Hola from Barcelona!

As part of our 'recovery' we decided a trip was in order. We travelled down the coast of Spain and headed to Barcelona. The weather was warm (20-22 degrees) and sunny every day. The coastline of Spain is beautiful so we decided to spent a night in a small beach town called L'Escala but what we had not realised was that in February all the hotels close down for the month because it's winter!? Huge hotels all with their shutters down and restaurants closed, looking decidedly ghost townish in places. I can't imagine that happening in NZ over the winter!! We found a very clean and tidy hostel and a wonderful little restaurant on the waterfront so all our needs were met!

The sleepy but very pretty town of L'Escala, Spain

Snow covered Pyrenees

Barcelona city is huge, thank goodness for GPS! Our first taste of Barcelona was from the hop on and off bus which was a wonderful way to get our bearings and of course see all the 'have-to see' sights. The highlight had to be Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, although his legacy can be seen all over the city. 

A touch of Gaudi, amazing apartments

The Sagrada Familia church has been under construction since 1882 and still has at least another 50 years to go! Construction relies on donations, largely from anonymous benefactors.

The inside of the church is breathtaking. Gaudi wanted to create a forest reaching to heaven, the light from the stain glass windows simply adds to the feeling of space and grandeur. An amazing experience!

You feel very small and insignificant once inside. To think that someone could have imagined this so long ago and still others had the foresight to make it a reality.

 The sculptures inside and out are so detailed. You can look and look and still see things that you didn't see before.

We walked for miles up and down little side streets which were filled with little specialty shops and cafes. Everywhere there are people riding motor bikes and scooters. Cycling is huge here too.

Scooters and motorbikes everywhere and interestingly very few locked as compared to Paris where they were all heavily chained. 

 

 

Lunchtime at a city primary school. Not a blade of grass in sight!

A walk down the main shopping (read Tourist) street, La Rambla, was an experience. It is a couple of kilometres long and has musicians, human statues, artists, flowers and touristy shops selling calendars, Barcelona flags and football jerseys etc. It is filled with people 'promenading' (a common pass time we have found in Europe) and stopping at the many bars and cafes for wine/beer, tapas, pizza or paella, all pretty reasonably priced. 

This 'biker' was a big hit with the promenaders!

The detail and effort the human statues go to is terrific, even on a cold day they don't move a muscle!

 Before we left for Barcelona we were warned by a large number of people not to carry anything valuable and to be on the lookout at red lights etc. Everyone seemed to have a horror story to share. Our experience was the exact opposite. We felt very safe the whole time we were there, whether we were out during the day or at night. The people were very friendly and helpful and once again, like Paris, most people spoke English so we didn't have to rack our brains for the five Spanish words we knew!


Coming home, via an inland route, we came across a ski resort called La Molina. It has just hosted the world snow boarding championships, and unlike our side of the mountains, has snow. It boasts 62 kilometers of ski trails and there was hardly anyone there. Martin was chomping at the bit to have a ski, but all his gear was at home so it is definitely on the 'to-do' list soon I think!

A Month to Forget!

After such a wonderful time in Paris over Christmas, we got home, flying Easyjet, and both succumbed to a particularly nasty flu-probably picked up from the plane on the way home. This flu managed to hold on to us for the entire month of January, resulting in very little action at Moulin du Bayle apart from coughing and moaning! Hence the paucity of blogging on my part, thinking was not high on the agenda over January.

Anyway, we are now into February and our health has returned and so has our energy...as Martin says, your health is your wealth...so true!