Some weeks ago now, my good friend Andrew and I decided that a modest adventure outside the confines of Blighty was in order. Days later, our destination was decided and Barcelona braced itself for our imminent invasion.
“Fuck it, I’m on holiday” mode set in around four days before leaving for the continent so a boozy time followed until Andrew arrived in The Smoke the afternoon before our departure. Said mental state continued that night and we both awoke feeling rather worse for wear the following morning, not ready for a frantic dash to Heathrow to meet our winged-chariot.
Far from a chariot, the plane was as cramped and grubby as you might expect. Andrew seemed to be irritated by someone sitting to his left who incessantly asked him banal questions such as “so how big are your feet?” The signs of regret at this holiday idea seemed to flash briefly in his eyes. Fortunately tiny wine bottles, often found in the home of The Borrowers, were offered around the cabin and we soon bumped down at Aeroport de Barcelona.
It seems the apocalyptic weather front the Pyrenees mountains had been kind enough to send to our mother land, had spread to Spain too. Damp, windy and bloody freezing were words to describe our first few excursions. Fortunately the weather would never have been able to spoil what we discovered to be a spectacularly beautiful city.
Days passed, navigating mazes of narrow alleyways, exploring more monuments built for that bearded deity in the clouds than I thought possible in one city.
One of the reasons both of us had been intrigued by Barcelona was the Gaudi architecture. Antoni Gaudi: a man who is either a brilliant genius of contemporary design, a complete nutter, or both. His creative inspiration found in nature, Gaudi's buildings are bizarre but perfectly realised constructions which spiral like seashells and curve and weave to resemble the scaly exterior of a reptile. His gigantic Casa di Familia is one of the most utterly ludicrous yet stunning buildings in Barcelona. Started over a hundred years ago, it will not be completed until 2025 (a time when many of us will be pre-occupied with our flying cars and possibly the forthcoming intergalactic war). Gaudi came a cropper in June, 1926 shortly after being run over by a tram. Well known for his pious behavior he was often seen begging for money on the streets of Barcelona to gain funding for the Casa Di Familia project. When he met his demise to the wheels of the city’s public transport system, he was so frail and old that no one recognised him. He was eventually taken to a paupers hospital where he died. Not a fitting end for a brilliant madman... and after all that god-bothering he’d accomplished too.
The Casa Di Familia is a wonderful experience, owing to the fact that it is unlikely you will ever experience the building process of a cathedral; you are actually able to tour what is essentially a magnificent building site and watch the stone work being sculpted and hoisted into place.
The rest of our five days in Barcelona passed quickly. Highlights were a walk up a massive hill to the Olympic park where we spent many hours drinking beer and looking at a rather lovely view, a trip to a theme park and some outrageously drunken behavior, courtesy of Barcelona’s nightlife, which included the birth of a story we shall dub “a curious brown incident."
All in all, a great trip.
