, the rest - read posters)))).
Urgently changed to "plan B" - Aquarium (also at the request of the son).
What can I say about the Aquarium... I agree with my son's assessment - "It's cool, but it was awesome in Istanbul. "
To visit, if you (like us) like to go to this kind of aquariums, have not been to them for two years, you simply do not have them in your area (country, or closer than 1000 km). It all coincided with us and we spent 2.5 hours with pleasure. But the Japanese were not seen there at all - they have more and newer aquariums of their own.
Cons - The aquarium is old, it is already 25 years old. Accordingly, it is not huge, rather tired.
Then we walked through the Old Port area (nothing special)
thru the Columbus Monument
to the Rambla.
And there we looked into Palau Gü ell, which had eluded us earlier.
This time everything went like clockwork - we bought tickets on the spot, the time of entry just approached, we went in - everything was out of line. There were very few people inside. There is no audio guide in Russian, there is a brochure.
I also liked the early Gaudi, there is no later riot of fantasy, but the Master's achievements are already visible. It's good that we finally got here!
Although it is called a palace (of the main local oligarch of those times), I would call it an improved 2-level apartment, a mini-palace at best. Everything is quite compact. And I was also interested in how it is to live in a house in the basement of which there is a stable ? ! Those were funny times. . .
In the evening we went again to admire the Magic Fountain of Montjuic (at the request of my son), and unsuccessfully. According to information from all sites, it was supposed to work from 21:30 to 23:30, but... having arrived at 22:25, we saw only the end of the show, and that’s all... It’s all the more strange that at 21:30 it’s not very dark either …
Day 8
We met the morning of the eighth day, as planned, at the airport, because the flight was scheduled for 09:00. But, the flight was rescheduled for 4 am the next day!!? ? (Join Up operator / Yang Er transporter sucks, don't get involved).
Without thinking, we decided to consider this a bonus day in Barcelona. We threw our luggage into the storage room of Terminal B (10th from the seat), boarded the train, and by 11 o’clock we started a bus tour to Bas Turistik along the blue route from Passeig de Grà cia, not far from Casa Milla.
Bass Turistik.
Ride on all three routes. First in blue, we had lunch, then in red. We made sure that we had already visited the most important sights, we walked around the city very notably. But it turned out to be very cool to do this bus tour at the end of the stay, and not at the beginning, as is customary. Everything somehow sorted itself out in my head and fixed. Walked along the beach before the green route
then we lay for an hour on the rocks on the pier.
The Green Route runs along the sea and through recent developments, and the hi-tech style that I know well from Singapore flourishes here. Everything is very worthy, however, I'm not a fan of this direction. Although I accept.
It took 10 hours for everything (including lunch, dinner and the sea).
Unfortunately, the left-luggage office was only open until 10:00 pm, so we had to leave Barcelona, but we could still take a walk.
Overall impressions.
Barcelona is a city that is friendly to tourists and deserves to be in the top tourist cities of the world. Pointers for tourists with useful information are enough. We did not see traffic jams. English and 20 Spanish words from the shortest phrasebook is enough for communication.
Slight cons.
Not super clean. Wipers with brooms were not seen at all - only a sweeper from the roadway. Sidewalks with shampoo do not wash)))). If there is no rain for a long time, there is a smell of urine in places (from walking dogs). By the way, no stray animals were seen at all.
In some places (Montjuic fountain, beach) annoying and numerous street vendors of drinks and other (Arabs) annoyed. They, laid out right on the sidewalks, create a sloppy look, like in some Malay Bazaar. They are even driven by the police, but the punishment seems to be ridiculous. We observed how the traders "played" a kind of cat and mouse with the police.
In the photo - on the Rambla, traders at a low start, ready in seconds to lift their goods by ropes along with a blanket and flee - the police are somewhere nearby.
Food.
We always try to engage in gastronomic tourism when traveling - we eat local cuisine. Accordingly, in Barcelona they hit on seafood. I liked everything, ate everything - shrimp, various shells, squid, octopus, lobsters, langoustines, I liked it more on the grill than in sauces.
I have never eaten such tasty and soft octopuses anywhere else.
Paella - I liked it (I took it in 3 different places).
Hamon - opinions are divided: I'm not bad, but I wouldn't trade it for our smoked meats; my wife is fine, but I would not exchange it for bacon))))).
Gazpacho - exo soup, okay.
Crema catalana - just divine! There are also several other "cream" desserts similar in recipe.
The locals spied another dessert - Tarta Larpeira (Tarta de la Abuela) yummy (airy pastries with no less airy cream).
Pan con Tomate - it couldn't be easier, but tasty (and cheap)! Simply sliced baguette bread topped with crushed tomato, olive oil and garlic.
Sangria - I really liked it.
Delicious local beer - Estrella.
Tapas (cult Spanish snacks). Almost left without trying. Somehow they were afraid - to choose from almost a hundred names, there were mostly some kind of canapes in sight, at a price of 3e - do you eat at least a little bit? But on an extra day, fate pushed the Tapa-Tapa to Passage de Grazia. Tourist place, tapas map on the table with pictures and English menu helped a lot.
We just chose the first 6 appetizers in the seafood section. The range of tastes is from interesting to delicious. Went down for lunch. Let's just say, if you have money and time, you can study tapas. The locals really eat them.
. We knew in advance (from the price comparison site by city https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison. jsp I recommend) that prices in restaurants / cafes in Barcelona are 2.5 times more than in Odessa (Kyiv). Therefore, they did not faint at the sight of the menu. Although the first days involuntarily multiplied by 30 (it is better not to do this))))).
We also ate in tourist places - delicious, but really expensive. On the second day, we found a restaurant O'RETORNO in our Hospital Clinic area on the corner of Mallorca / Urgell.
Prices are much lower, as a sign of quality - almost always packed with locals. We tried to have lunch (he is also dinner) in it. Very beneficial for three people - most portions are either large, or much cheaper if you take a very large full portion.
Here, for example, is the price that pleased us (after all the Rumbles) - shrimp, two meat dishes (veal on the rib and grilled veal), three of the largest beers and pan tomato. 42s. The three of us ate for lunch and for dinner, they simply could not eat part of the meat (my son already eats more than me). On this day, somehow I wanted meat)))).
Galician style octopus with potatoes - took a full portion (and nothing else) with my wife, when they brought it, I had to run after my son to the hotel room - otherwise they would not have eaten.
You can check prices on their website - http://www. oretorno. es/carta
I only mean that there are probably similar relatively inexpensive restaurants in all areas of Barcelona, look for it!
In our area, numerous cafeterias opened at 7 in the morning - coffee, breakfast. Locals hang out in them.
