Saturday 3 December - Barcelona and Colonia Guell

Where’s Colin? He’s at the Municipal Aire in Colonia Guell, which is just on the SW edge of Barcelona.

Our second visit to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya was the only thing on the agenda today, and as it doesn't open until 10 on a Saturday, a bit of a lie in was had before taking advantage of having good, hot, powerful showers close at hand (three showers in three days - seldom am I so clean!).

Whereas yesterday we visited only the lower floor of the museum, containing Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque collections (which were okay, but didn't stand out above other collections we've seen elsewhere), today we took in the first floor of 'modern' art, spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, up to 1952. Now that was worth seeing and see it all we did, pausing only for a quick trip down to the café for sustenance mid-visit.


It was easy to forget to look up, and thus to miss the majesty of the building which houses all of the art. This was just one cupola. The walls of the museum are all non-structral and free-standing, within the original building, so if you look up and between the walls holding the art, you can get quite a feel for the grandeur of the original building.

By the time we were done there wasn't time for another lunch out if we were to remove Colin from the Aire before the clock ticked over 72 hours and thus onto a fourth day of fees. So back we went, picking up fresh bread en-route, for a quick sandwich before we did all of the necessary with Colin's tanks, paid our dues and got on our way.

We didn't come far; just across to the other side of the city. Whilst we did go for a quick walk when we got here, I'll leave the description of the place until tomorrow when we've been for a look around armed with information as to what we're seeing.

Friday 2 December – Barcelona

Where’s Colin? He’s still at the CityStop Aire in Barcelona.

Our second consecutive early start was, to an extent, negated this morning due to a blunder on my part. We’d walked two miles across town to get to Montjuic (including passing along a particularly dodgy narrow backstreet where something untoward was going on) before I realised that I’d mistaken Plaҫa d’Espayna for Plaҫa Catalunya, and thus we’d ended our Metro journey in completely the wrong place.

Finally in Plaҫa d’Espanya, up past the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya we went (the museum was on the agenda, but not for this morning):

The impressive building was the centrepiece of Barcelona’s 1929 International Exhibition and is now a sizeable art museum

Contiuing to take advantage of the various escalators which have been installed to get people relatively painlessly up this (really quite little) hill, onwards we went up, to walk past the Olympic park, where a side (and downwards) trip to seek out some public conveniences allowed us to compare shoe sizes with various sports persons:

Up we continued to go, after the Olympic Stadium, with our objective being the castle, where we arrived at 10.50. That would have been remarkably convenient, had we wanted the guided tour, as the English language one was due to start at 11am. We opted to just wander, though, so with our €5 per head handed over, across the drawbridge we went, and soon we were looking down from one of the bastions, onto a side of Barcelona that most tourists probably don’t see – the docks:

There were some big guns dotted around, but the real reason I’m slipping this photo in isn’t because of the gun or the bronze, but the gorgeous sky:

From the other side of the castle (which, by my definition, is actually a fort) far reaching views were to be had over the whole of the city and the hills beyond, including snow capped ones in the distance:

To my surprise, there was far more to the fort than I’d anticipated, including a museum which spelt out how turbulent a time Barcelona has had, even in the relatiely recent past and the role the fort had played in that. Interesting stuff.

Lunchtime was then upon us, and we were in an area with no eateries, so downwards we went, deciding on the way that we would find the nearest metro station and make our way right across town to a place we’d walked past yesterday. We’d noted it simply because it was absolutely heaving at 2pm and no English menu was displayed. We thus deduced that it was very popular with local people and thus struck us as a good choice. Google Translate was called into action before we could order, but it did the job as we both got exactly what we thought we had ordered:

The plans for what to do next varied from A through C:

A) Go back to Colin and drive out of town for a night, returning tomorrow so as to take advantage of the art museum being free after 3pm on a Saturday and all day on the first Sunday of the month (a saving of €24);

B) Go and do some random wandering in bits of the city we haven’t yet seen this afternoon, stay another two nights and do the art gallery for free Saturday afternoon and Sunday; or

C) Stay just one more night, pay for the art museum and do it today and tomorrow (a ticket is valid for two days and the place is huge, so you’d likely be arted out to do it all in a day).

