Barcelona - Sept 2010

Barcelona is a city of pleasant surprises and muted disappointments, atleast it was so for me..

Barcelona was a desired destination as soon as I arrived in Switzerland and was always on the agenda as one of the places I'd visit soon.

However, due to one or the other reason it kept getting pushed back so much so that when I finally got tickets booked to visit it, I was surprised thinking that I'm actually going there for real.

The train ride was a marathon exercise and took about 14 hrs overnight.

Somehow, Barca to me was always an essentially Spanish destination which in my mind was a close cousin to Italy and was supposed to be dirty, unsafe but spectacular..

When I reached Barcelona, I wasn't expecting a lot out of it suddenly.

We decided to explore the slim chances of landing tickets for the La Liga game at Camp Nou.

So we dashed to the stadium and wandered around a little till we finally got to the right counter and waited with bated breath to know if we would strike gold and grab tickets to watch one of the greatest teams assembled at the continent's greatest venue.

All the while we were setting limits to how much we were willing to splurge for the chance and luckily we got the tickets we wanted.

My joy was overflowing and I was thinking of people who would give an arm and a leg for such a chance.

Rishabh's name sprung to mind and I sent him this message being so full of myself.

Then I snooped around in the Barca megastore there and bought a few petty souvenirs.

It was past midday with the Sun beating down upon us and we drew up a tentative plan for the rest of the day. It basically revolved around the 6 pm game we were to watch.

We made our way to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, which is the leading landmark of Barcelona.

It is an impressive structure made of stone and its spires towering in 4 sets of twins.

The architecture by Gaudi is avant garde and breathtaking in some details, but I was expecting something even more fascinating and was a touch disappointed looking at the interior which wasn't something I could appreciate.

We headed to our booked hostel from there and rested our tired legs for sometime.

It was getting closer to our big moment and rather than allow it to come onto us, we rushed towards it and reached the stadium well in advance such that we were seated an hour in advance for an extravaganza that was in itself for 90 mins.

The stadium was a delight to be in, with proper order and organization unlike the chaos one would see all around a cricket stadium in India.

I had to pinch myself to believe that I was actually there at Camp Nou !!

After a long wait and build up it was finally action time.

We were worried whether the stars would be playing, against the opponents who were considered unworthy of the stage by us.

The line up though was nothing short of World Class, boasting names such as Pique, Abidal, Valdes, Mascherano (Xavi 45'), Iniesta, David Villa, and the favourite son of Barca, Lionel Messi.

The game started well with the loudest cheers reserved for the slightest of touches by the nouvelle stars Mascherano and David Villa.

Barca were dominating when out of nowhere, Hercules (Valdez 26') struck a goal and the crowd was in disbelief.

Everyone was still pretty settled treating it as an aberration on way to another win at home for Barca.

The clock kept ticking and the anxiety mounted.

At 58 mins, tragedy stuck out its face when Hercules (Valdez again) counterattacked to take a 2-0 lead.

This was blasphemy and the crowd let out a collective shriek.

The tension got palpable and unbearable when a couple of close shots were fruitless and hell was not far when thankfully Hercules hashed up a perfect chance to score a third.

The game ended and so did a special experience which left mixed emotions in its wake, given the result extraordinaire.

I trudged back in disbelief and with a strange sense of disappointment and contentment.

Our next destination was the immensely popular street La Rambla which is abuzz with tourists and myriad activities all day and all night long.

It was a spectacle to behold and was a charming experience to walk alongside hundreds of tourists from all over the globe, all trying to soak in the best of Barcelona.

There were janitors, artistes and performers all along the long stretch with each of them trying their best to attract maximum eyeballs and more importantly, moolah, from the rapt audiences.

Along the way, Vibhas' eyes fell upon probably the 1st Vegetarian-only eating place we had seen in all of Europe.

It was nothing short of a miracle and we gratefully obliged ourselves, filling ourselves upto the throat virtually.

We then continued our jaunt down the street and reached one of Barcelona's ports with small boats lined up all around.

The place was lively and tourist-friendly much like all other places we had seen in Barcelona.

It was time to retire for the night and to dream about probably the last day of my foreseeable future in Spain.

The next morning seemed fresher and we had lots to cover.

The day began again with a trip to La Rambla where we decided to take a divergent route to explore the parallel streets.

It was a nice experience seeing the Barcelona cathedral and the famous Placa Reial. In the midst of all this, we enjoyed the freshest Mediterranean orange juice and I couldnt resist a 2nd helping.

Next on our agenda was a visit to the beach which spans a huge area and is only a couple of kilometres from La Rambla.

It was a brilliant beach and the water was a sparkling blue.

However the 'view' was disappointing after what one has come to expect having seen the lovely Swiss.

It was getting hotter and the Sun was quite strong, reminding of the discomfort that awaits me once I'm back to India.

Then we chanced upon a few rocks (a la Nariman point) by the seaside and sat there taking in the cool sea breeze.

It was time to decide what our next destination ought to be. In the process we sauntered along the La Rambla once again and then settled on Tibidabo as our last major stop in Barca. I had heard a lot about Tibidabo and how it was a must-visit spot. Getting there was a task as we had to travel on 4 different trains at different levels of the earth's surface. However, once we got there it was a pretty emphatic sight.

Its basically an amusement park on the top of a hill but the view of the entire city from there is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Barcelona looks quite stunning from this height, what with hundreds of small distant houses interspersed with a few tall landmarks of the city.

After posing for photographs in all conceivable angles and expressions, we walked a bit around Tibidabo. 

Soon the clock had ticked enough to make us retreat to the city. We reached well in time and had to satiate our hunger now. 

There werent many promising options open at 5pm on a Sunday and we had to be content with some sandwiches and the freshest orange juice in all the world, squeezed out of a fancy looking and efficient juice extraction equipment, apparently by an Indian couple.

In the midst of all this, I had to lug myself with Spanish 'kesar' which my people from back home were very keen for.

It was then that I realised how expensive a tiny strand of 'kesar' is and how I should be sorry for every time I dropped one

down the drain along with the milk.

Such was my tryst with Spain, one of more pleasant surprises than disappointments.

¡Viva la Espana!