EuroTrip- Day 61

GMBC in Europe

Before I start the day, let me recall the start of this trip. With Bansi and TARDi on their honeymoon trip to Switzerland, three of us 'singles' were left to plan this trip. Out of the available two options - Spain and Switzerland, we had to choose the safest one - Spain so as not to disturb the lovey dovey even by mistake. So what if they don't say it! We know, we have been kabab me haddi (in Europe they call it kebap me haddi) for so long. :D

So Spain it was. We planned to reach Barcelona somehow and then see what to do. Bora and A1 were to join us. But then you know all about these couples. :D

So three of us fixed the plan and made the bookings. A surprise was waiting for us. We were not the only one traveling to Barcelona that night. Ankur, Anit (Bhatinda) and Mallik had also booked the same train and had similar plans.

It was a nice coincidence. The GMBC in Europe (Me, Ankur and Bhatinda) had made plans in India itself to do some trips together. But somehow because of our hectic schedules, we just could not do it till now. And this trip, we ended up on the same train just by chance. If it was meant to be, it had to be. And here we had a bigger larger and livelier gang.

The night journey in Corail Lunea was mostly uneventful except the long chat with Ankur. The train was a little lateto reach Port Bou and we had missed the connecting train for Barcelona. With around 2 hours to spare, we had no other option but to explore the town. And what a morning it turned out to be!!

The beach is less than half a km from the railway station and is very beautiful. Morning sun was shining in full glow to give an amazing warm feeling. There is no better thing to do than eat a nice breakfast on beach front in such a weather. Bread-jam had never tasted so good. A couple of photoshoot rounds and we were ready to board the train. Did I tell you, this small town had its own tourist information office too.

The journey from Port Bou to Barcelona was going to be a long one as we had taken a regional train. It stops at every station and if you are lucky enough the station could be as big as just a platform. A couple of hours' sleep and then game of cards. Time just flies away. Bhatinda taught us a new game called Literature today. A little technical (as the name suggests), this game kept us engaged for a long time. I am sure we will see more of it in our return journey too.

2pm is not the best of time to reach any city. If it was any other city in Europe, it would have meant that you are left with just around 3 hours of sunlight and day fun. However Barcelona is different. This Catalunean capital boasts of an active night life that is outside the clubs and bars. So we had nothing to worry about.

Like a traveler in the mood to relax, we straight away checked in our hostel, freshened up and started the search for a place to treat ourselves with a lunch. Today, we needed more than a subway. We were not in the cold weather of Europe anymore and we could splurge to celebrate that. It took us no time to realize that in Barcelona, you can find a lot of places serving a good buffet menu at around 10 euros. We were hungry and surely it was time to 'raise the bar'. With salad, pasta, noodles and pizza, a drink to go with, ice-cream and fruits as deserts and coffee to end the meal - the menus were just too irresistible to let go. "Eat as much as you want. If the plate is empty, I get more. It's all vegetables. No meat. No tuna. Change your plates, if you want. But you can use a maximum of 102 plates" - talks like this did a good selling and we did what was expected of us. We treated ourselves with the grandest lunch we have had in Europe. For over an hour and half the gang lunched and made best use of the opportunity. RV ke din yaad aa gaye. I am pretty sure, the restaurant guy will never try to sell his buffet menu to any Indian anymore.

If you start lunching at around 3 and eat for an hour or so, you end up eating so much that the next thing on your agenda would be to just take a stroll and/or sit back and relax somewhere. Alas, we were back in tourist mode (as we had very less time - just 4 days - in Barcelona). So we chose to take a stroll around La Rambla and then move towards the cathedral. The souvenir shops in Barcelona seemed to offer lot of new things with lots of Gaudi artefacts. I am sure end of this trip, I will have lots of things to take home as memories.

The cathedral was just-another cathedral so did not take a lot of our time. The market square outside the cathedral did seem to be fun with lots of activities. The street artists in Europe have won my heart. They play really nice music, show amazing stunts and draw amazing portraits and paintings. They do it with a great passion and grace and bring life to these piazza/plazas/squares.

Walking further, we crossed the Gothic quarters. For a lover of architecture that I am, it was not much of a difference from what we had been seeing all the while. Thank God we have PooCh with us. When it comes to Christianity, Architecture and long phone calls, he has no match [PJ disclaimers attached]. So we appreciated the buildings on the way and kept walking. Our manjil for the day (or actually night by now) was to hit the beach. It did not take long, just a couple of detours to see a glimpse of L'Aquàrium de Barcelona (Barcelona Aquarium) and Musée d'Histoire de la Catalogne à Barcelone (Museum of the History of Catalonia). Two places ticked on the Barcelona itinerary.

The beachfront is flocked with nice restaurants and clubs. It's one of the most beautiful beach I have seen so far. Gangs of boys and girls were playing beach football, the restaurants were starting their business and there were couples roaming around with hand in hand. It's a perfect end to a day. The long journey had taken a toll on us so we decided to take a rest for tonight and then hit the city in full enthu tomorrow. The plan has already been changed and we are going to stay in Barcelona instead of traveling to any other city (Madrid or Seville) so we should be able to get a lot more of Barcelona in next couple of days.

ps: Today I showed a remarkable improvements in my cooking skills and made a really tasty pasta. If you have any doubts, you can ask anyone from the gang.