October 4th – Day 10 – Part 3 – Barcelona, Spain
I left La Sagrada Familia with a few hours to go before my train departed for Italy. The Placa De Les Glories Catalans, a large roundabout was featured heavily on my map and it was within 2km of me so I figured it’d be a good site seeing opportunity.
Unfortunately, the large roundabout was little more than a freeway overpass but it put me really close to the building in the above picture
Torre Agbar is a skyscraper of similar shape and design to The Gherkin in London. Basically, both of them are office buildings that look kind of like a pickle.
I walked Avinguda Meridiana back toward the train station. Along the way a few locals stopped and asked me for directions, but my limited understanding of Spanish relegated me to a lot of pointing at my map, then pointing toward where I thought they wanted to go.
I eventually reached Parc de la Ciutadella, an absolutely gorgeous city park in the center of Barcelona.
The outskirts of the park.
A neat statue inside the park.
Truly, this place is Shangri-La!
I said a prayer before throwing a few Euro cents into the water.
Tired from a full day of walking, I sat on a park bench and ate the remainder of the food in my backpack. I ran out of bread before I ran out of Nutella, so I resorted to eating the Nutella straight out of the container similar to how Winnie the Pooh eats honey.
After finishing off my meal and filling my water bottle in a nearby fountain, I noticed a group of people in a gazebo practicing some type of Spanish tap dance.
I wanted to join in on the dance battle, but my tap shoes were on the other side of the planet so I politely passed at the opportunity.
The trouble with travel, is that it is common to feel a disconnect with the places you visit. Eventually, the languages you don’t understand run together, and you look at ruins and landmarks as “just another set of old buildings.” While I had this feeling on occasion, at least a few times in each town I visited I felt some type of “cultural connection” with my surroundings.
As I walked through this beautiful park, observing hundreds of people napping in the grass with the sound of the tap group echoing behind me, I finally started to feel a basic understanding of Spanish culture. Moments like that make the travel experience worth it.
The park was filled with other sites and statues, unfortunately, my camera battery was dieing so I took a limited number of pictures.
Statue located outside of the Museum of Zoology.
As I left the park, I noticed this neat sculpture positioned on the sidewalk. I am not sure what it represents, but the image of a punch of pieces of furniture submerged in water was cool to look at regardless.
After asking a local police officer for directions to the Barcelona Franca train station, and wandering for about 20 minutes, I arrived with my ticket about an hour before the train left.
With my little bit of extra time, I wandered back outside the train station along the coast where a small market was set up.
I contemplated buying a Diadema (like a mesh headband), but hunger and patriotism got the better of me so I purchased a hot dog instead.
As I sat on the pier observing the market I noticed a few of the counterfeit hand bag sellers from La Rambla setting up their wares in front of the market. Selling counterfeit bags is illegal in Barcelona. Each of the sellers had ropes tied to each of their bags and if a police officer approached the group, everyone would reel in their collection og bags, wrap them in a blanket, and scatter to avoid arrest.
With my stomach full, I walked back to the train station and charged my camera battery.
When my train arrived, I double checked my gear and approached the platform.
Train Platform
One last shot of Barcelona.
This is my “excited to leave Barcelona” face.
Sometimes the most comforting thing when traveling is the knowledge that you didn’t miss your train. Next stop, Italy!
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Check the previous entries section for a complete look at my backpacking adventure.
