Lepod's Blog

First of all, I apologise for the tardiness of this blog. When we got to Barcelona, I was starting to get considerable pain from my left shoulder, which I thought I must have hurt in Bordeaux by sleeping on it, as it is the one that I had an operation on when a young feller to stop it dislocating. I figured it would get better over time but each day it was getting worse. So we tried a sling. The sling did not help however so on the last day in Barcelona

instead of heading off to Milan, we went to a private hospital and got it checked out. The A and E was immaculate, we only had to wait a bit over an hour, the doctors were very nice and kept apologising for their english, but as we pointed out it was far better than our spanish! Anyway they x-rayed me and said everything was fine but I’d hurt my neck and gave me a whole lot of pills to take (muscle relaxants, anti inflammatories, pain killers,) plus a neck brace to wear. The thing is, although these all helped a great deal, it was impossible for me to sit for very long at the computer. In Milan, I spent the first day or so lying on my back in the hotel room. This was a shame, as after Milan the internet access we had was either tremendously expensive or limited access, or not working. So, sorry about that! Thankfully, it’s pretty much all fixed now.

In Barcelona, we lived in a suburb called Puxtet. There was a subway about 15 minutes walk away, from where it was a couple of stops to Plaça Catalunya, pretty much the city’s historical centre. From there, we caught a double decker sight seeing bus which you could get on and off at will. This is an excellent way to see a new city, and learn a bit about it. First though we wandered down the shopping street, La Rambla, admiring the different birds and animals for sale in the centre division.

In the city, I particularly liked the Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter)

The outstanding architecture in this quarter, much of it from medieval times, is complimented by that of the modernisme movement, exemplified by the buildings of Antoni Gaudi (25 June 1852–10 June 1926.) I’ve admired Spanish architecture since we went to Cuba, and I certainly was not disappointed with what we saw in this city. Here’s a few more pictures:

The following day we walked to Park Güell which was about 20 minutes walk from Puxtet. I’ve inserted links to the wikipedia articles, but briefly, Park Güell is a garden complex designed by Gaudi and built in the years 1900 – 1914.

Gaudi’s final work, which is still ongoing, was a church, the Sagrada Família. It has been under construction since 1882 and is not expected to be completed until at least 2026. It is a quite astonishing, not to say mad looking, structure. Here’s a couple of photos, it was rather difficult to photograph.

We were very much taken with Spain, and I’d like to go back some day. Amazing country. The people are very upbeat, kind of chirpy. The food was great, although I still haven’t had a paella there. And the hospital service was beyond reproach!