The final decision was C, and this time we got ourselves very efficiently to the correct Metro station, giving us just a five minute walk up to the entrance.

Exhaustion hit just after half past five, causing us to find a big comfy sofa in the foyer of the magnificent building to while away the last twenty minutes until they threw us out into the dark of the evening:

With just an hour to wait until the Magic Fountain was to put on its first display of the evening, we thought we’d see if we could manage to stick around in the rapidly-cooling evening. Two cups of tea saw us through the first twenty minutes and, just as we were wavering, some entertainment arrived in the form of a breakdance troupe. I’d like to post a photo or video of some of their display, but it was too good to spend time watching through my phone screen, so not a single snap was taken.

Suddenly the sound of water running had us move back down the hill to see a bit of this:

And this too:

Throughout all of which dozens of offers of ‘Water, Cola, Beer’ were declined from the hopeful hawkers.

Finally, after very nearly twelve hours of being tourists, we arrived back at Colin. Just one more day in Barcelona now. We really are going to leave at 4pm tomorrow.

Thursday 1 December–Barcelona

**Where’s Colin?** He’s still at the CityStop Aire in Barcelona.

It was an early start this morning (by our usual travelling standards) as, at €30 per night, I wanted to get maximum value out of the day.

__Good vehicle! Dwarfed Colin, mind, who you can just see poking out at the rear__

A three minute walk from Colin took us to the nearest Metro station, where no queuing was necessary to buy our ticket (a T10, 10 trip ticket between us, at €9.95 was what I’d decided would give us best value for getting around). The train then arrived about 10 seconds after we’d stepped onto the platform and thus we arrived at the Sagrada Familia, five stops down the line, half an hour earlier than intended. That gave time for a mooch around the outside of the magnificent/crazy building largely designed by Gaudi, before we got down to the serious business of sightseeing, whereupon we walked straight up to a ticket desk without queuing and managed the same at the entrance. There weren’t many people inside when we arrived. It was a different story by the time we left. 

__The oldest facade, dating from 1889__

__One of the newer facades__

The Sagrada Familia is not a cheap outing. We opted for the audiotour, costing €26 per head. I’m pretty sure that if we’d pre-ordered online, that would have been €22, and I’m also entirely sure that we could have managed just fine with one audiotour between us (they give you earbud earphones, so we could have had an ear each). We probably could have managed without the audiotour at all, particularly as the €8 each it cost only covered seven points of interest, most of which were subsequently covered in the museum. However, it did give us some good insights as we went, and we can feel like we’ve contributed in a very small way to the ongoing funding of the building, which is currently scheduled to be completed in 2026 (the centenary of Gaudi’s death).

I didn’t take many photos of the inside, because there’s absolutely no way I, or my phone camera, could produce anything remotely representative. I did try a few snaps of the fantastic stained glass windows. The cool colours to the east side didn’t come out too badly…

…but the phone couldn’t cope with the richness of the warm colours on the west side:

I had already been somewhat bemused (as I always am) by the number of people inside the church who were busy preening themselves in the front-facing cameras on their phones, before taking selfies, without apparently spending any time looking around them. In the museum, though, it really started to irk me (irrationally; what other people do is entirely up to them) how many people walked from exhibit to exhibit taking a photo of every single one, without even a microsecond’s pause to look beyond the camera to consider the subjects of their photos. They must have the dullest photo collections in the world, and probably can’t explain any of them.

