Tuesday in Barcelona

This is my second post to write on the flight from Amsterdam to JFK.

Closed up Boqueria.

Tuesday we slept in a little bit, planning to leave at 9:00 am to visit La Boqueria Market for breakfast. The market is along Las Ramblas, so it was an easy walk from the hotel. Along the way, we noticed that the Metro was closed completely die to the general strike, whereas I had thought it would just be operating with reduced service. The Market was also mostly closed. It was a large place, but the majority of the stands were shuttered. There were a few open, though, and we found a woman making some delicious-looking crepes. We sat down and ate crepes. We went across Las Ramp Las to a Pan for some coffee.

Crepes!

It turns out that La Boqueria Market wasn't the one with the architecture that Barry wanted to see. So we walked the rest of the way down Las Ramblas, checking out the sites mentioned in our guide book, and made a plan to go across town to the Santa Catarina Market.

My advance research said that hailing a taxi in Barcelona is simple - just hold up your arm. We stood around for a nice long time waiting for a taxi to come by, with no luck. When we saw an occasional taxi, it was in service. We kept moving to new locations, and still had no luck. I began to get frustrated because we were making Gywen walk so far. We only wanted to make a simple trip across town and it was taking way to much time and energy. We checked on a pedicab (too expensive), and he finally pointed us toward a legitimate taxi stand near the Christopher Columbus monument.

We finally got in a cab, and by the time we did we noticed the police had closed off auto traffic to Las Ramblas. The taxi took us along Passieg de Colóm toward the market. When we got to Via Laietana, our turn toward the market, it was closed off by police. The taxi let us out and we would have to walk the rest of the way.

We started to walk up Via Laietana, seeking a lot of people hauling their luggage up and down the street. We went into a grocery to get cool drinks and sat down along the street to enjoy them as the reason for the street closures became clear: protesters were coming down the street from the direction of Plaça de Catalunya. We ventured off the main street to finish the journey to the market, and found it completely closed when we arrived. Barry and I took some photos while Gywen sat to rest. We walked back up to the main street to get a closer look at the protesters -  contrary to all guidance from the State Department. Everyone was walking from the area of the Plaça toward the sea, but the crowds were much thicker toward the northwest and we're thinning out by the time they reached us near the Cathedral and the market. Some people carried signs, and some chanted. Some were walking with their dogs and children. A lot of people seemed smiling and happy, like they were out for a walk with friends, but with a purpose. Barry remarked that it might be nice if people in the U.S. would care enough about something to show up in such numbers, and I tend to agree with him.

Being in a place inaccessible to taxis, and without the Metro running, we had no choice but to walk back to the hotel - which was only a few blocks away, but on the other side of Via Laietana. We had no choice but to walk through the protesters.

It wasn't difficult to find a break in the crowd to pass through. We were then in the Cathedral square (the Cathedral was closed ,so we couldn't visit), and we looked at some of the Roman structures on the way back to the hotel. We rested in the room the rest of the afternoon, but we did make a lunch in the hotel with the rest of our food from Montserrat, as well as a baguette Barry bought across the street.

That evening, we had reservations for dinner and the Flamenco show, which was not cancelled. We walked over to the show on Las Ramblas, noticing that the Metro was open again. The dinner was a buffet of traditional Catalan dishes, with over 40 items on the menu. The meal wasn't particularly memorable, although they did have a nice chicken dish, some good fish, and good sausages. In any case, we weren't about to starve -  after sampling most of what we wanted to, I was stuffed.

The Flamenco show itself was fantastic! We were seated in the front row, center stage, so we had a great, up-close view of everything. There were three male singers and a featured wan singer / dancer, as well as two guitar players, a percussionist, and three featured dancers (two women, one man). Everyone performed with so much strength and feeling - it was a great performamce. Their dance steps were so forceful that we could feel the vibrations through our wicker chairs. It was a really impressive and enjoyable way to end the evening.

Flamenco singer/dancer.

Flamenco musicians.