No Doris here
The Calipolis Hotel
You will not care one bit, but there has been no storm Doris here. That said, when Captain Clarke and I arose this morning we discovered that the sky was a little overcast. For that reason we decided to take a train to Barcelona and have a little wander around. Over the course of the last evening and this morning there had been some correspondence with ‘Mother’ (largely relating to photos for the Gardener’s Club). When I mentioned that Captain Clarke and I were thinking of going to Barcelona she did warn us to beware of the pickpockets there and advised caution. I responded and said that, from our many trips to Barcelona over almost 30 years, we had become quite good at spotting the pickpockets and that, in any event, there are only so many times you can visit the Sagrada Família or Poble Sec or Las Ramblas and still find them interesting, so we tend to go to less touristy places which means there are less pickpockets.
Waiting for our train on Sitges station
We made our way to the train station in Sitges and, having just missed a train, we boarded the 10:59 to Barcelona Sants. The route took us past a familiar hotel, the Calipolis, that we have stayed in on a number of occasions both with our friends S&M and with Captain Clarke’s parents as well as other friends from time to time. I think it has been done up as there is no availability that I can find for any week this year! It will come as no surprise to you by now that the train arrived on time, was clean, air conditioned and arrived on time – oh the lessons that Southern Rail could learn if only they weren’t so arrogant and so in the pocket of the government! However, I have promised myself that I will not go on too much about trains on this trip, but I couldn’t let an opportunity like this go without a quick mention!
The Barcelona Metro is nothing like the London Underground!
On arrival in Barcelona we made our way out of the main railway platforms and towards the Metro station – well actually, we did after Captain Clarke had had some considerable trouble with the machine which wouldn’t let him out. After some time trying he went off and spoke to an assistant who very politely pointed out that he was using the wrong ticket and that if he used the one valid for today it would almost certainly work! Arriving in the Metro station we were a little unsure which ticket would be best for us to procure. Our decision making process wasn’t helped by a very irritating little man who kept trying to press buttons on our behalf and wanted us to give him €2. In the end we decided to walk away and try and find some information out. There was a very helpful assistant from the Metro on the station and she explained the best tickets to have. There is a form of ‘travel card’ which you can buy, but it is not listed on the main ticket machine and you have to choose ‘other’ (or ‘otras’ if you haven’t switched the language to English) where you can then select ‘T-Dia 1 Zona’ which gives you unlimited trips within Zone 1 for one day. Zone 1 in Barcelona reaches out as far as Garraf which is about 20 minutes train ride out of the city back towards Sitges – in other words to visit Barcelona you will not need more than a Zone 1 ticket!
I can’t even afford to cross the threshold of most shops in Passeig de Gracia
We took Line L5 to ‘Diagonal’ which is only 3 stops and somewhere we don’t often visit. The shops tend to be those that you know the name of but will never afford to go into! We walked from Diagonal to ‘Passeig de Gràcia’ which is a wide avenue that is again lined with expensive shops that one is very unlikely to purchase from. I did turn to Captain Clarke when we were about half way down Passeig de Gràcia that, “we have not yet passed one shop I can afford to cross the threshold of!”. However, it is a beautiful street, there are no pickpockets or down and outs and it was a pleasant stroll. We did eventually come across a shop that we could go into – Mango Man. I didn’t even know such a shop existed. Captain Clarke is looking from some more shirts so we went inside to have a look. The trouble for him was that they were all long sleeved and he really only likes short sleeved shirts. He didn’t find anything. I, on the other hand, went in to buy nothing and walked out with a really nice jacket that was very affordable!
Plaza Catalunya with a huge Samsung stand in the middle!
And so we carried on walking and eventually came to the Plaza Catalunya. This is a very large square that is at the top Las Ramblas (the road that I assured ‘Mother’ we wouldn’t be visiting) and is home to the wonderful, and somewhat infamous in our circles, ‘El Corte Inglés’. This is a department store to beat all department stores and, despite its name, there is nothing English about it, it is very Spanish in nature. It seemed rude not to go in, so we went in and had a little look around. Nothing really jumped out at us and we left with Captain Clarke making only one small purchase … some hand sanitiser. I haven’t mentioned until now that when we arrived at Barcelona Sants we discovered that ‘Mobile World Congress’ is on at the moment. This is a huge event held in Barcelona every year that attracts something like 200,000 people from the mobile phone industry. It is the biggest event of its kind in the world. I have never been to it (I don’t work in the mobile phone industry!) but I know a lot of people who do and I really didn’t relish bumping to any of them. Fortunately we didn’t. The event is so big that the major mobile phone manufacturers spend millions advertising around Barcelona during the event. Clearly Samsung had decided this year they needed to push their products – the escalators in most Metro stations were adorned with adverts for Samsung, the road sides had adverts and in the middle of the Plaza Catalunya they had erected a huge stand! There is clearly money in those mobile phones!
