A weekend away

Despite Birmingham's best efforts to keep us in the UK due to the traffic we arrived in Girona airport and got the bus down into Barcelona. It's always a shame arriving at a place when it's dark as you never really get to see anything of the city although as it was about 7 when we arrived in the bus station we were more interested in finding our hotel. The very helpful information guy at the airport had explained how to get there and so, happy to leave behind the already drunk stag parties, we set off to find the nearest Metro station. Thanks to Sally's expert map reading we found it no problem and got ourselves a four day pass and headed to our hotel.

It was situated right in the shore, a couple of miles outside the city centre but only four blocks from the metro station. It was very plush although to be honest we hardly spent any time there though. After checking in and collecting our Barcelona tickets which had been left at the desk, we wandered out in search of food. Not really knowing where we were going we wandered along the road heading vaguely in the direction of the city. After finding a petrol station sign with no petrol station and no sign of any life in the slightest we changed course and wandered inland a block and found a nice little ramblas street and pretty much stopped at the first café we found. We had tapas and a couple of bottles of wine and watched a very drunk man stumble round the street shouting incoherently.

Sally began her quest to find a cheese toastie

The next day we had a lie-in before heading into the city. We got off at Jaune Place and found that, completely by accident, we had popped up in the centre of the old city. We dived into a café for a coffee and breakfast and Sally began her quest to find a cheese toastie which would last all weekend and wouldn't succeed. We, for the first time, started to read the guide books and work out where we wanted to go. First stop, we decided was the cathedral known as Le Seu. We found it a little by accident after wandering round the old streets which were fascinating by themselves. The cathedral was covered in scaffolding but still looked very impressive. We had a wander in and after I tutted a few times at people ignoring the signs asking them not to take photos I gave in and took a few myself. It was a very impressive cathedral with some ornate carvings in the middle but without any signs in English to tell us what things were we gave up and wandered out. We then continued to wander round the sides of the cathedral and discovered a really impressive 'Bridge of Sighs' style bridge connecting two buildings as well as lots of interesting little things on buildings like gargoyles.

We then headed through the shopping area to the Place de Catalunya which was right at the top of the Ramblas, Barcelona's famous café/shop street. It's a tree lined avenue with a big pedestrian walkway with stalls selling all the normal souvenirs, pets or flowers. It was quite strange to see cages of birds, gerbils and tortoises on the street. We nearly bought a cute little tortoise. There are also a load of cafes towards the lower end. The most fascinating feature of the Ramblas were the street entertainers. They were about every ten metres or so and were all statues doing poses. Some were all painted up and just standing still, there was one who was a diver in a plastic aquarium, one very strange one was all mangled up in a bicycle wreck. Right at the bottom of La Ramblas is the port. It's quite a picturesque place with a column reminiscent of Trafalgar Square with Christopher Columbus atop who set sail for the New World from Barcelona and the Catalans claim him as one of their own.

In the afternoon we headed east to Montjuic park which sits on a hill overlooking the city. We got the metro across to Place D'Espanya which brought us out at the foot of a long avenue heading up the hill. There are two towers that flank the entrance and the avenue itself was lined with fountains leading up to a couple of fancy buildings which were built for the 1929 exhibition and they decided to keep them because they look nice.

We stopped for an ice cream half way up the steps making the kid at the table next to us green with envy. He spent the entire time we were sat there staring at our ice creams as he ate a sandwich. At least I think he was staring at the ice-cream. He was a little young to be making a move on Sally.

We then set out to climb all the stairs up to the top of the hill, and there were a fair few. About three quarters of the way up we overtook a mum with a young kid. The young kid then kept up with us leaving his mum behind. When we finished one set of stairs and turned to see the next one. He turned it to us and smacked his hand against his head in mock despair with a big grin on his face. He did this after every set until we got to the top!

The view from the top was pretty impressive although it was a little hazy. We could see the cathedral and the old city as well as the Sagrada Familiar (see later on) but not the Nou Camp unfortunately... Part of Montjuic is the Olympic park and stadium from the 1992 Olympics and, rather than art galleries, we wandered round to the stadium. It too was covered in scaffolding but as we walked round we found a gap in the scaffolding that allowed us to walk into the stadium which was a little surreal. It was very impressive stadium both inside and out although without any cover. When they re-did it for the 92 Olympics they kept the front part intact and it looks good. There are excellent views from the stadium across the west of the city.

We were both pretty knackered by this point after all the walking so got the funicular railway down which linked to the metro and then back to the hotel for an afternoon kip before heading back into the city for dinner. We were starving by the time we got back into the city so pretty much stopped at the first restaurant we found. The food wasn't great but it just about filled us up - we then went for a beer which was far more important. We found a little café right in the thick of things to watch the world go by. We had some good street entertainment because there was a little guy dressed up in a gorilla suit walking behind people and making them jump.

The next day was an early start to catch the train up to Montserrat. We very nearly missed it as we misjudged the metro and made the train with about four minutes to spare and no breakfast. The train journey took us an hour and wended its way up into the hills. We caught a glimpse of the monastery nestled in the mountains as we arrived at the station. From the platform we got a wonderful view up the mountain and could see the scary cable car we were going to have to take to get up there. We actually managed to squeeze ourselves on one that was just about to leave and squeeze was definitely the right word. Things were not helped by the cable car operator smiling at us then crossing himself before we headed on up the mountain. It was quite a steep climb and we got really close to the cliffs at a few points before finally reaching safety.

