Microwaved Bikini’s in Barcelona…

As I leave the coast and head to the capital city of Madrid, I’m reminiscing about the last few days in Barcelona and Sitges. When I landed at the airport, I was greeted with a familiar face. Sara D, my best friend from college and one of my travel companions from last year’s “Yes I have Baggage” tour was joining me for the last few legs of my European adventures. I greeted her with a hug, smile and of course a pretzel! Heading into the Spain portion of this trip, I was excited to practice my Spanish. With anything you haven’t used in years, it gets a little rusty. In my mind, I was going to be conversing with the locals. In reality, we learned that I can tell a taxi driver where to go, order in a restaurant, inquire if the beach chairs are open, say excuse me when running past someone on the street and of course the most important order two glasses of Cava from Can Panxiote! Thankfully my receptive skills are a little more advanced than that…a little. I realized on the train I could understand a conversation that a young boy and his dad were having, so my Spanish is about at a level of a Kindergartner. I’m sure Señora Martinelli is rolling her eyes as we speak.

Some of the most famous attractions in Barcelona are Antoni Gaudí’s architectural masterpieces. While traces of his work can be found all over Barcelona, the two I spent the most time admiring were his Park Güell and La Sagrada Familia. One morning I got up early to get a run in before the temperatures rose and I happened to stumble upon a hill worthy of comparison to a hill in San Francisco. This hill was so steep; running right through the middle of it was an escalator. If you’re wondering, I took the stairs (still trying to work off all those pretzels from Germany). I had all intentions of running through the park by my hotel, but it didn’t open up until 10AM. So, I went in another direction and found myself at Park Güell before it officially opened for the day. Since the outskirts of the park itself are open to the public, I was able to take my own private tour before it was crawling with all the other tourists. If you’re an early riser and you find yourself wanting to go, I’d highly recommend taking advantage of this.

La Sagrada Familia is a church unlike any church I’ve ever seen. It was originally commissioned in 1882 and it’s not predicted to be complete until 2026, which happens to be the 100^th anniversary of the architect Antoni Gaudí, who took over the design in 1883. In telling folks I was headed to Barcelona, they all mentioned this and that I had to check it out. It’s exterior is truly something else. And while I can’t say it was particularly my taste, I had to appreciate its ornate grandeur. When I walked through the doors, I was enveloped in a warm rainbow shining through from the gorgeous stain glassed windows. It was here, at this moment where I felt most at peace and found the understated and “simple” structures to be the true beauty of this church. I opted for an audio guide and as the tour was finishing the recording shared that one of Gaudí’s dreams for La Sagrada Familia was the true message of the Christian faith, to build a place that all felt welcome, regardless of where you came from. Now that is some Christian Faith I can get behind.

Upon arriving in the small coastal town of Sitges, I immediately felt myself take a slow exhale. I’ve begun to notice a pattern, that while I appreciate and thoroughly enjoy visiting the bigger cities, I am happiest in the smaller, simpler towns. Does this mean I’m not really a city girl? Is it just because I live in a city and long for the contrast when traveling? One can only guess. As if the deep breath wasn’t a big enough sign, when we popped into La Supermercat to pick up some snacks, Bruno Mars’ ”Chunky” was playing! If you don’t know it, this is my added bonus tip for you, get to know it! While spending the day at the beach, I was reminded of one of my favorite parts of Greece. Like in Greece, women here in Sitges seemed to have the most remarkable sense of body positivity no matter what shape or form their body came in. What great role models for the younger generation to love the skin you’re in. I managed to also get into the Spanish tradition of Siesta while on the beach. Naps are good, but beach naps are even better!

I’m probably going to get a lot of flack for saying this, but I do not quite understand the emphasis on the food in Barcelona. It’s possible that we’ve just struck out at every location we picked, but I am not feeling you food wise Barcelona. Have you ever had a Microwaved Bikini…pretty sure I did and it reminded me of the illegal sandwich makers we had in our dorms in college. I did by accident happen upon some Jamón Chips and while weird, oddly not too bad. We are hoping with the recommendations from my friend Michael, that Spain will redeem itself in Madrid!

On our last night, we found the famous Can Panxiote Cava Bar tucked away in an alley. At this little hole in the wall, you are required to order food with your drink. Each glass of Cava is only 1Euro 30, so I think the food discourages the folks visiting from getting too too tipsy. For the price of two glasses of wine in SF, we managed to have 4 rounds and 3 tapas plates. In this bar, it’s pretty much a requirement that you make friends with your neighbors, as it is standing room only. We happened to be standing next to some gentlemen from Munich and I was able to wow them (huge exaggeration) with my German;) When I asked them for a recommendation of what tapas to order with our next round they told me, “Well it’s not very ladylike but the chorizo was really good.” I wasn’t aware that chorizo was gender specific so I had to inquire as to why. He told me it was very fatty. UGH, Nice talking to you gents, but we have to be moving on:/ We ended our night at an outdoor café watching the end of the England vs. Colombia match and feeling very European as everyone began to crowd around the TVs from the outside waiting to see who would pull off the win!