Bocadillos and mohitos

My second day in Barcelona started with a coffee at the Santa Caterina food market again as Rodko was closed (it has the oddest opening times) — I decided to have some breakfast here as well, which led to some interesting Catalan to Spanish to English translation. I ended up with a Ham and Cheese bocadillo, delicious although I’m pretty much bocadillo‑d out now as they seem to be the primary food group here.

The night before became a slow bar crawl around first the Raval, then over to the Born to finish off. I was pretty tired so climbed into bed reasonably early, about midnight, for a lovely long sleep. I could certainly get used to very drinkable glasses of red wine for 2€ a time.

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day — the temperature hit 20° and the local population were out in force. After a visit to the Picasso Museum in the morning, I decided to find one of the beaches to the north of the city and enjoy the weather in style — the beaches aren’t the nicest in the world but after a long and grey London winter I was in heaven. I kicked of my shoes, threw off my shirt and went for a paddle in the Med. Lovely! The sea was as calm as a millpond, and all I could hear was the gentle lapping of the water on the shore.

Heading back to the city I passed this Juan Muñoz sculpture, caged and set in the middle of a large open area near the beach — it was nice to see his work out of the gallery. I wandered back and checked into the hotel, before heading out again for some lunch and a wander over to Raval to check out another exhibit. Over by the MACBA I couldn’t resist joining the locals for some late afternoon sun, sitting against the wall with a café con leche and a book.

From MACBA it was a wander through the back streets of Raval to the base of Montjuic — I couldn’t find the railway so I walked up the hill to get what is apparently the best view of the city. Unfortunately as I reached the top a huge bank of fog rolled in from the sea and, although I could still see a lot, obscured the view of the harbour. It was still a great view, but I realised I preferred the hustle and bustle of the narrow city streets and headed back to the madness.

I must have walked 10 miles today! My legs finally started to ache and I headed back to the hotel and then out into the city for some food and drink. I watched the France v England rugby in an Irish pub in Raval where I met an interesting man call José, a Dutch guy who’d moved here a year ago and wanted to know the rules of rugby. Friendly but a little strange, I stole one of his really strong cigarettes and talked about Barca locals. From there I headed back to Born to a cute little bar where an Italian barman made me some wicked mohitos and we chatted about which city made the best cocktails.

I hardly remember going to bed, I passed out happy and exhausted in my giant king size bed.