Barcelona

Monday 16 November

03.30 Woke up in darkness and drove to Gatwick, just avoided a speeding ticket by slamming the Minis’ brakes on (not possible in normal traffic).

05.30 Arrived Gatwick in the early morning rain and got a shuttle bus from long stay. Met up with others from Kingston (45). Decaf Pret cappuccino and sandwich for the plane.

07.30 On time for the Easyjet flight to Barcelona. During the flight I received an Easyeducation, via the in-flight Traveller magazine, on Landscape Architecture. Articles on the Tel Aviv sea front, the concrete block Berlin Holocaust Memorial, a lengthy one on urban art in Madrid, South Bank street life in London and green living in cities, showcasing Copenhagen. Urban Art in offered as a degree at Madrid University, within the Fine Arts faculty. Javier Abarca, ‘To many, street art is inspiring, as it can offer a comment on society or even, in some cases, improve the urban landscape’. Picture of ‘Masks’ by Susso33, depicting faces on walls. It mentions that Bristol Council, England even protects graffiti by coffee book artist Banksy. Artist 3ttmans work has been exhibited in the Tate modern, London. Another artist Zeta, says ‘It is the way we express ourselves. It is the space where we can interact with the public, who don’t need to be either experts or critics to be affected by it’. Nowadays it is more ‘Post Graffiti’ using images, rather than dated tagging or bombing. The flight comes to an end and we arrive at a recently redesigned Barcelona Airport.

10.00 A Sunny 24c and took the airport bus to central Barcelona (€4.50).

11.00 Last stop Placa de Catalunya and walked three blocks up Passeig de Garcia to the Centric Point hostel. Checked in, put on a t-shirt, then walked around for 3 hours with Joe, Enrico, Jason and Aaron. Via Placa de Catalunya, a vast expanse of inlaid marble, some perimeter planted beds with a few trees, loads of Spanish speaking pigeons and 2 very big fountains. South to Barri Gotic, the old quarter, through historic narrow lanes looking for some lunch. In hind sight, the best places to grab something were on the first of the narrow lanes. Passed the Gothic Cathedral, with Enrico Moralis’ colourful tiled wave topped market in the distance. Through Placa de Saint Jaume. Some very shabby chic buildings and a real mix of uses. Out to Las Ramblas where my young fellow explorers were delighted to find some local food at Burger King. Then sat in the open space of Placa Cataluna, amongst the attack formation pigeons. It was then that I really noticed how dirty the square was and the large population of down and outs. Back to the hostel to wash.

14.00 Group meeting to go over rules of the trip and the hostel, which must be difficult to hear when most are listening to an I-Pod. Then it was off with expedition leaders Ed and Leo to walk down to the sea front area of Barceloneta, via the area we had just walked through. The first surprise was how much cleaner and designed the civic spaces are down at Port Vell and the impressive yachts. This was the first legacy of the Barcelona Olympics that I noticed. Then along the enormous terraced area of Moll de la Barceloneta, overlooking the Marina Port Vell. Refurbished industrial warehouses now home to some very designed restaurants and the History museum of Catalunya. Saw the cable car in the distance at Torre de St Sebastian. Out onto the beachfront at Platja Barceloneta. An enormous expanse of grey granite leading to the immaculate man made sandy beaches, a result of the Olympic regeneration of the run down fishing area. The beach of Platja de Sant Sebastia to the left has established as a nudist/gay hangout. Walked along the beach promenade passed the ‘Iron Window Stack Tower’ by German artist Rebecca Horn, towards the Frank Gehry Fish sculpture at the trendy night life end. My immediate expedition party then walked back via Bari Gotic and stopped at a pizzeria, which was given the ok by Enrico. Had a beer, but should not have, as I was still on a course of antibiotics of the bladder infection. Back to the hostel to find out that the air con in my twin room with Enrico (no dorms for me) was broken. 23.00 Asked to be moved, but not possible.