Outside the Sagrada Familia
Having left El Corte Inglés (which I have to say I am beginning to conclude is getting quite expensive) we decided to have a quick sortie into Las Ramblas to get a bite to eat. This turned out to be a visit to La Boqueria (the amazing and fabulous food market about a third of the way down Las Ramblas) where we couldn’t get near to the tapas stalls, but we managed to procure a cone of manchego cheese, pata negra jamon serrano and some bread sticks, which was actually very good (pata negra is widely regarded to be the best Serrano ham, which I think we would agree with). Embarrassing though this is, we ended up walking the entire length of Las Ramblas (don’t worry ‘Mother’ we were watching the pickpockets) and then we jumped on a metro to return to Barcelona Sants, then changed our minds and went the Sagrada Família for a coffee! So much for my assurances that we don’t visit the touristy places!
The Sagrada Familia with the new arch
Actually, for those of you that have visited before but haven’t been back for a while, you may be interested to know that they have just revealed a new part of the structure. It is quite new and is an arch spanning pretty much the whole of the front of the Sagrada Família. Captain Clarke wisely asked me whether they continue to work to an original design. I am not sure, but a bit of Googling suggests that there have been a number of people involved in the design of the Sagrada Família and that (if Wikipedia is to be believed) it is now nearly 70% complete with an anticipated completion date of 2026. We might just come back then and see if that is true! Talking of Wikipedia – they announced a couple of weeks ago that they no longer consider the Daily Mail as a credible source of information – is it possible to get any lower than that!!
We returned to Barcelona and took a train back to Sitges. On our way back a Spanish couple say by us and were chatting away about everything from their children (who they had left at home with food and drink to keep them going – the impression I got was that the children were a long way into adulthood!) and their plans for the weekend. One minor criticism of Spanish railway stations is that they don’t seem to have names displayed well when you pull into them. This isn’t usually a problem as the next station is always announced on the train, but the couple were so involved in their chat that they didn’t hear the announcements. The gentlemen turned to Captain Clarke and asked where we were. Captain Clarke replied ‘Castdelfels Platja’ and the chap turned and resumed his chat with his wife. On the next occasion, a couple of stops later, he asked again. ‘Garraf’ said Captain Clarke and the chap thanked him. His wife didn’t quite understand Captain Clarke’s pronunciation (which can be a bit dodgy as he speaks all foreign languages very well but with a distinctly British accent). She asked her husband how told her. He then turned to Captain Clarke and asked him, in English, where he was from. “Near to London”, Captain Clarke replied. “Ah”, said the gentleman, “you have Brexit. I wouldn’t welcome you back here after you leave. Just my opinion.” How sad that this ridiculous Brexit thing is so divisive and causes such hostility (regardless of which side of the fence you are on) that it should spread to an innocent conversation on a train like that! That can’t be healthy. It doesn’t matter whether one supported Brexit or not, we are where we are, and someone had better go about finding a way to reunite people and heal the division again pretty damned quickly if it isn’t going to be allowed to rot society to the very core – and that goes for Remainers just as much as Brexiteers! Not a political point, a simple statement of fact.
Sitges streets decorated for carnival
Anyway, back to the day. We returned to Sitges and discovered two things that were very obvious; the streets were very quiet and many of the shops had brought their shutters down, and the decoration of the streets was pretty much complete. I hope that the reason for the shutters being down is that either the shop keepers are taking part in the carnival or that they simply don’t do business during the carnival, and not that they do it in anticipation of any crime. That would be sad. Captain Clarke and I returned to our hotel for a little rest (and for me to write this missive) before we head out once again to the town to see the arrival of the King. We are looking forward to it and anticipate it will be a good evening! I shall of course, report on events before sending this out in the morning.
Carnival has now officially started. Captain Clarke and I walked down to town and watched the opening ceremony – it was pretty fantastic. Incredibly difficult to photograph (or video) because there was either not enough light or too much light from flashes or glaring spotlights however we did our best. The whole opening ceremony lasted about an hour and a half, although I must confess that we didn’t follow the parade on its final voyage to where the King meets the Queen – I have a feeling we’ll be seeing enough of them over the next few days. Below is a video I took of the fireworks at the beginning of the carnival … (It is the first time I have tried to add video to a blog and you need to give it time to download first – there may be a better way, but I will investigate!)
Having watched the opening ceremony we decided to walk into town and have dinner. We returned to the restaurant ‘El Pescadito’ where we both chose the ‘Dorada a la plancha’ (otherwise known as pan fried sea bream) it was utterly delicious! We are both abstaining a little more at the moment so we accompanied our dinner with tonic water but afterwards we popped into a bar for a more alcoholic libation just as a nightcap. Doing a little people watching, I must withdraw the title of this blog – I think there might be a few Doris’s here, and a few Samanthas and there is absolutely no doubt that the place is full of Marys! Last night was a pretty quiet night for carnival. Tonight (Friday) and tomorrow are going to be very busy nights according to our bar tender who was dressed as Mario from Super Mario (the video game). I have put a few photos below of people we observed last night – I have a feeling that tonight there will be more!
Gorgeous is a bit concerned with all this abstaining, none of that s**t when we go to Seville!
Have no fear, abstinence is relative. We are merely consuming somewhat less than the vast quantity at the beginning of the week!