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| A colorful market in Barcelona |
When I first learned we were moving to France, I was both excited
and a little disappointed.
Disappointed because
throughout high school and college, I spent a considerable
amount of time learning Spanish, and had always wanted the chance to
try out my language skills in a Spanish-speaking country.
I
thought Spanish would be a much more useful language to know than
French, what with the number of Spanish-speakers in the US and the
proximity to Mexico and Latin America.
Imagine my surprise,
then,
to find out that I was moving to France. I
had
to shove my
hard-earned
knowledge of Spanish
to the back of my brain and start cramming French in there instead. I
enjoyed the challenge of teaching myself French and have done
reasonably well at learning the language. But I still harbor an
appreciation for Spanish and Latin cultures and that dream of
communicating in Spanish.
Thus,
the close proximity of
France to Spain was something I wanted to capitalize on while we were
in Europe.
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| Amazingly beautiful gelato |
It took us nearly two years of
living in France, but I finally realized my goal of seeing Spain.
Last month we took a short trip to Barcelona and had two-and-a-half
days to see the sights. Here's what we found.
Barcelona is full of life.
Compared to Paris, it felt sunny and open and friendly. On our first
full day there, we did a walking tour loosely based on the one in the
back of the novel
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz
Zafón.
One of my favorite books,
The
Shadow of the Wind is a
page-turner of a gothic novel set in Barcelona in 1945.
Zafón
sweeps
you up into a twisting story of shadowy characters and intricate
mysteries, while expertly painting the scene of a dark and dismal
post-war Barcelona. I
was keen to see some of the places that figured so prominently in the
story, so we
took
a stroll down the Ramblas, a long pedestrianized street that takes
you through the heart of Barcelona's
gothic quarter. We saw an epic outdoor market with amazing foods, then joined the sea of tourists that made its way past
the flower vendors, souvenir shops, theaters, restaurants, and living
statues, and ultimately emerged at the marina in front of a massive
statue of Christopher Columbus. In addition to the Ramblas, we
saw a wide variety of architecture, including some fantastical
buildings created by
Antoni
Gaudí in
the late 19th
century, as well as the outside of La Sagrada Família, the enormous
modern basilica designed by Gaudí
that
has had construction ongoing since 1882. Rounding out the day was a
trip to Jansana, a lovely gluten free
bakery.
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| Going incognito and keeping the sun off |
We did a lot
of walking that first day, and in our vacations pre-baby, we would
have felt obliged to go out again in the evening to cram in as much
sight-seeing and experiencing as possible. But now with an
8-month-old who goes to bed around 7:30 pm, we had a perfect excuse
to have a quiet evening in our AirBnB apartment, cooking ourselves a
simple dinner and having hot chocolate on the patio. It was a
relaxing end to an enjoyable day. Despite my initial worries about
vacationing with a baby, it all worked out splendidly. Maëlys seemed
to enjoy the new sights and sounds and she managed to sleep fairly
well in an unfamiliar environment. Plus, Spanish people seem to love
talking to, smiling at, and touching babies, so she made us quite
popular with the locals.
I should note,
however, that on the speaking Spanish with locals front, I failed
miserably. First of all, Barcelona is part of Catalonia, so they
speak both Catalan and Spanish there, and Catalan sounds rather like
a mixture of French and Spanish, which confused me. Secondly, my
brain is now wired such that when I hear a foreign language, I
automatically respond in French, regardless of the language I hear. I
kept saying “oui” instead of “si” and “merci” instead of
“gracias”. So when trying to order in Spanish at restaurants, I
would stare blankly at the server while my brain cycled through the
English and French words before coming up with a French pronunciation
for the Spanish word. It was frustrating but amusing.
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| Casa Batlló, designed by Gaudí |
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| GF cake at Pasticelía |
On our final
day in Barcelona, we first got lunch at another excellent gluten free
bakery, called Pasticelía. This time,
after again being struck dumb at the sight of the waitress and having
to order in English, I mentally rehearsed a couple of Spanish
sentences explaining that our sojourn in Paris had left me struggling
to speak Spanish. She chuckled and told me (in Spanish!) that she
didn't know any French, so she appreciated the effort. It was a small
victory.
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| Sagrada Família basilica |
Afterwards, we
took the subway, a funicular, and a cable car (excellent views of
Barcelona) up the hill to the Montjuïc Castle. Montjuïc was a
17th-18th
century military fortress that was the site of a number of battles
and symbolized Spain's defeat of Catalonia in 1714. It served as a
prison and a house of torture for three hundred years, and is
mentioned in The Shadow of the
Wind
as the grim place where one of the characters was tortured. There is
a small historical exhibit inside the fortress, but we mainly just
walked around the grounds and on the ramparts. The castle's
unpleasant past is not really on display too much, but a somber air
pervades what's left of the fortress. At the end of our visit we
walked down the steep hill through well-tended gardens and back to
the funicular. In the evening we hurriedly made our way to the train
station and caught a two-hour train to Carcassonne, a medieval town
in the south of France.
I would love
to spend more time in Spain. Barcelona was a very colorful and
inviting place and with two-and-a-half days we barely scratched the
surface. But at least we made it there and at least I was able to use
a little of my mostly-dormant Spanish skills. The next part of our
vacation took us “back home” to France, and was a great contrast
to the bustle of Barcelona. Rory will tell you about that adventure
in our next post. Stay tuned.
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| Statue (should be) entitled, Naked woman pondering ice cream cone. |
Imagine my surprise, then,
to find out that I was moving to France. I had
to shove my
hard-earned
knowledge of Spanish
to the back of my brain and start cramming French in there instead. I
enjoyed the challenge of teaching myself French and have done
reasonably well at learning the language. But I still harbor an
appreciation for Spanish and Latin cultures and that dream of
communicating in Spanish. Thus,
the close proximity of
France to Spain was something I wanted to capitalize on while we were
in Europe.
