Adios Barcelona

After a late night out, I slept in a bit and then headed to the Plaza Epanyol to visit the Museu Nacional d'Art de Cataluyna. Thomas was still sleeping it off, so I toured the art museum on my own. The museum had a large collection of medieval and modern Catalan art. I don't think there were any pieces I recognized, but the highlight for me was the collection of Romanesque church frescoes and carvings. Like all European art museums, come prepared to view room after room of pictures of Jesus and colonial atrocities. Yay! Western civilization!

The approach to the museum is very dramatic, and the building is very attractive.

Looking back towards the city from the terrace.

Jesus looks pissed.

The disciples are giving Jesus a real WTF expression here.

This 900 year old carving was really colorful.

I'm not 100% sure what's going on here, but I assume these are lots of ways the devil could kill you.

I thought this more modern pieces was very lovely. It was inspired by western contact with Japan in the middle 19th century.

And of course, Europeans glorifying their colonial conquests. 

By about 1pm Thomas was ready to meet up. He came to the art museum and we grabbed a cab to a nearby seafood restaurant called Terraza Martinez for some paella. This place was on the eater 38 list as well. The restaurant was part way up Montjuic (the mountain on the southern side of Barcelona), so it offered great views over the city and the Mediterranean. With no reservation, there was only one table available and it was in the blazing hot sun...but our waiter was very accommodating, opening some windows for us, and now I've finally regained vision in both of my eyes. ;) The food was very good. We got a seafood paella and there were mussels, shrimp, clams, etc. 

Seafood paella.

After lunch, we strolled down the block to the cable car station, which connects Montjuic with the beach at Barceloneta. We bought a ticket and took the rickety car on a 10 minute trip across part of the bay. The views of the city are amazing from the car, and it's worth the money just to see the city from this vantage. The machinery itself is pretty old and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't planning my escape from the car when it plummeted to the sea the entire ride...but hey, I'd still recommend it!

Barceloneta from above. Yeah, there are people swimming in January! I hope the pool is heated.

View back towards the city from the cable car.

After disembarking from the cable car station, we strolled back up the beach at Barceloneta to a bakery I had marked on my travel map called Baluard Barceloneta. This bakery had tons of fresh bread, savory snacks and desserts. I bought a small piece of cake and a cannolo. We brought the treats home and I enjoyed them for a few minutes on the AirBnB terrace before it got too cold. After napping and hanging out for a few hours, Thomas and I went out for ramen for dinner. Maybe not the most Spanish last meal in Barcelona, but you can't live on tapas alone. :)

Mmmm....European pastries.

While skeptical about ramen in Spain, I was really happy with this meal.

So ends my time in Barcelona. Overall, I really liked this city. There's tons of good food, it's really walkable and there's a good mix of activities. The city feels very livable, which is a term planners tend to use for places that are just well thought out overall. My general spin on the term livable includes a notion that the city may be a little white bread. I don't know if I'd consider this city on the same level as Madrid, Rome or London but I definitely see its charm and why people tend to love it. 

There's a really funny episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon's character visits the south and notices that things are mostly the same as the rest of America, but slightly different. I think that's how I'd describe Barcelona in reference to the rest of Spain. Having visited other parts of Spain in the past, I had some expectations for Barcelona. Mostly these were met, but slightly different than I had in my mind. Familiar dishes are prepared here a little differently, the language is a bit different, and the people have a different way about them. After visiting, it makes it a little easier to understand why some of these people may consider themselves a separate nation (an idea that I won't weigh in on).

At any rate, with Spain under my belt it's time to head to Athens! Janice and Peter are meeting me there on Saturday and I'll have about 48 hours before they arrive to explore on my own. I'm looking forward to revisiting Greece!