Whilst taking in the fantastic views that the monastery is surrounded by as well as the beauty of the monastery itself, we did have more pressing concerns - namely our stomachs. They did have a little cafeteria place with a fairly uninspiring selection of food although they did make my day as Sally had a packet of Salt & Vinegar crisps which, in Spanish, is Sal y Vinegar. So she became known as Sally Vinegar until she started to sulk....

Anyway, I went to get a map and a guide book and somehow ended up with a free audio thing too. The map was good but the brochure wasn't and we didn't use the audio thing. We decided to head up the mountain on the funicular railway which took us up to where could walk to some of the hermitages. The one we chose to go to was called Saint Joan. It had a little chapel which looked pretty and quaint, but unfortunately had a dilapidated house behind it which was falling to bits and full of all kinds of rubbish such as fridges and cookers. Some of which were strewn about the countryside around as well. It was a great shame that such a picturesque setting with wonderful views was spoiled like this and it's a great shame whoever looks after the place doesn't do a better job.

I managed to persuade Sally to walk back down to the monastery instead of getting the railway on the basis that the 50 minutes the sign said it would take was for old people, and in the end it took about half an hour. It gave us some nice views all the way down and we passed a small chapel and a cross mounted on a bluff. We also got some great views back to the monastery. When we finished our walk, we decided that we ought to actually go into the monastery. The main feature of the monastery and a point of pilgrimage for many Christians is a statue of someone or other called the Black Virgin. The queue for this was huge and moving slowly so we contented ourselves with wandering round the church and basilica which was very impressive in itself.

It was about 2 in the afternoon at this point and we headed back down the mountain to catch the train back into Barcelona. We planned to spend the afternoon doing all the Gaudi architecture but first we had to eat as always. Still no cheese on toast though. The first Gaudi building we went to was the Casa Belleti. The only way to describe this building (look at the pictures!) is it's like a Salvador Dali painting. The front is blue with floral patterns, curvy balconys and beautiful columns with big curvy windows. There wasn't a straight line in the entire place. We took the tour and, this time, listened to the audio guide. The whole house was absolutely fantastic with amazing spiralling ceilings and ornate wooden doors and windows. The building also incorporated two shafts in the centre of the building with the stairs/lift in the middle which had a large sky light to allow light into the building. The tiles in the shafts started at the bottom as whites and greys, increasing to bold blues at the top creating a cascade effect as you went up. The roof was also fantastic with the surreal chimneys like a dragon.

The next Gaudi building was called La Pedreda and was an apartment building. The front was a sandy colour and had lots of balconies which had fantastic wrought iron decoration on. We pretty much headed straight up to the roof which was the main feature (and I think people actually live in it). The roof is arranged round two open shafts with cool little windows (see photo - can't describe them!!). Then the best feature is loads of cool chimneys (again see photos!). We got a great view from here and you could see La Sagrada Familia and the cathedral. We did wander across to La Sagrada Familia but by the time we got there it was dark and so we didn't get a good impression of it or any decent pictures. We'll leave that for next time!!

It was time for the part of the weekend I was most looking forward to: Barcelona v Real Zaragoza!! We got the metro out to the western part of Barcelona and followed the fans. The Nou Camp was visible between the apartment buildings quite a way away and the floodlights lit up the sky. There were plenty of stalls out selling Barcelona gear but I resisted the temptation to buy anymore following my shirt purchase and Sally's scarf. The gates were locked when we arrived and there was a reasonable amount of people about. It did transpire that I had got the kick off time wrong. I thought it was at 8 but really it was 9. In my defence I got the kick off time right if we were in the UK watching it on Sky.

We were eventually let in and worked our way up a million flights of stairs to our perch right at the top of the stadium. We literally were in the last row. This wasn't a bad thing as it gave us a fantastic view of the whole stadium as well as views around us. The ground soon filled up (attendance was 74,000). There were a fair few Brits around us including a few shivering girlfriends. Sally had already nicked my jumper so was nice and warm. There was a very small but very vocal Zaragoza contingent to our left and a few equally vocal Barcelona fans around us who would have a running battle throughout the game with the stewards as to whether they could stand up at the back or not.

The game itself was typically Spanish: slow and fluid. Zaragoza took the lead from a corner early in the first half (shocking defending) but Barcelona equalised on the half hour mark with Ronaldinho heading home from a Barca corner. The second half was as entertaining with two red cards, one for an invisible elbow and the other for a professional foul. A late goal from a beautiful Ronaldinho free kick gave Barca the lead and they wrapped it up with a late, late Saviola goal from another Ronaldinho free kick.

We headed to La Ramblas for a drink or two after the game after squeezing onto the Metro. We ordered big beers which nearly were a mistake as settling the bill left us with 37 cents. We had to get some more cash to get a taxi home (the metro had closed).

The final morning involved packing, a final metro trip and then the long bus ride to Girona with some VERY smelly blokes on who we had the misfortune to queue next to. Thankfully we didn't have to sit next to them although ironically we sat next to the same guy who had bad breath. All in all, a great weekend and a fantastic place!