Sweet Odyssey: A Winter Weekend In Barcelona

I just spent a weekend in Barcelona. And yes, I went to Barcelona again! This is a city where I will always go back to whenever I have the time. I love it!

I took a plane from London and the weather was OK in London. I happened to check on the weather forecast on Barcelona for the 2 days on BBC's website and saw the wind would be 80mph on Saturday. I was wondering whether 80 is good or bad but I didn't really think about it much after that. On the plane, the captain mentioned that the flight would be a little bumpy at Barcelona because of strong wind. That's when I remember about the 80mph. I don't fancy flying. No matter how many times I fly, I don't think I will ever get used to it. So I was already worried before we even got to Barcelona.

When the plane started to descend at Barcelona, it started to shake. It was a clear day. I could see the mountains covered with snow. I could see the little houses and buildings. I could see the sea. I could even see the shadow of the plane reflecting on the sea. Everything was really beautiful from up there. But it was really, really shaky. I was really scared. I held my hands tightly to my seat and was hoping the plane to reach to the ground soon. I could feel that the captain was trying really hard to turn the plane towards the runway as it was turning against the wind's direction. Everytime the plane turned a bit, it went down very deep. I heard people at the back screaming. It was really that bad. Finally, the plane touched the ground. It was not a smooth landing but I'm not complaining. I was so relieved and so was everybody else in the plane. It was the worst turbulence of my life.

At the airport, I heard announcements that flights were delayed because of the storm. Outside the airport, I could see why. The wind was intensely strong. It was told on the news that the wind caused a significant damaged in Barcelona where a roof collapse killed several people.

Moving on from the aiport, I took train to the city, went shopping for a bit and then had lunch at my favourite lunch place at La Rita. I visited Gaudi's Casa Batllo and spent quite some time in there. I still think Gaudi is a genious. The best room in Casa Batllo is the drawing room overlooking the largest window in the building where bone-like pillars attached to it. The mushroom fireplace is unique too. The rooftop is somewhat similar to the one in Casa Mila but in a much smaller scale. Gaudi used a lot of broken ceramics to design the rooftop, which is also similar to what he had done in Park Guell. Everything about it is uniquely his style and creation. There's no question on that.

The next day, on Sunday, the weather was very good. The sun was shining brightly and it's the best time to go to park. So I decided to go to Park Guell again. I was surprised to find the park was closed. Some people said the park was closed because of falling trees all over the park. I understood it but was still disappointed. Then I walked up along the border of the park and found the highest open area outside the park and saw a superb view of Barcelona. It was just incredible.

I wanted to end my weekend trip by shopping spree in Barcelona and was very surprised to find most of the shops in the city centre in Barcelona were closed on Sunday. I knew about some Spanish cities celebrating siesta and to see shops closed on Sunday in these cities was not surprising. But I'm very much amazed to see it in Barcelona! I thought being the second largest city in Spain, it would open as business as usual, even on a Sunday. Apparently, I was wrong. So I decided to just walk Las Ramblas and the old town area. The old town looked different when the shops were closed. I think the shops were distracting too much that I never noticed the old town as the old town. I usually just looked at what the shops were selling without realising that the old town of Barcelona is beautiful. It was actually a good thing that the shops were closed.

All in all, apart from my worst flying experience, I enjoyed my weekend in Barcelona. The winter weather in Barcelona was good. It was about 13-15 degree Celcius, quite warm for a winter, very much like most summer days in London. The sky was bright blue and the sun was shining. It was such a nice warm winter.

The effects of the strong wind, from the top: motorcycles parked at Passeig de Gracia, a falling tree in Park Guell, and almost a falling tree outside the Cathedral de Barcelona.