Barcelona Day 4 - The Montjuïc Area

Our time in Spain was coming to an end.  After about two weeks, we had one last day before it was time to fly back to the U.S.  Therefore, we wanted to fit in a visit to Montjuïc Castle which was built in 1640.  Control of this fortress has been crucial in various battles fought near Barcelona during the Catalan Revolt, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Spanish Civil War.

We took the metro to the Montjuïc area.  Since we weren't in the mood to make a long uphill walk, we rode the cable car to the top.  There was a long queue to get on, but the line moved quickly.  As we expected there was a nice view of Barcelona through the dirty glass of the cable car.

Once at the top of the hill, we lined up again to pay for our entry into the castle.  Until three years ago, Montjuïc Castle was free to enter.  Now there is a nominal fee. We crossed the dry moat, entered the main gate, and headed straight up to the second floor.

A sun clock is inscribed on the wall of the Fort's main tower.

This fortress overlooks Barcelona making it a key strategic strong point in the defense of the city.  Unfortunately, during those instances when the fort was captured by invading forces, the high ground was used to bombard the city below.

On the castle grounds, there is no shortage of artillery pieces that span several eras.

Montjuïc Castle was initially designed to protect only against land-based attacks.  Initially, no defenses were erected on the coastal walls.  This would be a costly mistake during the War of Spanish Succession.  The French navy was able to sail up to the castle and bombard the hapless defenders to submission prior to the land invasion.  Years later, naval guns were added to protect against naval vessels.  This didn't help during the Spanish Civil War as the fascist Italian planes bombed the fort from the air.

With a couple of well-placed shells, Barcelona's problem with tourist over-crowding would be solved.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, revolutionaries and political prisoners were incarcerated and executed within the fortress.  The most renown was the Catalan President Lluis Companys who sided with the losing Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War.

We could not have picked a nicer winter day to visit Montjuïc Castle.  The sun was out and it wasn't too windy at all.  The grounds surrounding the castle are well-manicured. One field was even being used as an archery range.

Since it was such a beautiful day, we walked downhill back to town.  It took us over half an hour, but it allowed us to see some areas of Barcelona that we would have missed otherwise.  We could see some of the stadiums and buildings that were constructed back in 1992 for the Summer Olympics.  Eventually, we found ourselves back at the National Palace, which we had viewed from a distance the day before.  This time we were walking downhill towards the Plaza de Espana.  There was a flurry of activity along the boulevard as workers were preparing for the New Years Eve celebration that would take place later that night.

Balloons filled with confetti lined
the streets of the Plaza de Espana

Since we were already in the neighborhood, The Wife insisted that we spend the last few hours of our time in Spain at an architectural and cultural museum called the Poble Espanyol.  The park was built for the 1929 International Exposition and is meant to show the important structures and heritage from the different regions of Spain.  Since we had just spent two weeks travelling throughout Spain already, the place sounded like a waste of time.  After spending two hours there, my suspicions were correct.  Although there were some mildly interesting things to see...actually, no.  There really wasn't anything worthwhile to see.  The Wife will never admit it, but the place just really sucked.

The giant Barbie dolls at the
entrance to the Poble Espanyol...

...were a red flag that this place was gonna be really lame.

The Girl pets a large horse-shaped piece of dookie.

We did have lunch at one of the many eateries inside.  It wasn't great food but it wasn't terrible food either.  It was probably the highlight of our time there.

Spanish Omelette with potatoes and onion

Small fried squid

Catalan sausage with beans

Prawns "ajillo" with garlic

Cannelloni with white sauce

Fideua negra (with squid ink)

They did have a yule log tucked away in a small room in one of the buildings.  This Tió de Nadal is a great Spanish tradition.  Children will take care of this piece of wood that has legs and a creepy face.  They will cover it with blankets to keep it warm and "feed" it nuts and fruit daily.  This will go on daily during the holiday season starting on December 8 which is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Finally on Christmas Day, the kids will all gather around, sing a joyful song, and then proceed to beat the living crap out of the yule log until he literally...craps.  The blanket is lifted and behold!  There are wonderful candies and presents that the log has defecated out.

He also probably farts out rainbows.

I do have to say that the Spanish are awesome with their obsession with festive scatology.

We rang in the New Years not in the midst of all the revelry at the Plaza de Espana (Barcelona's version of Times Square).  Instead we were all huddled up in our apartment killing time before we had to leave in the wee morning hours to make our 6:50 AM flight to Frankfurt.  We did participate in the Spanish tradition of eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight for good luck.  Unfortunately, that seemed to backfire as The Father-In-Law accidentally left his briefcase with his laptop and passports in the apartment building AFTER we had locked it with the keys inside.  After several frantic calls and an hour's delay, the offsite landlord was able to send someone to open the apartment and retrieve the briefcase.  We were still able to make it to the airport in time to catch our flight.  So in retrospect, it's hard to say whether our luck was good or bad.

Overall, we did enjoy our two weeks in Spain.  Winter was probably not the best time to go as the beauty of Andalusian was not really evident with the flowers not in bloom.  Plus we froze our butts off in places like Toledo.  There is so much history in Spain, but all the cathedrals and forts get pretty monotonous after awhile.  The food was great pretty much in every city, and we were only scratching the surface of what the country had to offer.  Although Madrid and the surrounding towns has a lot of history and Barcelona has a plethora of architecture and culture, The Wife and I preferred the southern cities of Andalusia better.  The more intimate towns and slower pace of life were more relaxing for us on our vacation.

