Thursday, July 10, 2008

Barça

I haven´t posted in a bit, so this might come off as a bit encyclopedic.

Of anywhere on this trip, I knew that my experience in Barcelona would be amazing. Krisztian and I were staying with our friend Bernat, a Catalonian guy who was a visiting student at our department at Cornell. He lives with an Italian girl named Wilma in Raval, the medieval quarter of the city which has a reputation of being the (old) East Village of Barcelona.

Through some strange twist of fate, I also received an email from my friend Matt from high school, responding to the message that I had sent out to friends and family about the trip. It turns out he was walking across the coast of Spain in the opposite direction and would be in Barcelona at the same time.

Barcelona was a beautiful city, cultural center and also happened to have beaches. At certain points, the sheer number of tourists became overwhelming. When Krisztian and I went to Gaudi´s Sagrada Familia Cathedral, we ended up just walking around it and around it instead of paying the fee to enter. This is becoming a common theme on our trip. There were so many tourists from all over the world, mainly Europe. To entertain ourselves, we spoke in made up languages and tried to get people to take pictures of the sky by pointing our cameras away from the Cathedral. So, as it turns out, I have pictures of some people with very unflattering fanny packs (for you Brits), or seas of people all taking photos of some unknown thing in the distance. I never really understood tourist photography. Is the point of taking the picture to prove you were there, to conquer it?

That night I hung out with Matt and Tom. We went skateboarding at MACBA, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, one of the hottest skate spots in the world right now. We drank 40s of beer, skated, and watched some amazing skaters. It was strange that we carried on such similar activities as we would have in high school, but in such a different environment. Later, we skated down to the beach and listened to people playing flamenco music.

By the next day, I thought Barcelona was probably my favorite city I have ever been to. We went to a big beach party later that night, and Krisztian and I went swimming with some people. In a short moment that I took my eyes off my things, someone had taken my wallet and taken our mobile phone from Krisztian. We felt pretty ashamed, but also duped. Supposedly it happens all the time there. I still loved Barcelona, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Bernat was a great host. He showed us around town and led us on a bike tour of the city, followed by a ride to the town where he grew up, during which we took our first swim in the Mediterranean.

After four days, a few mishaps, and a lot of fun, we had to start riding again. The area between Barcelona and the French border, Costa Brava, may have been the most beautiful place I have ever seen. We rode along cliffs and hurtled down hills for an entire day, overlooking the sea.

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