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.

Gaudi's Casa Batllo

The fine view from the highest hill near Park Guell

The bullet shaped building, Torre Agbar, appears at the end of the road

Reflection at Placa de Catalunya

I'd say this is probably the most photographed icon in Ciutat Vella

The Weird Drop Box

We reached Segovia later than we expected and it was already dinner time. After carrying our luggages to our hotel and finaly meeting our two friends who were missing in action for the first few days of this trip, we decided to split up: some of us to go for dinner, while some others (me included) to return the rental car.

Having no GPS and no map, we asked the hotel reception for the directions to the AVIS rental car. The good news was we found the place. The bad news was it was not the correct AVIS rental car. Apparently, there was another one.

So we stopped at a few petrol stations asking for directions and it was funny to see my friend was talking with these helpful people at the petrol stations using a little body language and a little understanding of Spanish. They mentioned something about an Arch that we need to pass by before we can find the rental car.

After struggling a bit we found the Arch and finally the rental car. We parked the car and because the rental car office was already closed, we then looked for a drop box to drop the car key. But we couldn't find it.

The rental car was at a train station. We then asked someone who was working at the station about it. He thought we wanted to rent a car but after a few body language he finally understood that we were looking for a drop box. And he pointed us to the window of the rental car office which has a small square hole where we can drop the key. We didn't expect that at all. We were looking for a postbox or something like that but not a glass window with a square hole. It was so hilarious. So we dropped the key and we heard the key fell onto the floor and then we laughed. 

We went back to Segovia's old quarter and joined our friends who were having dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. It was already pass midnight. We were so exhausted that after dinner, we went to sleep immediately. And that's that.

Here's the small square hole as the drop box for the car key

Avila City Wall

On the way to Segovia, we detoured to Avila to visit the city medieval wall, which is amazingly still in one piece and surrounding the old town. This is another Spanish city that was declared a UNESCO Heritage Site.

The old town was quiet as we were there at siesta time. We were very hungry and went to a cafe recommended by the Lonely Planet. We were so happy to find this cafe was still open at siesta. We ordered simple bocadillos (Spanish bread rolls) with jamon serrano filling but the bocadillos were too hard to bite (they're not the kind that were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, they were simply very hard all over) and the jamon was far too raw and none of us could eat them. And a waitress working there was giving us a very unhappy look at the unfinished food. It was a terrible lunch. We left the cafe still with empty stomach.

Soon after, we paid a small fee to walk on the Avila wall and because of time constraint, we only managed to walk on one side of it. Some parts of it were under constructions but generally the wall was still in a very good condition. It was a hot afternoon. The sun was shining upon us and we were half baked up on the wall. But it was well compensated by the astonishing view of and from the wall.

On leaving Avila, we stopped by at Los Cuatro Postes, which is only 1 mile outside the city. This is the best spot to view the wall encircling the city. It was just absolutely indescribable!

Despite our very brief visit, we really had a good time in Avila (luckily the unpleasant lunch didn't spoil our experience there). As I say it often and almost on every ending of my blog for this Spain trip, it's too bad we didn't stay long enough to fully appreciate of what this medieval city has to offer.

The view from the top of the wall

As you can see, the wall is very much still in good condition

Los Cuatro Postes and the Avila city wall in the background - I love this photo

Posing at Los Cuatro Postes

The magnificent city wall, which is still intact and surrounding the city