Another European Mini-Adventure Post

Another day more european musings:

Day 2 contd. 4th May - Barcelona

I arrived in Estacio Sants de Barcelona at around midday and spent an hour in the station fiddling with my computer before I finally braced my self and went out into the day. A feeling of pessism and paranoia was all over me and I lacked the willpower to shake it off. I became obsessed with looking over my shoulder and nothing felt good.

I had only two tasks for the day; first find the port and get my ticket from Iscobar (the ferry company); second try to find some accomodation for Tuesday night, this ocurred to me only after I'd collected my ferry tickets and I wondered where I would stay upon my return.

I found may way to the Port easily enough and with my one major task for the day completed my attention turned to my stomach. My disinclination to interact with other people was compounded by my experience with trying to communicate in Spanish. My efforts wound the Barcelonans up firstly because my spanish was so shit and I kept spluttering out french phrases only to answer english when they asked if I was French and secondly because they speak Catalan. My early conversations didn't go well. So by the time I was properly hungry (having only eaten a couple of bits of more or less stale baguette at the hostel at 7.30am that morning) I was in no mood for dealing with surly Barcelonans. So it ended up that I walked for about a mile past perfectly good cafe after perfecty good cafe before I took myself by the collar and walked into one - and even then only because it had started raining and it was getting ridiculous. I don't think I was cut out for travelling!

Even when I was in the midsts of the crowds of the Rambles after lunch I felt strangely alone, conscious of my massive backpack and sweating as I searched in vain for somewhere to stay on Tuesday. Once common sense kicked in I wisely headed away from the crowds of the most touristy part of Barcelona I'd seen (which granted isn't saying much) and head back towards the quiet dereliction of the Avinguda del Paral-lel, where I quickly found a hotel (of course, Hotel Paral-lel) and booked a room for tuesday.

After I'd sorted my room and had what I considered to be my first success I started to feel better and began to wander in an enjoyable way. I take pleasure in seeing the bleak sides of the city away from the well trodden tour guide paths and into the quiet unease of the back streets. Barcelona is no different to anywhere else and I found myself in comfortable surroundings soon enough. As in Perpignan, people with problems, not shopping or consuming but working or escaping or marking territory. In Barcelona the lanes are made dangerous valleys by tall buildings with ornate balconies where people hang their clothes to dry.

I knew there was a park that ran parallel with my favourite street Avinguda del paral-lel so I headed uphill towards that, enjoying the weight of the pack if not the hotness of my feet warning of blisters to come (why did I pack my smart boots rather than my walking boots?).

I felt smugly pleased then when I wandered up to a small park with a grand view of the city from which vantage point I could feel superior to the tourists who had driven up and yet had no pack to carry. On a minor note I could also enjoy the specatular view of the port and the city and caught my first glimpses of Barcelona's big ticket tourist items like the gaudi cathedral with its concommitant cranes.

I sat in that park and listened to Ole by John Coltrane and felt good for the first time since I left home.

Then I waited and wandered until I got on the ferry to Palma. Yawn.

ps If you have the opportunity to travel with Iscomar Ferries my recommendation is to avoid it.