NOTE: Photos from cell phone camera :(Being not so interested in getting up at 7:30 am for an 8 hour bus tour around the city, irregardless of the fact that it was already paid for and likely quite good, I decided to skip the tour and see the city the way that I prefer...on foot. I slept until 10:30, had a typical European breakfast of bread, cheese, & tomato in the hotel cafe, and then strapped on my running shoes and headed out the door looking 100% American.
*
Our hotel was along a former drainage canal, which is now on of the major tourist and shopping esplanades of the city and is known as "La Rambla". The uphill and downhill traffic lanes are separated by a wide cobblestone pedestrian path, and it is crowded with hundreds of locals and tourists alike, as well as body-painted mimes by the dozen, small kiosks selling flowers, beer, and small animals, and then shell game artists and the occasional street musician. I headed downhill towards the port and then turned into one of Spain's largest open-air markets. After Fez, I feel like I have already seen the mother of all markets, but I quickly wandered through to note the differences. Quantities were smaller and varieties were greater. There were dozens of sausages hanging in the meat stalls and stalls filled to the brim with the most wonderful smelling loaves of bread. From there I wandered into the Gothic Quarter, one of the now very-familiar areas of Spanish cities with narrow cobblestone streets and large stone buildings crowding out the sun overhead. I walked past a couple of old churches that looked like they could have been from the 12th or 13th centuries, but they didn't hold my attention as much as several bike racks that read "bicing" and seemed to be on every street corner. I had seen identical red and white bicylcles and I finally figured out that they are rental bikes. For about $5 per month one getts and identification car that ets yu pick up a bicycle at any of the hundreds of bike racks in the city and whn you have reached your destinatoin you just deposit in the nearest "bicing" stand. Did I also mention that the city has the most motorbikes in the country? Over 300,000! And boats!
*
I next wandered down to the marina and just took in the hundreds of silver masts bobbing in the water. I decided that my final destination was the Barcelona zoo, but I took the long way to get there, stopping in a park to watch iridescent green birds hurl themselves from tree to tree between the ubiquitous pigeons. I strolled by the beach and then took a quick walk through the Hospital de Santa Maria del Mar (they had a bathroom).
*
When I finally made it to the zoo, I found it well worth the 15 EUR entrance fee. Ignoring the hundreds of screaming schoolchildren on field trips, they had a wonderful collection of animals both from abroad and from the Iberian peninsula. The enclosures were close enough to the pathways that I could have touched many of the animals if I had been so stupid. There were many species that I hadn't seen before, including a fascinating small gibbon with an expandable vocal sac reminescent of bullfrogs'. All the animals were very active because of the weather, and the calls of the aforementioned primates resonated through the entire park.
*
The evening included Indian food with the parents, a little shopping with Mom, and some good-natured deflecting of the advances of a group of some of the ladies on the trip who were intent on recruiting me as their next daughter-in-law. They were all very concerned about my safety in Cairo, so I told them not to worry! I usually steer a pretty wide path around single and available men (though I am not sure they got the joke).
*
Tomorrow's taxi to the airport is coming at 4:15 am, so then the rest of the evening was spent packing and getting to bed at a "reasonable" hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment