Being Halloween it seems fitting to add a post about a city I find a little sinister.
Last month we had a couple of days in Barcelona.
We fell in love with the city, though only had an ipod to take photos with.
Barcelona is a modern, idiosyncratic, european metropolis. But we loved the gothic- in the architecture, in the people, and in the street life that pervades the older areas of the city.
We went to a bric-a-brac market close to the Cathedral. There was lots of religious paraphernalia, and old ladies fondling the babies Jesus.
We tried to take the victorian cable car across the city but the harbour tower was boarded up and under long term repair. It looked like a long way up, the wind whistled on the cable and the car crossed the skyline without us, wobbling in victorian splendour.
We asked a taxi driver to take us to his favourite restaurant. He did and told us how for decades he and his family had celebrated major events in life here. He suggested the Paella, it was superb, a rich dark stock making the rice glisten with flavour.
Later we went to a cheap bar and drank tumblers of local wine, red for me, white for Chrissy. We chatted to the owners and regulars, laughing into the hot night air.
We wandered back to our hostel room behind Ramblas arm in arm, bypassing some homeless getting ready for bed under an old church wall, the night hot and vibrant in the early autumn.
