After a night of much needed sleep I wake up feeling human. Dawn has booked a helicopter tour of Barcelona for us this morning. All we need to do it get to the heliport by 10:30 am. After looking up the location of the heliport we decide we can walk it (we almost got there yesterday on the forced death march). We leave the hotel at 9:00 am giving ourselves plenty of time to walk there and grab a snack. Or so we thought.
Barcelona likes to sleep in. This is in part due to the fact that Barcelona also likes to stay up late. Dinner reservations start at 9:00 pm in this town. At 9:00 AM virtually nothing is open unless it’s a business that exclusively caters to tourists. We stroll down La Rambla, a central boulevard and it’s practically empty (I have vague memories of this street being packed to the gills when we were here yesterday afternoon). The heliport is located on the waterfront. On an island actually with a bridge that didn’t look that big on a map. Walking across the bridge made it seem much larger...and then we discovered the flaw with our plan. On the map it seemed like we’d just walk across the bridge and the heliport was at the other side. No problem. Once we were there we realized that the bridge is in fact pretty high up and the heliport is actually at ground level. The island is actually a cruise ship terminal. It became painfully apparent that there was a system of switch backs set up to accommodate the cruise ship traffic entering and leaving the island. While we were very close to our goal as the crow flies, we still had a lot of walking to do as the pedestrian walks. After walking down one switch back… and then back another we got to what seemed like the entrance to the heliport at 10:00 am….but there was a gate blocking our entrance. The heliport was actually at the base of a series of steps and the gate blocking our progress was at the top of those stairs. Were we at the right place? When did it open? We had no idea. All that we knew for sure is we were getting hammered by the sun and there was no shade in sight. We noticed that there was another way to get to the heliport if we walked back the way we came and tried yet another switch back. A mere 15 minutes later we arrived at the heliport entrance (again!) and it was also locked! But when we looked back up at the original entrance that we previously tried it was now open. The fates are cruel and by that time our legs were very tired. We decided to just camp out at our new gate and hopefully someone would let us in. Between asking other tourist for help and Dawn mashing a call button we found near the gate we were eventually granted access.
The helicopter tour was pretty awesome. Neither of us had actually ridden in a helicopter before so Dawn booked us for a 10 minute tour. That way if I hated it I wouldn’t have to suffer for 40+ minutes. When the helicopter took off it made a sharp banking maneuver and my stomach screamed foul and my brain informed the rest of me that we were about to die. After I was able to stifle the initial panic attack the rest of the ride was awesome. Although every time the helicopter banked sharply part of my brain that I have no control over flooded my system with adrenaline and told me I was screwed. I will absolutely consider helicopter tours again in the future.. although it has to be said that this was the best case scenario. A beautiful day and perfect weather. If we had experienced a turbulent ride I might be singing a different tune.
After the tour we opted to take a taxi back so we didn't have to navigate the multiple switchbacks by foot. The relatively short taxi ride cost us 15 euros… but we were so drained from our morning’s walking efforts that we decided it was well worth it. The taxi dropped us off at the Columbus monument and we walked our way back up La Rambla (which was now starting to get crowded) and past our hotel on the way to our 1:00 tour of the Palau de la Música Catalana (Palace of Catalan Music).
Today is Labor Day in Spain so it's a bit of a national holiday. Part of their Labor Day includes protest parades marching through Barcelona. We protests are peaceful but they make the main routes very crowded and can be heard everywhere thanks to the very loud chanting.
Cool story about the building in the background of that last photo. I'm pretty sure it's an art installation piece where they attached a ton of fake security cameras to the building to make a statement about surveillance. I actually first noticed them when I was standing directly at its base.
Dawn booked the tour the day before while she was dragging me around the city because we had just missed the last tour that day and we were told they tend to fill up. Which seems to be true because our tour was completely full. Again, this was another impressive building tour. The building was built by a choral group that wanted a performance space. It’s surprising that it was built with funds raised from broad community support instead of a single philanthropic magnate or as a government project. The building was designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner a rival to Gaudi. The building is an example of Art Nouveau architecture and wherever they could embellished they did. Mosaic and stained glass are used extensively through the building. The building has an iron frame which I understand was relatively new at the time and allowed for much more glass than would have been traditionally possible. We are told the building is the rare example of a concert hall that can be entirely lit with natural light. I’m not sure the photos are doing it justice...but it’s an amazing space. If I ever come back to Barcelona I’m going to see if I can’t attend a live performance at this concert hall.
We’re still a bit jet lagged, so after the tour we took a nap. We followed that up with sitting in a plaza, sipped a drink, watched people and wrote this entry.
We have big plans for dinner. I made reservations a couple of months ago. Originally we wanted to try and eat at El Celler de Can Roca, which is a fancy restaurant run by three brothers. I’ve been following the brothers for the last couple of years and was excited to actually try their food. Unfortunately their restaurant was listed as the best restaurant in the world and now there are no reservations available for the next 11 months. My plan B is another restaurant that’s located within walking distance of our hotel that is associated with the brothers: Roca Moo.
We arrived early (before 8:30… they don’t even open until 8:30) and had to go to the bar for a drink. Dawn had a super gingery cocktail aptly called a “ginger fresh”and I had an “Americano” which was Campari, rosso vermouth, and club soda. I’ve not seen a campari soda on many American cocktail menus… but I’ll be keeping my eye peeled for it in the future. This is my kind of Italian soda. We had the full out Joan Roca tasting menu and wine pairing. The meal was awesome. There were lots of foams and encapsulations (as one would expect… we’re eating in the ancestral home of foams and encapsulations!) but the meal was different from other modernist meals we've had. There was less plays on classic dishes done weird. Instead it seemed like each dish focused on a central idea or theme like “how many ways can I present white asparagus”. Yes, one of those ways might be white asparagus ice cream… and yes, it was fricking awesome.
This meal made me so happy. The meal was a long, slow, drawn out affair. by the time we leave the restaurant and walk back to our room it’s after midnight. Barcelona at night is very pleasant to walk through. It’s a very pedestrian town to start with and all the little streets are covered in street lights and lanterns so the walk is well lit.
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