Europe 2024: Barcelona

The train journey to Barcelona is flawless and perfectly to schedule.

It’s then a quick metro ride to the bottom of Las Ramblas and a short walk to this rather anonymous looking doorway in a narrow side street. We get in, but have to wait while another small group either checks in or checks out. Whichever it is, it takes an age before we are dealt with. I am uncertain as to whether I have actually paid for our accommodation yet: I have been receiving dubious payment requests via booking.com followed by messages saying the site has been hacked and to ignore these messages. This has resulted in me cancelling my bank card, so I don’t really see how payment could have been taken. I am assured however that all is in order and nothing is owing

Our room is again simple and basic, and has a balcony overlooking the street

The hotel has a nice rooftop terrace at the back which makes for a restful breakfast area. Note the fountain: no water

The region is still in the grip of a prolonged drought, and all of the fountains in the city are dry

It is now Vera’s turn to take back the baton of gastrointestinal illness, with vomiting and retching. Luckily we have made it into our accommodation, and not been struck down whilst still travelling. So evening one is a bit of a wipe out, but things pick up after that

I am wary about returning to places that I have been before, suspecting that the second visit will not live up to the memory of the first visit. So it is for me here. The buildings are still as amazing as they were before, but the sense of surprise and wonder is not what it was: there is a law of diminishing returns in operation.

But Barcelona is a big city, and it is easy to stumble across new things. This looks like a sport arena, or even a bullring perhaps, but is in fact a shopping centre with fabulous rooftop views

This building belongs to the Archive of the Crown of Aragon, containing over 700 years of historical records and amalgamated collections

We revisit this tapas bar as it was good last time and we’ve effectively missed an evening out. The food is every bit as good as before, and it’s fascinating having a direct view into the kitchen. Flames leap up in the background as dishes are prepared, and the staff swing between periods of frantic but perfectly coordinated action and quiet interludes

We have learnt our lesson from last year and have booked a visit to the Picasso museum. Vera is having problems accessing her email attachments, but the helpful staff quickly sort things out

It covers some of his early pieces as a teenager

and a lot from the 1950s, but has big gaps

It is not as good as the Picasso museum in Malaga, visited in 2023

One thing that really strikes me is the sheer quantity of his output. This is one of a series of nine paintings of pigeons that fill a room of the gallery and represent seven days output as the artist takes a break from the bigger project he is working on

We visit La Casa Batllo, a house built for the Batllo family who gave Gaudi a blank cheque and told him to create something unique and audacious

Unique and audacious certainly describes it, having very much an aquatic feel, rooms resembling underwater grottos lined with turtle shells. Quite fantastic

But we had been marketed an intimate late night visit in a small group. What you got was a veritable conveyor belt of people being moved through.

Normally the fascinating detail of the house would have made this irrelevant, but we had last year’s visit to the Palau Guell to compare it to – and that had been a better, and cheaper, experience

Our favourite Mariachi Bar is as welcoming as ever

We haven’t fully learned our lesson to book ahead. We take a trip out to the Guell Park, only to find all the tickets already sold out and we are unable to get in

Making our way back to the centre we stop to look at the Sagrada Familia and check its progress over the past 13 months. This is as fabulous as before, and there are always more details that you previously missed

It seems a feature of this year’s trip that we constantly encounter very self-absorbed and self-important young people undertaking protracted photo shoots wherever there is a scenic backdrop. It’s both fascinating and disturbing

This would all seem to confirm my reluctance to revisit too quickly

But my highlight of the trip, which on its own would have made the stopover worthwhile, is the visit to the Maritime Museum

The star exhibit is this full sized replica of a 14^th century galley, driven by 236 rowers powering 59 oars. The rowing crew were a mix of slaves, prisoners, and volunteers. The involuntary crew being shackled in place while at sea, possibly for weeks. Consequently the ship reeked so much of human excrement as to render any surprise attack impossible

The museum is housed in the buildings of the old royal dockyard, which were impressive in their own right, being comparable to a jet airline assembly plant of today

A working model of a sailing ship, used to train officers as to the workings of the vessel. Comparable to today’s flight simulators for training pilots

The museum cafe courtyard would appear to contain the only working water feature in the city