EuroTrip - Day 64

Life is BARCAful

It's consecutive third morning when we have got up with beautiful Barca sun outside our hostel room window. Till today, each morning had been sunny but as the day progressed the clouds covered the golden sun and we had to just make good with a pleasant temperature. Today, it was different. The sun was out there greeting us a beautiful day. It was a perfect day to hit the beach. However all of us had this firm belief that if we hit the beach, that will be the last thing we do in the day before the evening train to Paris. It was difficult but we had to control our emotions and proceed to see some of the things that were not yet ticked on our list.

Plaça d'Espanya was the first stop for the day. Actually we happen to reach here just by chance on our way to the Olympic Stadium. It's really hard to imagine that they could build a stadium that can host in vicinity of such a huge establishment. It's only after visiting the stadium that we realized that the stadium was actually constructed in the first half of 20th centuries and actually had been a major center for holding various events of international significance. The architecture of rest of the Olympic park is very much modern. I wonder why did they not include even a small hint of Gaudi influence or may be a dedication to Gaudi in the design of this stadium. I really expected to see some connection to Gaudi in this place that played such a significant role in bringing this city to the world map.

As if the detour to Olympic park was not enough, I chose to take a different route again. Instead of hitting the beach, I decided to go to Tibidabo, the small hill situated close to Barcelona. The church situated on its top had caught my attention as soon as I had arrived in this city. When lit in evening, it looked really beautiful and I really wanted to get a closer look at the place. I reached here (alas I did not take the popular funicular train and took the bus route instead) on a sunny afternoon and was amazed to see the crowd at this place. This place is heaven for couples who come here cycling/trekking or by other modes. The cathedral is just-another cathedral but looks good next to a giant wheel on top of this hill. Such a peak is an unsual location for an amusement park. But the park which is located on Tibidabo hill is a very popular attraction for locals and tourists alike. They say, this place is the best location to get a panoramic view of the city. And I vouch for it. It's like being on the top of Barcelona. You get a good look of everything around. I really wish that I should have come to this place during night so as to see this city when it is really alive.

There are so many things that you can do in one city. Barcelona is the first city where we have spent so much time and tried to feel the beat. We still could not do it full. It takes a lot of time and more involved interaction to understand the psyche of a city like Barcelona. For last 4 days or so, we have made our life BARCAful. Hats off to this city.

ps: Title taken from Jalan's status message on gtalk.
Barcelona trivia: There are metro stations named Parellel and Diagonal in this city. I wonder why they needed to have names like this.