An afternoon with Antonio Gaudi

day 11 (Sept’07). Last day in Barcelona.

Before I came to Barcelona, my sis told me about Gaudi and what a wonderful & unique & talented artist he is, one of a kind. I did Google and saw his “weird” architecture; it didn’t thrill me at the point of time buuuut definitely unique. No doubt about that. I was excited to a certain extend but unable to manage my expectation, read thru his art piece of the houses, hemm…… ok, let’s just see what he has to offer I thought to myself. An early day for us again, took the Turistic Bus, head straight to Casa Batllo; our first stop of the day. One glance (more like a stare) at Casa Batllo, I know I can write 1 entry JUST on it. He is AWESOME! SUPERB! MAGNIFICENT! ……. EVERYTHING!

We rented the “mobile tour guide” in English (of cause), hemm… interesting; apparently the whole house was purposely built without any corner ie square corners or sharp edges. How the hell is he going to do that right? That’s what I thought as well. Guess what, HE ACTUALLY DID! It was base from a “SEA” concept. Yeah… ok… proof! Well, the ceiling for one is circled like a whirlpool, and then there was the balcony window that reminds me of Little Mermaid in Atlantis home, the balcony itself? It was colorful with a mosaic art that look like broken mosaic put in a very pretty way. The stair case area was in blue which make one feel as if in the sea.

We followed the crowd to the rooftop. We walk thru this section of spiral step all of white. They have beautiful rounded arches with French windows, despite the area was empty somehow it gave a pure serene feel. Sigh…. Dreamy.….

Oh boy! Are we in AWE! The white spiral staircase looks clean and innocent, thus not knowing what to expect form the roof top. *Suspense*. Reached the top finally, ahhhhhhhhh………. LOVE IT SO MUCH, colours! Plenty of them, and them chimneys!!!!!!!!! I half expect Mary Poppins to drop by anytime somehow.

Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey

Chim chim cher-ee! A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be

We then took a joy ride and passed by another one of Gaudi’s masterpiece - Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera, but decided not to go in and view (tix were rather pricey too). The architecture from outside is as good as Casa Batllo.

THIS is the BEST PART of Barcelona - Sagrada Familia (Temple of the Holy Family), Gaudi’s everlasting work is yet to complete even after his death. It has been constructed since 1882. It is mentioned that the building works are expected to be completed around 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death, but I doubt it will be ever ready on time. Well… we’ll just wait and see, shall we?

After all the buildings we been visiting, we thought we should cover something different - a park (my favorite - plus zoo!). Our standard mood of transportation - Turistic Bus, next stop - Park Guell! Another great work of our darling Mr. Gaudi! Wow! He built everything huh! Park Güell is a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gràcia overlooking Barcelona & the Mediterranean Sea, was built from 1900 - 1914 and recognized by UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí". I seem to be covering a lot of UNESCO for this trip. YEAY! Aside from that, it’s really beautiful and I highly recommend people to visit this place.

Before we call it a day we manage to cover 1 more place of which I need to get souvenirs for my brothers at home - Fútbol Club Barcelona (FCB). Errr…. Not much of a football fan as you can see, jus stop over to get souvenirs, and NOPE! I couldn’t get Real Madrid goodies here! Tried - FAILED! Gotten some Barca magnets, lanyard and etc for the boys back home.

Last but not least, we manage to catch Flemenco performance near La Rambla. We were captivated by the dance move, the music beat and the passion of the dancer & musician. We had our Spanish dinner and proceed to another restaurant for the show.

Never been in love with a country as much as this (of cause I love Italy too), and Egypt and India and Sweden and…. Haahanah).

Well, need to start pack as we're heading home tomorrow.

Heading home.

Credits : Wikipedia, Sagradafamilia.cat

Mishap in Tangier

Day SIX (Sept’07). A day full of DRAMA for us, and I was freaking scared. Really!

