A long weekend in Barcelona, part 3

As Becca mentioned, we’re going to be running a half-marathon in June, which means that we’re now committed to running most days of the week, with no exceptions for vacations.  So last Sunday we went on the longest run of my life: roughly 8 miles: down La Rambla, along the beach, up through Poblenou, then back to our hotel along Avenida Diagonal and Gran Via.  It was a great way to see bits of the city that we wouldn’t have otherwise seen, and we got to enjoy the sun along the beach and dip our hands in the Mediterranean.  Let me tell you: the Mediterranean in January?  Warmer than the Atlantic in Maine in July.

After the long run, we were pretty hungry, but we kept getting sidetracked before getting a proper meal.  First was the Mercat de Sant Antoni.  During the week, it’s a food market, but on Sundays there’s an eclectic collection of old books, bottle caps, picture postcards, and the like.  But the real highlight, surely, was a video game booth with an old-school Nintendo (with original Spanish-language packaging!).

We held our hunger at bay for a little while longer with a roasted sweet potato from a street vendor.  Then came our next distraction: a large group of people dancing the sardana, a traditional Catalan circle dance.  Wikipedia suggests that “As a a relatively slow, non-performance dance, the sardana does not require special fitness.”  Becca described it as a “gentle hora.”

Next up was what was either a dog park or an incredibly amateurish dog competition.  Given that there were cones, ramps, and similar obstacles for the dogs and their owners to (not) maneuver around, I’m pretty convinced that it was a dog show.  Let’s just say that it’s not surprising that your mental image of the dog show world doesn’t have much space for Spain.

At this point, we finally found a place to eat.  I was craving sugar after that long run, so I had a Fanta to go along with my manchego sandwich.  Becca got a tortilla española and we shared some patatas bravas.  Best of all, all the required exchanges took place in Spanish.  I’m especially proud of the fact that I managed to communicate the fact that the drinks didn’t appear on the receipt and that we should be paying more.

Our main plan for the day was to see the Romanesque collection at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.  The collection’s highlights are church murals from around Catalunya that were moved to the museum in the early 20th century.  But here, I’m afraid, our best-laid plans began to be foiled.  Somehow we had missed the fact that the museum closed on Sundays at 2:30 in the afternoon.  So when we reached the top of the steps at 10 minutes to 2, it hardly seemed worth paying the admission fee.  It turns out that the Romanesque collection is closed to visitors until June, so it’s just as well.  We did, at least, get a nice view of Plaça Espanya.

So instead of medieval Catalan wall paintings, we opted for more Gaudí, this time the Park Güell in the northern part of the city.  Writing about whimsical architecture like this always feels a bit futile, so I’ll just post some pictures instead.

After the park, we hit something of a dry spell.  Maritime Museum?  Closed for renovation.  Palau Güell?  Closed for renovation.  A second visit to Granja Viador to lift our spirits with chocolate and churros?  Closed.  Belgious, a recommended waffle place?  Closed.  Things were getting pretty desperate by this point, and if Becca hadn’t found some cute earrings with swallows on La Rambla, this portion of the day would have felt like a failure.

Just when our spirits were at their lowest, we were rescued by… beer.  La Cerveteca appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to warm our hearts with winter ale (for me) and something Belgian and fruity (for Becca).   In addition to the beer on tap, they also had a pretty good selection of imports in bottles.  It’s always really interesting to see what American beers ‘make it’ as exports.  Brooklyn Lager, Anchor Porter, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – it’s as if we’re back at the Trader Joe’s in Coolidge Corner.

Rejuvenated, we suddenly realized we were just a few steps away from the pastry shop recommended by our friend Laura.  Fortified by the sugar of a cornet con trufa (basically a chocolate ice cream cone) and a piece of chocolate cake, we practically raced to an Irish pub to catch the tail-end of the scoreless draw between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

The exciting last few minutes of that game proved a nice prelude to the main event for the evening: a trip to Camp Nou for the Barcelona-Málaga match.  For those of you who aren’t keeping up with La Liga, Barcelona are solidly in first place, with Málaga towards the bottom of the standings.  So were were expecting something of a rout.  And that’s what we got.

Scattered thoughts on the action:

- David Villa’s first touch is simply extravagant, no matter at what height or angle the ball reaches him.  With that sort of ball control, it’s not surprising that he’s already at 14 goals on the season.

- Barça’s aggressiveness is something to behold.  Even after they were up 3-0, they kept up the pressure on Málaga, with the whole team in Málaga’s half of the field whenever the ball was there.  This could prove risky against a good counter-attack, but Málaga’s never looked like doing much when they had the ball, so it was fun just to sit back and watch the Barça players kill themselves to get possession of the ball back after turnovers.

- The lack of selfishness among the Barça players is pretty fantastic to watch.  It’s much easier to be selfless, I suppose, when there are plenty of goals to go around.

But just as much as the sparkling action on the field, the trip to Camp Nou was thrilling for the atmosphere of the crowd.  Men and women, all ages, willing their team to victory.  I went to the bathroom midway through the first half (thereby missing David Villa’s first goal), and the concourse was completely empty – no one wanted to miss anything on the field.

This video gives you a sense of the pre-game atmosphere.

So – not a bad way to round out the trip.  We made an early-morning stop at La Boqueria on the next morning for a quick breakfast and some goodies (dried fruit, marzipan, clementines), then it was back to London.