Barcelona.
I guess planning a trip would put even more 'pressure' on having a good time but holidays are always care-free, spontaneous and a chance to absorb another culture and it's people. Lovely. Also it was a Christmas present (thanks Ian and Suzanne!) so let's go!
Our adventure started early in the sleepy, snowy city of Aberdeen. 3am. Time to get up, and get ready. The snow was falling sideways as we 4x4'd our way along the country roads to the airport- thanks to Mels for the lift- this was exciting, actually quite scary too because there was a lot of snowfall, and we didn't want any canceled flights.
ABD airport. Checked in, easy. Security. No frisks, happy. Bacon roll, at 4am? Yeah it's alright. On plane, only 30mins delayed. Bye Aberdeen.
AMS airport. Delay in ABD means we had to make our way straight to our connection. No time for a Grolsch, at 8am? Don't be ridiculous.
BCN airport. 15c. 1 Hour ahead, GMT (+1). Hola Barcelona.
Taxi to our hotel which is on Gran Via de les Cortis Catalanes, which is a huge street but the location is ideal. 5 mins from the Metro (Universtat), and about 10mins from La Rambla.
Anyways, checked into our hotel, and our rooms weren't ready yet so we went out to find some lunch. Now what you want is a busy restaurant because this means the food is good, and if there are locals eating there then you are onto a winner. I can't recall which street the restaurant was in but this isn't a restaurant review so we're okay. Oddly there was a lot of old people in this place so I'm trying to figure out what this says about a restaurant. It was just your standard tapas bar, with people sitting at the bar, and at tables. We made our way up a tiny staircase and found that there was plenty more seating upstairs. Good. And we weren't quite in the touristy bit yet so the food wasn't too overpriced. We stuck to what we knew, and the food turned up quick (i fear this is turning into a bit of a review). N.B. habas is not as exotic as it sounds, but Spanish for peas. So if you like peas, order habas. We ate quietly for a while, as you do when tummys are hungry, and then toasted to our first tapas dinner in Spain.
Afterwards, back to the hotel for a siesta, 3am start catching up on us. On the continent a double room is made up of two single beds pushed together so please respect the countryside code if you are planning on visiting pals.
In the evening we all dressed up nicely to go out for a meal. We stopped at the local cafe/bar for Coronitas, or a (wee) Corona. Even the tables here were fully booked. We waltzed onto La Rambla and ended up just going into a pizza place, which turns out to be the Spanish version of Pizza Express, but it was ok. We had to wait for ages, with the barman trying to subdue our impatience with kir royales.
This is 'we/ us' by the way- Ian, Suzanne, Pete and myself.Now since we were on La Rambla, we asked the waiter which way was best to go for the bells- left towards the docks, or right towards Placa Catalunya. His answer was right, as in the opposite of left but I would argue maybe not all that correct. Anyways, La Rambla itself was all fenced up so I asked a policeman Que Pasa? and pointed at the crowd, I think I actually made the motion of popping some champagne too, he said 'no glass'. OK. We proceeded to Placa Catalunya where loads of people had already gathered. The place was buzzing. Everyone had their bottles of champagne ready (shhh) and bags of grapes. I asked a man with a video camera where to get the bags of grapes, and he pointed vaguely in the distance so I guess we missed one opportunity to do things the Spanish way- 12 grapes are traditionally eaten on the bells, and with each one you get to make a wish, you see.
We found a space right in front of a polis car, and we could see the big clock tower. I remember it was 11.50, and we popped our champagne, and a polis man swooped in to try and take it away from us but then his supervisor, or a man we decided was the Mayor, said it was okay and for him to divide it between the four of us before taking away. Even on the continent- party poopers! (shhh... haha I'm kidding). Meanwhile, 12o'clock came but you could say it sneaked up on us because there wasn't a huge countdown. Everyone did it in their own little groups so I guess this is different to Scotland too, or maybe we were just in the wrong place. No huge fireworks. Actually the clock must have chimed, I beg your pardon. Everyone was having a good time, singing and chanting and people were making their way back down La Ramblas we followed for a while but weren't really sure what was happening so decided to head back towards the hotel. I think discotheques were out of the question a little bit because we were with Pete's folks so we decided to find a party elsewhere.
I spotted a Guniness sign so we decided to go in there for a drink. 7sins it was called, and it was just round the corner from our hotel. This was a nice wee bar with a dancin downstairs. The DJ was great, and Ian got chatting to the owner so somehow we got free drinks for the night too. This bar was off a side street so I think people had to make the effort to come here, it was a good crowd. I think sometimes in Barcelona it can feel like you are surrounded by tourists so it's good when you find a place where you can just mingle with the locals. Most places don't close til 6am. We couldn't handle that pace. 5am bed.
Now the only thing with going anywhere for New Years is that most places are closed on the 1st so this restricts the day's activities. Afternoon wasted in the pub. Make of that statement what you will.
*OK day 2 and 3 to come, and photos.
Sue Tsang
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