It started on a beautiful morning; you hear the roar of the train, the sound of the people waking up in nearby compartment, them rushing to the washroom, ahh…. the normal hustle and bustle of dawn. It’s like a queue to us that we are approaching Tangier; we took a night train to Tangier to get to Andalusia, Spain.

It WAS PERFECT! We took a cab to the ferry terminal, reached the terminal, lug our luggage to the tix counter, purchased the tix, go up the immigration, then…. That’s when everything STARTS!

Immigration can’t communicate well (at all) in English, basically he return us our passport and “shoo” us away, we were wondering why… hemm… then obviously we refuse to budge and ask “Why?”. He then did a sign language, pointing to us then using his hands showing airplane. Ah-ha…. We nodded, yes, we took plane to Morocco, and….? He then wave his hand and do a ship gesture… we looked at each other “What”. He did the same thing again, we decipher it as if you come by plane, you leave the country by plane. WHAT????? But but but… we purchased the tix (we weren’t even informed by the embassy when we did our VISA, nor anyone mentioning it on websites). We rushed to the tix counter hoping and PRAYING for a refund, they weren’t happy but obliged. They spoke good English and confirmed our doubt. Sigh….. There goes our cruise to Spain via Algeciras on MEDITERRANEAN SEA! I was sooo looking forward.

Travel Tips : Please check before hand on whether Morocco allows to use different mode of transportation going in and out of their country before your visit (as the rules might change from time to time, who knows).

We walked to the cab station, as we had been told that we need to fly out. Nearing the cab area, we were swarm by the cab driver trying to get our attention. This is the funny part, there are 2 cabs (1) Petite – small cab and cheaper and (2) Grande – bigger cab and obviously slightly expensive. The Grande kept pulling us to his car, at this point we said NO NO NO (since I heard he said Grande of course), when we approached the cab bay, we saw Petite, we walked to the area; thus we were swarm by few drivers, one caught our attention and we followed him. PROBLEM START!

The Grande scolded the Petite, mirror effect takes place, before you know it; they hit each other. The other cab drivers stand and watch (I guess they want them to settle it themselves). Us? We backed a few steps; panicked and asked the drivers what are they arguing and why. Ah…. It’s all because the Grande claimed the Petite stole his customers (NO! HE DID NOT!). They fought to a point that they went to the car and took out a jack. Scary stuff! I was pale and almost cried, Andrea? Cool as usual. Then the other drivers start to intervene and said that these are tourist and they shouldn't be fighting. Thus, stop. That’s what we thought too….

As we board the Petite cab and drove out of the terminal, I; still with uncomfortable feeling turn my head back and guess who I saw – the Grande driver tailing us. Case not settled obviously. The journey to airport is approximately 45mins, what if he stop us and hurt us? Hemm… I informed the cab driver, he peek at the rearview mirror, he said not to worry, darn right I am worried! After about 1-2mins, I informed him again, I said me tourist – scared - not happy. He make a turn and head to police station. The police asked the Grande to go off and we continued our journey, but still scared lar. Told Andrea I want to change another cab, we ask him to drop us at the train station and we took another cab to airport.

You think this is the end right, NOOOO!!!! Reached the airport safely and found NO FLIGHT to Granada (Andalusia). WHAT???? Only Madrid and Barcelona, and next flight out is Madrid and it’s USD285. EXPENSIVE!!! Not part of our budget! We negotiated and he brought it down to USD143 (can be negotiated? Hem…) but cash! (hemmmmm……) FINE! It’s a DEAL! As if we have much choice lar.

Took the flight, reached Madrid safely, found ways to go to the bus station, took the next bus out to Granada, stuck for 5 hours journey and FINALLY we reached Granada at 12:30am MIDNIGHT. Plenty of cab, took one to our Alcazaba Pansion, I ate Maggi Mee and fall flat on the bed. (We did a Bourne Ultimatum and I think Matt Damon had it easier!).
Day END!

New country. New beginning. New adventure.

Credits : Wikipedia , Sinmia, Goafrica, Travelpod, iaphworldports, Hostelbooker, Moroccoguide, Gospain