At Hotel Mas Boeles in Tarragona, we made tiny cups of fancy coffee in the room for coffee in bed. Fancy coffee maker too. Put on bathing suits to head to the pool for a swim. Uh-oh, not heated. So we took a nice walk around the beautiful grounds instead. The olives have a ways to go and we didn’t see any grapes (harvested already?). No swimming meant an early start to Barcelona.
Ham and other pork products are everywhere in Spain. Even the little stores will have a wall of hanging salted pork legs. So where are the pig farms? We passed a couple on AP7. Whew! And when we passed the pig hauler truck we were able to positively identify the odor.
The drive went smoothly (if occasionally aromatically) to Barcelona. With no cultural maps of Barcelona, I vectored pretty much directly to a giant phallic symbol we could glimpse. Barcelona is a huge city. It took a while to traverse. Arriving at the weird modernistic building, we parked underground. The exit led to a locked door at the top of the staircase. OK. Out the other exit.
Interesting building. It was a private office building in the middle of an office district. The Torre Agbar building. Empty now. Eerie. Snapped a couple pictures and found a farmacia for an ace bandage. Got a Barcelona map and headed back to the parking garage. Fumbled with the coins at the payout machine and the ticket fell under the seat so we took a couple minutes to get to the exit. Our ticket didn’t work to get out! WTF? Another .65 for the couple minutes we spent leaving. Heaven forbid there would be a line to exit or we’d go broke to leave.
Drove to the tourist area. I’m not a city guy and I’m getting pretty stressed (don’t drivers ever take turns merging?). Maybe I should have gotten the insurance. Drove past the Arch. Parked at a close in lot by the Picasso museum (with a human lot attendant) and escaped the car. Nice pizza lunch (I am superstitious about pizza and tournaments but that’s over). Walked around a pretty park where they were taking down everything from a festival we missed yesterday (more bull running? No.). Posed by the Mammoth statue. The maintenance on the park was a bit discouraging. Grafitti on beautiful wood doors long untended. Broken bench slats. Just a general deterioration. Make the public feel the austerity where it is most visible?
Walked through a beautiful neighborhood and ticked off several must see buildings from the tourist map. Quite nice. Had an ice cream, espresso swirl, that might have been better than Mcdonalds ice cream. Got to the Picasso museum. Some line.
Aside: whenever I buy a lottery ticket, we talk about how we would spend a big winfall. Buying a Picasso has never been on the list. If we were given a Picasso, we would sell it immediately. We really don’t desire a Picasso – regardless.
So back to the Picasso museum, Are we really going to wait for the better part of an hour and pay money to see an artist we have no connection with? Ummm, no. Even the chocolate museum was too busy. Off to the beach!
The crazy Russian motorcyclists must have all moved to Spain and gotten scooters. We wanted to drive by some church – the drive was hell. With my non rental insurance clause flashing before my eyes every couple of seconds, we made it to the giant fancy church that is being restored at the cost of Spain’s solvency. At least half of Barcelona was there to enjoy it as we creeped by in the gridlock. We finally get on the toll road heading up the coast.
Funny thing about the toll roads, they charge you 2.11 but don’t accept 1 cent coins. I think the troll behind the troll roads is pocketing that little excess (after they dither the parking lot timers).
Griswalding out the wrong exit from a traffic circle, we get off the Google route (not again). Lisa looks at the map and “recalculates”. If we go to Loret de Mar we can take GI682 to Platja d’Aro. Looks about the same distance… Now the traffic and driving had me pretty stressed in Barcelona. We get on this curvy little road on a cliff above the ocean. Nobody is on it. Lisa asks me if I’m OK. I just smile. Open curvy road with gorgeous views and what was pretty much my own private race course? “I’m fine.” It took a few minutes longer but was the absolute highlight of the day! It was a lot like highway 1 near Big Sur but way more accessible.
We get to the hotel in time for a walk on the beach. The rainstorm that had turned the ocean yellow at Tossa de Mar had barely gotten the sand wet here. The water was not cold and quite clear. Bodes well for a snorkel tomorrow.
Dinner at the hotel looked sketchy so we walked the long walk into town. We stopped at Mariscos – I don’t think I got the name right but I sure got the right restaurant. Wonderful paella, nice garlic shrimp, fresh squeezed Valencia orange juice and some nice Spanish brandy to finish. Excellent meal! Walked off some of those excess calories on the way back to the room.
Eric