Barcelona Day 3 - A Side Trip to Girona

When The Wife was planning the itinerary for our vacation, she initially had plans to visit the Montserrat Monastery.  The site is known for it's shrine, choir music, and hiking trails with great mountain views.  The choir was off on break, the trails would be freezing this time of year, and we were tired of seeing endless religious buildings.  Therefore, we scratched Montserrat.  We considered visiting the tiny country of Andorra that is known for its tax-free shopping, but it was a little too far a a day trip. Instead, we decided to visit Girona, a quaint town of 100,000 people north of Barcelona.  Historically, this Catalan city has been besieged and sacked multiple times by the Moors.

Getting to Girona was pretty easy via a high speed train that took only 38 minutes.  We had taken one of the early trains, so by the time that we arrived, the town was still pretty quiet.  Plus, it was a weekend too.  The Kids couldn't resist stopping at a playground along our route.

At his size, The Boy looked ridiculous riding the playground zip line.

We meandered along passing shops and merchants setting up for a weekend market.

Eventually, we reached the Onyar River which cuts through the center of the city.  One of the iconic images of Girona is the brightly-colored houses that line the river.  Several bridges traverse the Onyar providing picturesque views.

This red bridge was designed by Gustave Eiffel prior to building the Parisian tower that bears his name.

Once we crossed to the historic side of the city, the streets became more winding and narrow.  The
first point of interest that we encountered was the Pujada de Sant Domenec.  Basically it's a long set of stairs and arch that leads to the church of the convent of St. Marti.

Although the town was mainly deserted, there was already a queue of tourists waiting to take their photograph at this site.  Several scenes for the Game of Thrones series was filmed in Girona.  Apparently, these steps were the location of one such notable scene.  I had yet to get past the first season of the series so it meant nothing to me.  However, the location is worth visiting even for non GOT fans.

We kept walking and encountering more and more sets of steps until we finally reached the old city walls.

We saw other people walking atop them but we couldn't find the entrance to get up there.  After searching for about 20 minutes, we finally found the entrance and climbed the stairways up.

While some areas of the wall are in disrepair, there is a long segment that spans several towers and is fully intact.  We walked atop of the walls getting a good view of the surrounding town.

Getting down from the walls can be a little tougher if you have bad knees.

Once we reached the end, we headed over to the Girona Cathedral.  Luckily, The Wife did not insist on going inside.  We did walk up the long grand staircase and enjoyed the statues on the outer facade.

We wandered around to other areas in the historic section of Girona, taking in the scenery.

Game of Thrones was also filmed at this square known as the Plaça dels Jurats.

This nearby bridge was also the photography subject of many GOT fans.

There was no lack of enthusiasm from the locals in expressing solidarity for Catalan separation from the rest of Spain.

By early afternoon, we were pretty hungry from all the walking.  Girona is a bit of a culinary hot spot, being the home of one of the top restaurants in the world--El Celler de Can Roca.  Hence, there are several other high end restaurants in the city offering creative twists on Catalan cuisine.  Many of the restaurants required advanced reservations.  With our last-minute decision to visit Girona, we neglected to consider dining options.  After striking out at several busy eateries, we were able to snag a table for the six of us at a restaurant called Llevataps.

They had a lunch tasting menu which sounded interesting, but it would have taken us way too long.  Instead, we ordered a variety of interesting-sounding dishes.  The entrees were definitely pricey for the amount of food.  We knew that we were paying for their avant-garde twists on traditional cuisine.  Nevertheless, the petite four-bite eel entree left me wanting.

Vegetable soup for a palate cleanser.

Coca bread with tomato, oil, and salt

Scallops with artichokes

"Oxtail "Royal"--stuffed with scallops, with a prawn

Boneless suckling pig with beer and smoked cheese

"The eel that wanted to be rib"

After our late lunch, we headed back to the station to catch our train back to Barcelona.  There was still plenty of light left over in the late afternoon, so we walked over to the nearby Plaza de Espana.  Many of the major roads through Barcelona convene at this important center of town. 

Many of the nearby structures such as the Venetian Towers and the National Palace were built for the 1929 International Exhibition.

Also near the Plaza de Espana is the Arenas de Barcelona.  This former bullfighting arena has been converted into a shopping center.

After a short rest back at our apartment, we had to face the daunting task of finding a place to eat dinner in Barcelona without a reservation.  Luckily, we stumbled across a chain restaurant called La Paredeta.

Even with our non-existent Spanish, this low-frills restaurant is simple to figure out.  The seafood is displayed at the entrance.

We just pointed out what we wanted and how we wanted it cooked.  After selecting our beverages and paying, we found an empty table in the dining area in the back.

We picked up our entrees from a counter as soon as they were finished cooking.  There were no waiters and we bused our own tables.

Cañaíllas - cooked sea snails

Grilled octopus

Fried monkfish tail

Xanguet fregit (fried transparent goby) and fried baby squid

Grilled razor clams with salsa verde

Cooked prawns with salsa verde

This would be one of the best meals we would have in Barcelona.  The seafood was fresh.  The food was cooked simply so it retained its natural flavors (the salsa verde was the only seasoning that was offered and it was awesome).  And there was no fussiness over the service.