The Alhambra, Granada

After two busy days of walking, standing in line, and gawking at the splendors, I can say I have a positive first impression. However, much of April seems to be spring/Easter break for Europeans and school kids from from all over the world. Sidewalks on all of the main streets have been overflowing but admittedly, my timing might have been bad.

On the positive side, I was delighted to be able to get an Alhambra ticket for yesterday by simply walking up to a tourist info kiosk on a sidewalk on Friday when I arrived! This was after discovering weeks ago that all of the online tickets for most of April had been sold out! So with the Alhambra lined up for Saturday, I spent the rest of Friday giving myself a guided tour of Granda using a rented mp3 player. It was OK if you like churches, history or walking. I liked at least one of those things so I was happy.

The Alhambra is a large complex of Moorish, followed by Christian, fortifications, palaces, gardens, mosques and churches. The Islamic architecture that remains is apparently the best of its kind anywhere in the world. There are beautiful gardens to see without standing in line but the key palaces are such strong attractions that you have a specific entry time and there are check points to keep you moving in one direction. This gives it a bit of an amusement park feel and it's challenging to get photos without people in them. Just the right people in photos would be great but random tourists seldom work. The most spectacular architecture is inside buildings which creates an extra photographic challenge of lighting. I used a lot of 3 frame auto bracketing with high speed continuous shooting followed by HDR processing. I'm pretty happy with some of my results!

Travel tip #2 - Base layers

Increase your comfort and reduce your packing volume. 

I didn't learn about Merino wool T-shirts until about 20 years ago and since then, the storage space occupied by that part of my wardrobe has shrunk dramatically. All I use cotton T-shirts for now is grubby work. The advantages of the magical Merino for neutralizing body odour are particularly useful while travelling. I brought three on this trip and they are more than enough.

Merino socks have similar advantages as Merino T-shirts.

The next part is for guys who wear briefs (versus boxers or nada).

I grew up in cheap cotton briefs from places like K-Mart and in my late 50's (!) got my Mom to stop buying me underwear! Finally I shopped for my own based on scientific principles which I won't go into. What a pleasant surprise to find out that Calvin Klein wasn't just a "fashion" brand! Get the top of the line! The elastic doesn't get droopy after wearing them for a week.

All of this means I need to pack a third the volume of base layer clothing that I used to and it's much more comfortable.

This tip complements Tip #1 because it reduces the amount of laundry I need to do!

Good news: no photos of underwear! 

Last batch of bread I baked for my hosts in Catalunya, whole spelt with sprouted wheat

Travel tip #1 - Hand laundry

A waterproof stuff sack with a stiff plastic collar that flips over and snaps is a portable washing machine!  Just put everything inside and slosh away without getting water all over the place. 

One pants, one underwear, one socks and good to go! 

PS. Those are someone else's toothbrush, toothpaste and comb on the sink in this shared bathroom and they've been there for hours. I hope they didn't forget them but it would be weird if they left them there on purpose. 

I'd be a wine drinker here!

At home in BC, or really anywhere in North America, I'm a faithful beer drinker. Travel is partly about adapting though and I'm happy to say that I adapted pretty well to the absence of good beer! How can you not like the wine when it is so good, varied, and inexpensive?

Here are three bottles I bought before leaving my hosts in l'Espluga de Francoli. The total was 8.66 Euros or about $13 Canadian. We opened two of them before I left and they left nothing to be desired! If you come here and drink enough wine you could save enough to pay for your trip!

White, Red, and "Cava" (Champagne)

In the left background is the woodshed roof project Pep and I were working on. 

Challenge of the Barcelona Metro

I’ve had a couple of good days in Barcelona which has largely consisted of trying to navigate and understand the Metro system. It’s good but fairly complicated. Many stations are quite large and have multiple lines passing through them. Some stations have two or more entry points from the street that are called by nearly the same name (name of station plus name of street). This can require repeated references to a street map and metro schematic in order to figure out where one is. Of course this now requires numerous uses of the reading glasses of which I wisely brought two pair because I lost one pair last night. I’ve thus managed to get around a bit to walk, see, eat, and photograph. 

Here is a photo of a building I just stumbled upon one evening. I'm glad I had my tripod to photograph the gorgeous stairway entry!  

Entrance to the Barcelona Conservatory of Music

Yesterday I visited Gaudi’s “Palau Güell”, a palace for a patron named Güell (which I think is pronounced Gow). It was more interesting and beautiful than I expected. Being confined on a crowded city lot, it was built up rather than out, covering eight levels, counting the basement and roof where numerous chimneys emerge.

Ironwork above the arched entrances to Antoni Gaudi's Palau Güell

Ceiling detail

Chimneys decorated with mosaics of broken tile

Comiat, Adiós, Goodbye

It was sad saying goodbye to my hosts and new friends in l’Espluga de Francoli Spain on Monday afternoon. For our last meal together (of course eating a meal was the last thing we would do together) we had my homemade pizza and focaccia, plus Dolors’ and Maria’s fresh sardines, green salad and Catlunyan Potato Salad (my name for it). Oh yes, beer, wine, and champagne! All delicious! I'll miss you and your Catalan hospitality!

Adrià, Pep, Dolors and Maria Pep's mom.  

Two special Catalan dishes

Thanks to local culture and my generous hosts, I had two more amazing, delicious meals. Friday night it was Habas a la Catalana or Catalan-Style Broad Beans. The flavor from the onions, garlic, bay leaves and a particular sausage were so good!!! I had forgotten how delicious fresh broad beans are - so tender they melted in my mouth!

Habas a la Cataluna

Saturday's afternoon meal was a “simple” dish of fire-roasted spring onions (calçots, pronounced CALsots) but that doesn’t begin to describe this springtime Catalan ritual (la calçotada). My first clue of something different were the sheets of newspaper spread like placemats around the big table. There was a fire going in the fireplace but I couldn’t tell what would emerge until the first course of appetizers and drinking was over and the main course was presented. Out came the piles of fire-blackened onions and my challenge to figure out how to eat them! It’s a two-handed operation which, if done properly, leaves the charred onion skins in a pile on the newspaper and the edible portion hanging in the other hand. Holding an onion by its top, the outer burnt skin is slipped off by pulling down and the white core is eaten after dipping in a delicious red sauce (salsa romesco). Lets just say none of this involves any utensils! Also served were fire roasted sausages and artichokes. What a sight, three generations of a family talking, laughing and eating messy, delicious and healthy food with their fingers!

Calçots (fire-roasted spring onions)

La calçotada (the event)

Here's a good description of the food and the event! http://www.culinarybackstreets.com/barcelona/2013/calcots/ 

The artichokes went fast! 

Showing that the salsa romesco is all gone!