Another European Adventure with the Emlets

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Barcelona - Home of Picasso

Hola! Our first full day in Barcelona took us to breakfast across the street to our free internet place to check email, etc. I can't believe in this day and age this hotel limits your internet, and you have to pay 2 Euro per hour. Crazy. If we could just get on anytime we wanted, but we have to call the desk, and use it for 1 hour, period.

Anyway, before my hour is up, I should get this written. We started walking down towards the Picasso museum. He grew up here and all of his early work is housed here in a very nice museum that is easy to get around in. We saw his first attempts and the painting "The First Communion" which he won his first award.

The first Communion - Piccaso aged 14

He was 14. When you see all of the progression from early to later works Picasso starts making some sense. We have seen many of his later work, but now we feel like we have seen, much like the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, how he developed. Picasso donated the pieces to the museum in his later life because he was so proud to be from Barcelona. Here are a few of the pieces we saw today (there are over 3,000 pieces of art here).

The pigeons - We bought some of this series (postcards)

Then we were off to the Barcelona Cathedral. It was built in 1298 to 1450 on the site of a Roman Temple of Jupiter from 343 AD. Pretty gorgeous.

Barcelona had a rebirth in the 1600's and many of the side chapels we re-done. Really spectacular.

The Black Madonna and Child

This is 13th century

Stained glass in this era was limited because the walls needed to
support the roof.

Very nice cathedral, considering it is small (by European standards) and not very famous.

Came back to the neighborhood and had a pizza and tapas. Nothing to write home about. Then had a siesta.

We just got back from a stroll down the Ramblas, which is a street that is a big pedestrian mall with 20 jillion people on it.

We stopped by the market (have to do that in every city). This one had lots of fun stuff.

fans along the way

Beverly's Spanish cousin

Pretty narrow streets

Jerry is SAVED!!!!

Fruit that they make into juice for you.

More ham - I wonder where are the pigs?

nuts

Rabbit with all the innards

In the back right is a goat head. These are pig lungs and stomach in the front

Here's what I'm talkin' about!!!

Just fill up the bag - 4 pieces about $7.50

candied fruit

beautiful peppers

Spanish walleye - cuttlefish

whole pig to roast, only 65 euros

We've had a good day, and are now looking for a restaurant to eat at tonight. We are both sort of hungry for meat, so....we will see. It is hard for Jerry to make a decision. I'll fill you in tomorrow. Adios!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Barcelona - What a place

We have left Valencia this morning and are now in Barcelona at the nice Hotel Nouvel that was recommended by Chris Mundy and her Spanish students. We had a hell of a time getting here because again, the cab drivers spoke no English and we did not have the correct address for the hotel (wasn't on the internet site) so we took a round about way to get here, but here we are.

We arrived at the train early, and waited for our 11:18 train ride. Not as fast this time, because it made several stops. But it was beautiful.

Pretty boring, right? Ok, enough with train pictures (they were for Tracy DeLong).

Ate here, right across the street

Free Wi Fi so Jerry is checking scores

Seems odd to be in a hotel room after the apartments, we are kind of....crowded. But, it will be fine for only 4 nights and we are right off the Ramblas, which is the big ped mall in the city. Packed with people and I am sure we will have lots of photos for you tomorrow. Our internet access is limited to an hour a day, so if you email us, we will get it but it might take a while to get back to you. Looking forward to what everyone calls their "favorite" Spanish city. Adios

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Friday night, Saturday in Valencia

Good morning! It is 3:54 AM your time -9:54 AM our time and I have slept about 15 hours. I must say, I do feel better.

Friday night after I published the blog, Jerry and I went out to find some dinner at Canela, but our darling Juan could not find us a table (at 9:45 PM I might add) so we went to another one down the street. This place had a waitress from Colombia and her English was very good, so it was fun to visit with her. Also, there was a father/son from Virginia at a nearby table. Son doing a semester abroad and playing American football here, and Dad visiting. So we got our English fix. We had garlic shrimp (really a safe bet around here) and grilled vegetables, which were great! and....needless to say, a bottle of wine.

Then we walked around a little bit. With Fallas coming you see all the lights hanging over the streets, and the stands are getting set up. I think some of the stands are always there, but there are a lot more of them now. The bands and crowds are getting more plentiful too.

These Chocolateria have Chocolate and Churros and deep fried Calamari day and night

Came home and called some people and then went to bed. Saturday, we awoke and decided that we should secure our train ticket for Barcelona on Monday, so we found the appropriate bus to the fast train station (there are two generally) and got the ticket. Uneventful. Then we came back and changed and left for the Seaside again. Today was a little cooler than when we had been there before, about 65 so we were glad to have jackets with us. On our way we had to transfer buses and we had seen these interesting trees before. Got a picture of them this time.

Off to the sea side

Cool jungle gym, all ropes

Cool sandcastle!

its 4:00 so we decided to have a snack

We are adventurous eaters and we decided to try a plate of grilled cuttlefish, which I thought sounded "cute" cuddle - cuttle? Anyway, in the picture on the menu it just looked like grilled fish, and my stomach was a little iffy, so we decided that would be great.

This is what a cuttlefish looks like in the sea and on the menu

Does this look like something intelligent people should eat?

Turns out a cuttlefish is a mollusk like an octopus, which we love. It has 8 legs, one big eye, and a really tough body. This had none of the good taste of Octopus. It tasted like pencil erasers that had been boiled in fish guts, and then drowned in olive oil and squid ink. I am sure, that there are cuttlefish affectionidos out there that would disagree with me, but, really?....and then the EYE is just looking at you when you bring it up on a fork. EWWWW. I eat sushi, I eat lots of weird stuff, but this was just plain BAD!

When we didn't eat very much of it (we tried, really) the waiter came and asked if everything was ok. I said with an apologetic shrug, "we didn't like it". He responded with a shrug himself, and said basically, "Tough". Needless to say his tip was small, like 15 cents.

So now, I am already not feeling the greatest, and we take the LONG bus ride home after eating the creature from the sea, we walk about 10 blocks from the bus and I just crashed. But hopefully, today is another day. Need to clean up the apartment, wash clothes (we are moving to a hotel for the next 6 nights), and decide what we want to remember about Valencia.

Sunday, was a hang out and do laundry day, but we managed to get out for a walk, and Jerry had a snack. My stomach said....NO! but I did have a diet coke. It was quite cool on Sunday, and all of Valencia was out with their families.

traveling requires laundry every so often

We have talked about the Fallas celebration coming up and really as far as we can see it has already started. Firecrackers are everywhere, little kids, like 4 years old, are lighting firecrackers and throwing them while their families are walking down the street. It is wild! And the crowds!!! Kind of like being at Kinnick Stadium on a Saturday game day, only you don't speak the language, and don't know anything about what is going on. It was an odd feeling, and not necessarily a good one.