Barcelona

Barcelona has in the last five years completed a massive new cruise ship terminal that stretches along a purpose-built groyne that runs for several kilometres parallel with the shore. MSC, being tight-arses, have paid for the cheapest berth right at the end, where the groyne is still under construction and the port exit is over four kilometres away. To add insult to injury, the ship charges 10 euros, or around $19, for a round trip into the city proper on their shuttle bus.

As a tight-arse myself, let me say; game respects game. However, as a tight-arse, I am not paying 10 euros to wait 20-30 minutes for a shuttle that will then take 10 minutes to complete the trip to the exit. Not when I can walk it in roughly the same time.

So after around 45 minutes of walking through a cool and misty Barcelona morning, I arrived at the famous statue of Chrstopher Columbus, which is up on an extremely tall column, pointing vaguely in the direction of Africa. Here I ran into the eternal problem of trying to get a large distant thing (Columbus) and a small close thing (Pirate Pete) in focus in the same shot.

There was a little flea market around the base of the statue, and I had a scrounge through it, as is my wont. As soon as I saw one particular thing, I knew I needed to get it. The stallholder wanted 10 euros but accepted 5.

Totally worth it.

I started my exploration of Barcelona by walking up La Rambla, a long avenue lined with shops and restaurants. However, the businesses were very much tuned to the lowest common denominator tourist trade, so I soon decided to turn right and enter the Gothic Quarter.

The Gothic Quarter is one of Barcelona’s oldest districts, predating the 19^th century building boom that created the city’s iconic grid layout. The Gothic Quarter is a confusing rabbit warren of narrow laneways and secluded piazzas, probably once quite unsanitary and oppressive but now gentrified and thus clean and charming.

There’s also a much more youthful vibe than on La Rambla, with lots of vintage clothing stores, weed dispensaries and those Japanese pop culture shops where you can buy a $500 plastic Monkey D. Luffy statuette, should the mood and your own sense of right and wrong allow it.

Since I had the time, I decided to wander up to the Sagrada Familia to see how its progressing. Barcelona is a breeze to navigate around, thanks to the aforementioned grid layout of identical square city blocks. Walking to a specific place is just a matter of counting the blocks, turning left or right as appropriate, then counting blocks again. It’s as simple as moving a knight in chess.

The Sagrada Familia was smaller than I remembered, which is clearly wrong since they’ve only expanded it since I was here in 2014. I didn’t want to line up to go in, which is good because the lines were long and convoluted, and the square outside the entry was heaving with tourists.

So, once I had taken a couple of exterior photos, I scuttled back to peace and chill vibes of the Gothic Quarter for a restorative aperol spritz.