Troy's Random Ramblings » barcelona

Contiki Day 7

Troy — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:15:00 +0000

Barcelona to Nice today, second longest drive of the trip. Stopped at an old fortified town, Aigues Mortes. Pretty neat little place with people still living in the houses within its walls. The walls surrounding the town are up to 11m thick and they had been unbreached for well over 70 years at one stage.

Eventually we made it to Nice had a few (ok, lots) beers and shots then hit the rack.

Contiki Day 6

Troy — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 12:14:00 +0000

Spent today walking around Barcelona. Those bloody Romans where everywhere. In the centre of Barcelona is an old Roman fortified city. While walking around the old city there was an old lady singing opera, it was really haunting and quite beautiful hearing her voice bounce off the walls of the surrounding buildings.

We also visited the Sagrada Familia, an old gothic chapel. The design and construction was done by someone called Gaudi, who is something of a local legend. He became that obsessed with making this particular church perfect that he fired every one and continued the construction on his own, creating hundreds of sculptures and scenes all on his own that now adorn the church. During the first and second world wars, when Spain was in its own civil war, work on the church stopped. Somewhere in that period Gaudi died leaving his work unfinished. In recent the Spanish government established a special group to finish Gaudi’s work. The new additions to the church while similar to Gaudi’s work don’t seem to fit the best.

While walking around the city I wandered into the local markets. From the moment I walked in I was salivating at the sight of all the preserved meats and sausages as well as all the fresh fruit and veg. Luckily later on I got to have some tapas and paella for lunch.

Later on go the evening we were treated to a Flamenco dancing demonstration before heading to Post Olympico for dinner.

Contiki Day 5

Troy — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 09:46:00 +0000

A long day on the road today travelling from France to Spain. On the way we stopped at the Punt du Gard for lunch. The Pont du Gard is a truely impressive structure, especially considering that it was built using only block and tackle and is held together with iron clamps rather than mortar.

Eventually we made it to Barcelona and had some sangria and tapas before the sick bodies crawled into bed while those more adventurous went to the bar to continue the festivities.