The exhibit below, I liked a lot (it’s an inverted model made by Gaudi, of a different church as it happens (there was also one of the Sagrada, but it was so big and complicated it doesn’t really work in a photo) using string and weights to demonstrate the catenary design). We should, perhaps, have tried explaining what it was to the couple of American girls next to us, who had been told they had to see it, but clearly had no idea what they were looking at and why it was so clever:

Our verdict as we left, after a two and a half hour visit, was that even if it is an expensive place to visit, by church standards, it was definitely worthwhile. We’ve visited a lot of churches and cathedrals, and the design of this one is remarkably different, striking and awe-inspiring (particularly in respect of how light and open it is inside). Take time to have a proper look around the museum and you’ll get to see how the design changed once Gaudi took over (thank goodness the original architect left so quickly, or it’d just be another unremarkable gothic cathedral-esque building).

A quick spot of lunch then fuelled us for the half-hour walk up to Parc Guell – another Gaudi design, which was intended to be an entire housing estate, but only got as far as two houses being built. Aside from being relatively near to the Sagrada Familia (or, at least, a lot closer than it would be if we were in the centre of town), our guidebook told us that if we only saw one park whilst in Barcelona, then this was the one to go for. Thus we saw the viaducts:

…and, from the top of the park, a fine view over the whole of the city (see the lump on the right? That’s where the 1992 Olympic park was sited):

Alas, it turns out that, since our guidebook was written, the park has ceased to be entirely free and thus if we wanted to see the craziest bits of Gaudi design, then we’d need to pay €8 a head. We didn’t, and thus had to make do with the bits we could see from outside the fee-paying area (which was quite a bit):

It’s a long walk from there back into the heart of the city, but we shunned public transport. The walk was probably worth it just for the Harry Potter/Grimauld Place moment of seeing a solid-looking part of a building’s facade, comprising plenty of blockwork and two doorways, swing open to give access to a parking garage. Should have grabbed a snap but I didn’t. I was more fastidious with the snackage which featured en-route:

Apparently (per the Rough Guide) __everybody__ starts their visit to Barcelona with the Ramblas. Clearly, we didn’t, but because of that statement, we thought we’d best go an see what the fuss was about. I’m a bit mystified. It’s just a city street. We did walk it from end to end, however, with a detour off at one point to take a quick squizz at the Cathedral:

We didn’t go in, as two major churches in one day felt like one too many, so we simply wandered back to the Ramblas and onwards to the marina.

At 5pm the sun was starting to sink, so off to find a Metro station we went and this time we didn’t have to wait even ten seconds for our train – it was ready to depart as we jumped on.

Twenty minutes later, we were back in the Aire, where we took the time to look at some of the artwork adorning the walls here:

A top day, during which we covered around 11 miles!

Wednesday 30 November - Sant Feliu de Guixols and Barcelona

Where’s Colin? He's at the CityStop Aire in Barcelona. It's not cheap at €30 per night (electric €4 extra per night; water and waste plus showers, toilets and camp kitchen included) but it is: a) open in winter; and b) convenient for the city.

Sant Feliu didn't grab me yesterday, perhaps in part due to the weather. Today, with clearing skies, it improved on me as we walked along the beach, around the harbour, out along the breakwater* then back through the town. The town has invested heavily in multi-lungual information signs which are dotted around at regular intervals and whilst they don't tell a chronological story, they did give us some interesting snippets about the history of the place.

A shop-bought Spanish omelette and some freshly baked bread made for a tasty lunch before we headed off to Barcelona, with the intention of getting there just after 4pm, such that we could arrive in daylight, leave in daylight and have almost two full days (tomorrow and Friday) looking around.

The drive was a bit tedious, particularly on the wiggly section of road when we were stuck behind a large lorry. It nearly drove me to navigate onto the toll motorway ... but not quite (the bonus of a slow drive is that it gives the phones longer to charge - silver linings and all that).

