Adios Barcelona

day 12 (Sept’07). Heading East.

Sad to leave Barcelona, wish I have another few weeksss of leaves. Anyway, we drag our heavy heart and our super heavy luggage to the bus stop to airport (they have a bus stop for buses to airport. WOW!) Then the usual drill; look for counter, check-in, and wait for our flight to Casablanca. Oh yah! We have to stay one night in Casablanca as our flight is from Casablanca, transit in Dubai then head home to Malaysia.

We stayed in the same hotel in Casablanca, didn’t do much, walk around the medina while waiting for break fast time. One thing we did find it different as compared to the last round we stayed were here was that the locals were happily singing after dinner hour till midnight. WOW! Where did they get the energy!?! Envy!

After the break fast, we lepak; browsed our pics, check-out what we have purchased and tabulate whether is it sufficient or whether we need to buy more at the airport. CHECKED! YUP! ENOUGH! Phew… Sleep time...zzzzz...

Back to reality.

Credits : Wikipedia, Skyscrapercity

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

From Barcelona with LOVE

day 10 (Sept'07). Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho.

We start our day very early - excited. Many place to visit, many things to see, many sites to take capture. Simply loving it!

We took the Touristic Bus which is similar to the popular Hop-On Hop-Off Bus. The first stop we make was at Plaza Espanya located at the foot of Montjuïc. Nothing much of cause, yet we took pics like “beruk dapat torchlight” literally “ monkey received a torchlight” meaning - the monkey so thrilled that he received a torchlight despite not knowing the usage, he will switch it on and use it even though during day time. Us - being excitedly taking pics even the site has no significant value… :P ahhahhaa…… (Hey! it WAS a beautiful “torchlight”). Later we walk over to take a pic of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, as much we wanted to visit the inside of Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya - a museum of Catalan visual art; we were press for time. So many places to see, so little time.

We walk to the next stop Caixa Forum (it‘s also the stop for our bus), basically it is the Cultural and Social centre of community projects.

Decided to hop on the bus and stop at Montjuïc. We saw a cable car to go further up the mountain but change our minds as we wanted to take the cable car by the sea instead. Heheehhee…. Drama!

Reach the top most cable car station and that’s when I realise that the next cable car stop is actually on a steel hollow tower *shriek*…. Am scared of heights! Not only that, the cable car look old and the tower look flimsy. By the way, there is no base underneath from the cable car to the tower platform; you have to “hop” to come out. Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hands-down to Andrea, no worries for her, child play…. Oh! By the way, you half to walk down, no lift provided! *what did I get myself into!*

Alas, my feet can feel the land. Sigh…. We walk over to the Rambla de Mar or “Rambla of the Sea” which is a splendid walkway and bridge over the harbour waters, running from Portal de la Pau to the Spain Dock. At the end there’s mall where we stop to purchase some FCB magnets.

We then swap bus line to go for some shopping at Diagonal Mar Mall and stop over at Port Olimpic for some snaps. Shop again for more magnets and of cause Zara!!! Finally.

Done with the shopping, back to the hostel for break fast, but not before stopping over at Barcelona Cathedral correspond to a basilica with three naves which was destroyed in 925. It is said that part of it is of Gothic building, with some of its Romanesque elements remain. With that, we end our day. Perfect!
My next UNESCO site!

Credits : Wikipedia, Barcelona.com, flickr, barcelonayellow, Portvellbcn, BCN.es