vfth : older stuff : May 2003
Thursday, May 22, 2003
(...and I'm not talking about the song by Freddie Mercury.)
I'm recently back home after a business trip to a conference in Barcelona. What a nice city. Clean (certainly cleaner than London), tidy and reasonably compact, plus a great metro system and cheap taxis.
Yeah, sure, if you hang out on La Rambla for long enough, you will get your pocket picked, and have to go to the special "Tourist Police Station". But La Rambla is touristy, expensive, crap, and smells of stale piss.
Get off the beaten track a little, and explore the side streets of Barceloneta, down by the harbour. I did, and found a gem called "Can Ganassa". It doesn't look much, but doesn't have to. It's an old-style family-run tapas bar. The menu is in Catalan only, and the wait-staff speak very little English. But, be prepared to enjoy some of the freshest, tastiest, home-made tapas. Forget all the tourist-traps on Placa Reial, in the Barri Gotic, and scattered around the harbour.
Having said that, I did find some reasonably priced beers on Placa Reial, at a bar called "Glaciar" - tucked away in the Northwest corner of the Placa. Bottled Estrella Damm came in a 2 Euros per bottle. I know some people were ripped off by as much as 4 Euros for a beer elsewhere. Do not ask for "large" tourist beers, and at least try and speak a little Catalan. They will think more of you for it.
But, one of the highlights of the week for me was the Font Magica (Magic Fountain). This massive and unique ornamental fountain is the centrepiece of a group of fountains known as the "Maria Cristina Axis", and a story of how a young engineer's dream came true. It will be 75 years old next year (2004).
If you visit Barcelona, take an hour out one evening and go to Montjuic and see the Font Magica show it's stuff, with a beautiful (and free!) water, light and sound show. There are several different synchronised performances by the Font, including classical, movie themes, chart music, popular music, and obviously Freddie Mercury and Monserrat Caballe's "Barcelona"! I don't think they play the same one twice in a night. Check the Font Magica website for opening times, which vary seasonally.
Some people find it odd that I'm a fan of a fountain, but then, I'm a Pisces. Maybe that explains it. I just think it's something of beauty.
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