Aye Aye Captain!

The following takes place between Days 146-149, April 22-25, 2011

I’m not sure what was going through my head. Honestly, most times I don’t. I’m a bit of a kook. And yet, here I was in Europe and I was honest to goodness surprised that Spain, and in the same breath Europe, had a significant bus system. Maybe it’s all those stories and movies and books of people backpacking around Europe and taking trains only that gave me that highly misconstrued idea.

Either way, Europe does indeed have a bus route system. It’s cheaper than taking the train and in some cases, however odd it may seem, it can be faster than taking the train. Cheaper is the important word here as I opted to go from Madrid to Barcelona via bus instead of the more popular option of the train.

I left Madrid late Thursday night for an overnight bus to Barcelona. I did my best to sleep but the bus stopped quite often throughout the night to let people off that my rest was often interrupted. Being Easter weekend, none of the hostels online were available for the full weekend. I was a bit nervous at first, wondering what the hell I was going to do for accommodation in Barcelona when one of the girls I met in the hostel in Madrid pointed me to a site called Air BNB. Much like Couchsurfing, but you pay for your room. I felt more comfortable using this than couchsurfing as I was requesting a place with such little notice. Lucky for me, Chris had space available at his place and was more than happy to have me as a guest.

I got to Barcelona at 7 in the morning and quickly found the metro to take me to the small suburb of Badalona where Chris lived. My accommodations for the weekend: a WWII rescue boat that had been converted into a houseboat. Unfortunately for me, I had not been able to communicate as much with Chris before I arrived so I only knew that it was in the Badalona Port harbour. But using the pictures posted on his page, I managed to figure out which side of the large port he was on, including the fact that he was in a corner. I found it with no problem.

Staying on Chris’ houseboat was an absolute blast. He had a dog whom he had rescued off the street and she now had two puppies which were absolutely adorable. And the gentle rocking at night of the houseboat was the perfect way to fall asleep. I had the best sleep those three days.

Chris was a great host too, taking me to Barcelona with his dogs that first day. Unfortunately it was pouring rain the entire time and I didn’t want to take my camera out. I still have intermittent problems with it when there’s a lot of moisture in the air.

Saturday in Catalonia is Sant Jorge Day, a day when men buy their girlfriends a rose and the girls buy their boyfriends a book. Really, I think the guys are getting the better end of the deal in this arrangement. As such, when I went back into the city to finally see these places in the sun and take pictures, everywhere you looked were street venders selling books and/or roses, all draped with the flag of the Catalonia region.

Side note: it’s quite interesting for a Canadian political science graduate like myself to hear the issues surrounding Catalonia. It’s eerily similar to Quebec in the whole bid for independence, separate language(Catalan), and a distinct culture and government. Bull fighting is technically banned in Catalonia as it’s considered a “Spanish” imposed sport.

The city is pretty business-y, with skyscrapers and office buildings sharing the same block as some fascinating modernist architecture. By far the most influential architect in Barcelona is Gaudi, who designed not only the world famous “Sagrada Familia” church, but also an entire park for a local family. His style is very . . . how do I put this . . . psychedelic. His attention to spectacular detail, with an almost insane approach. Using the phrase “That’s so Gaudi” has more meaning to me now.

Don’t get me wrong, the church is spectacular. And still being built – 130 years after it was started. Many people I talked to, and myself included, don’t really believe it will ever be finished. The fact that it’s still under construction is one of its draws. Not to mention, again, how mind-blowing it is. It’s almost too much to take in on one glance.

Then you have, on the other end of the architecture spectrum, the building that houses the water company. Its official name is Torre de Akbar, but most people call it the Penis Building . . . for good reason.

My last night with Chris and his dogs was great. He ended up taking me out to see a friend of his play at a jazz club. His friend, a saxophonist, was amazing, and the jazz funk music was really very cool. It was my first time at one of these small, back room concerts and I highly enjoyed myself.

And as for Badalona, the suburb I stayed in? Beautiful. Quiet, non-touristy. I had many a local turn to look at me funny as I was the only tourist to come through the area. I spent my last afternoon in Badalona wandering through the commercial district and then the old town portion. I almost liked Badalona better than Barcelona if for no other reason than how quaint and quiet it is. And considering it’s a part of the subway system of Barcelona, most people should take a day trip out to see it.