I'm sure that most motorhomers who come to Barcelona opt for a campsite outside the city, but then most probably come here in summer when the campsites are open. I did finally find one within commuting distance, but by then I'd seen that the reviews for this CityStop Aire were almost universally good (a rare thing on Park4Night), and being just a few metro stops (or an hour's walk) from the centre we decided to go for it.

Admittedly the drive did get a bit stressful as we reached the edge of the city. Particularly when, on a six lane stretch of road the SatNav told is we were about to turn left, causing us to move over a few lanes, only for me to notice at the last moment that by 'left' it meant 'right'. That's the second time this week that it has confused a slip road off right, which loops around and over so as to get onto the road going left, for a left turn. Incredibly we did make the turn; even more incredibly, the manoeuvre didn't result in any horns being sounded.

Let's hope our exit from the city in a couple of days time goes more smoothly.

In the meantime there are decisions to be made as to what we want to see in Barcelona whilst we're here.


^{(*As we stood at the end of the breakwater I noticed that the ground in our immediate vicinity was wet. Realising what that meant, I moved away to some dry ground. Mick stayed where he was for a few more minutes and timed his removal just right as two seconds later a rogue wave made its way through and over the multiple lines of sea defences. The woman who had been standing next to Mick wasn't so lucky. She got an unexpected shower. We didn't laugh (or at least, not too much).)}

Tuesday 29 November - Sant Feliu

Where’s Colin? He's at the Municipal Aire in Sant Feliu de Guixols

It's been a quiet day today, which is to say that we have done nothing of note.

After the speediest run I've ever achieved, we moved on from Platja d'Aro, but not far - just 5km down the coast to the town of Sant Feliu, which we thought might be of more interest to us. Unfortunately the weather wasn't being kind, and no sooner than we'd slotted Colin in between two Dutch vans (strange how all of our neighbours last night were German, having barely seen any German vans all trip, then just 5km down the coast they're mainly Dutch) it started to rain.

There was no way I was going out in that, so books were read and to the drumming of rain we listened until finally the sky got lighter and the drumming abated.

A stroll around the town ensued, perusing the various information signs on the way, before taking in the beach...

...and the monastery...

...then picking up a packet soup mix for lunch (just 13 degrees today - I was feeling the need for warming soup; a packet mix was the best the convenience store could offer) and heading back to Colin.

And now, as the light is starting to fade out of the day, we're sitting on butt-numbing plastic seats in a launderette, waiting for our laundry to finish its cycle in the dryer. We know how to live, you know...

Monday 28 November - Girona and Platja d'Aro

Where’s Colin? He's in some designated motorhome roadside parking in Platja d'Aro. I hesitate to call it an Aire as the (winter-only) Aire, where the services are located, is just down the road and this really is just a designated parking area.

Our night in the car park in Girona was quiet enough and at first light this morning I was glad that we'd decided to stay there, rather than decamping to the nearest Aire and returning this morning. At 7am cars had noticeably started arriving in quantity and by 8am we would have struggled to have found a space, soon afterwards it was beyond full.

With our morning runs successfully completed (after another injury layoff, Mick managed a gentle 3km without aggravating his poorly calf; I did an easy 10km), it was mid morning by the time we made it into town and 11 before we arrived at the Jewish Museum.

There we learnt about the history of the Jewish Quarter of Girona, mainly through a huge amount of written information, with a few artefact exhibits thrown in. Thankfully the majority of the information was quadrilingual, including English; it would have been a short and pretty meaningless visit otherwise. Perhaps only because it's Monday, when it's not expected that museums will be open, we had the place to ourselves.

Surprisingly, Mick wasn't minded to have another four course lunch today, so we didn't go back to the place I had earmarked but instead returned to Colin, via a bakery.

Over lunch Mick was presented with two options: inland or to the coast. He voted for the coast, so over to Platja d'Aro we came for surroundings about as far removed from those of Girona as it is possible to get. The view out of the driver's side of Colin isn't bad, but my verdict on the beachfront was 'ugly' thanks to the hotchpotch of high rises which line the promenade.



As has become our expectation at coastal resorts, most property seems to be shut up for the winter, so it was a surprise when, having walked north to the end of the Prom, we returned via the main street to find it not full of closed tourist tat shops, but proper town retail outlets. This place must be bustling in summer! Today, however, I saw only one person browsing along the entire length of the road.

Sunday 27 November – Girona

Where’s Colin? He’s in a large free car park a stone’s throw away from the centre of the old town of Girona. A large town centre car park is seldom our choice of somewhere to stay, so fingers are crossed for a quiet night.

Sometimes I think that we’re not very good at cities. We have so often gone to touristy towns/cities that come highly recommended and either can’t see what the fuss is about, or in a very short time we feel that we have exhausted everything that’s of interest to us. Then other times, like today (or Arles a couple of weeks ago), we’ll pitch up in a city thinking that we’ll likely only be a couple of hours and we’ll end up staying a couple of days.

After a rather disturbed night (Saturday night in an inhabited area; frequent heavy rain showers; migraine), we didn’t get off to a fast start this morning, but it’s a Sunday so there was no fighting for a space in the car park we’d earmarked in Girona. Free, and only a five minute walk to the cathedral = perfect!

The cathedral is to where we headed first, although having checked out the admission prices (and, as it happens, reading them wrong), we decided against and stuck with the pre-decided plan of going to the Museu d’Art.

The outside of the cathedral is far from the most striking we’ve seen. Perhaps we should have opted for the €10 combined ticket (including another church and the art museum) so we could have seen the contrast of the interior

My choice of thing to do in Girona had been the Jewish Museum. Mick’s had been the Art Museum. Had we wanted to save a few cents, then the order of things would have been to go to the Jewish Museum first, as the deal is that after you’ve paid full price for one, you can visit the rest at 50% off, and the Jewish is the cheaper of the two. However, opening hours are limited on a Sunday, and the Art Museum isn’t open at all on a Monday, which dictated Art today and, if we liked the city enough to stick around (we did!), Judaism tomorrow.

A couple of hours were spent in the impressive old (but heavily modernised inside) museum building, looking at religious statues, altar pieces, renaissance and baroque art followed by a bit of more modern stuff. There were a few information panels in English and we thought this one would be improved with the edit I’ve snuck into the photo below:

We also had a bit of an irreverent giggle at this stone relief of Jesus grabbing a football with one hand whilst making obscene gestures with the other:

Leaving the museum at just gone 1pm, I was so hungry that fainting was feeling like a real possibility, making the first priority finding somewhere to eat. The ‘where looks busiest’ method of choosing an eatery doesn’t work in Spain at that time of day (it being a good hour before any Spaniard will even be thinking about lunch), so we picked a place that looked like it had a bit of character and where no-one tried to entice us in. Our four courses, plus a whole bottle of wine for Mick (of which he drank less than half; lightweight!) and a litre bottle of water for me came in at €12 a head. I do like eating out in Spain!

Starters

Our chosen eatery was in the Jewish Quarter (apparently one of the best preserved Jewish neighbourhoods in Europe), and after lunch we had a little wander around its narrow streets and alleyways…



…before heading for the river on the far side of town…

… and picking up the city wall at the point where it terminates by the river.

Along the wall

The missing parts of the wall have been filled in, so it’s possible to walk atop it, stopping off to climb various viewing towers, all the way back to the cathedral, which is a reasonable distance. Most towns (particularly in France) would be charging a few Euros for the pleasure, but here it’s free.

The cathedral, viewed from the wall

And to the left of the cathedral a wooded park, in which Colin is parked.

Just as the light was fading out of the day we managed to squeeze in a walk around the parkland adjacent to where we’re parked, by way of a recce for somewhere to run tomorrow. Then it was dark, so we returned to our corner of the car park and up went the blinds, hoping for a quiet night.