Days 51-56 (19th - 24th Oct) - Valencia to Figueres to Barcelona

Day 51 (19th Oct) (2.77 km) - Valencia to Port Lligat to Figueres: We had not seen a great number of taxis near our accommodation so decided to leave early to the station where we were catching a train to Barcelona, just in case we had to walk the whole way. We got lucky though and we came across a taxi less than 50 metres from our accommodation!

The train trip was an interesting one, passing through lots of horticultural land, castles on hilltops, mountains and the sea. We reached a top speed of 235 kph on the very fast train.

Once we reached Barcelona we had a 10 minute walk to where we were picking up a hire car for the next day and a half. But oops - I had booked it for the wrong day, one day late! Fortunately they had one spare car, a little manual Fiat (we'd been trying to avoid manual cars - one less thing to worry about) and after cancelling our actual booking and paying a premium for such a late booking we headed off to Port Lligat to see the Dali House Museum.

The drive out of Barcelona was slow and the highway to the north very busy so poor Pete had a pretty stressful couple of hours getting to Port Lligat. The last part of the drive was a very winding road up a large range of hills and back down the other side.

But Port Lligat is such a lovely spot - a little rock-lined bay with small fishing boats around and a cluster of houses. No wonder Dali chose here to live. Such a peaceful place for such a complex-minded man.

While not much to look at from the outside, the house design is beautiful inside but filled with the weird and wonderful and the mundane.

There are many aspects I would cheerfully incorporate into my own house. One thing Dali did was put a mirror next to a window in such a way that sunrise would be reflected up into his bedroom. Port Lligat is the most easterly part of Spain so Dali reckoned he’d always be the first person in Spain to see the sun rise.

Said mirror on left side of photo

Others ... including the polar bear that greets you at the front door ... not so much!

The gardens are also wonderful to explore with little unexpected features popping up everywhere.

Others, like the Dali eggs, were less unexpected.

After looking around the bay a little more we drove back over the hills and across to Figueres where we spent the night. We were fortunate to find a parking station only a couple of hundred metres from our accommodation as roads were closed off everywhere and we were in the old part of town anyway. We were also lucky to find a great little tapas place not far away that we thoroughly enjoyed.

Day 52 (20th Oct) (11.4 km) - Figueres to Castilfollet to Barcelona:

After a lovely breakfast at a local Argentinean Cafe we discovered why the roads were all closed off. It was the Women of Figueres’ Run/Walk to raise money for and awareness about breast cancer. Pink-shirted women and girls everywhere,

We were headed up to the Dali Teatro-Museu (Theatre-Museum) where Salvador Dali's greatness, madness and obsessions are for all to see. He supervised the design of the museum, a renovation of an old theatre that was all but destroyed during the Civil War.

Who but Dali would think to crane in an old American car into the centre of the building, place three very odd dummies inside it, break the driver's window so that when someone puts 1 euro in a slot they can see the ceiling if the car rain green rain on the occupants?

That being said, the museum was wonderful. It walked you through different periods in Dali's artistic career. It was never boring and we spent almost two hours there. His skills as a painter were on full display. There was a painting of stones and lichen where I had to check that he hadn't painted over real lichen - it was so real.

His figures drawn as figures made of stone are amazing.

His sketches of Don Quixote so evocative.

And his crazy but extraordinarily talented mind - on display in all its glory.

We collapsed into a coffee shop after our visit to reset/rest our minds before heading off in the car to Barcelona via a village we had read about called Castellfollit de la Roca. This village is in old volcanic country and is built on a basalt outcrop. How these houses were built is beyond me. We parked below the village then walked up one way and down another. This was a good way of exploring it. I guess it was built like this for security, with only one side of the village not a steep cliff.

Because of our detour, the road into Barcelona was not nearly as busy until towards the end. The actual Barcelona part was though, especially when we wanted to drop off our luggage at our accommodation first, not understanding that our accommodation was in one of the areas with impossibly narrow streets. After being lucky enough to find a park near our accommodation and check-in without hiccup, Pete forgot he had put his driving sunglasses on the seat. When getting in he had accidentally knocked them out of the car, something we didn't realise until we heard the crunch! Oh dear. They were irretrievably damaged. After finally getting back on decent sized streets, we realised we had nearly forgotten to fill the car up before dropping it off and had to renavigate the city streets to find a petrol station. Ugh! Not fun.

We wound down with a bit of a sightseeing walk. Pete had really wanted to see Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, the one I mentioned earlier that had been built at around the same time as the Spainsh Plaza in Seville. It was closing for some reason from the 21st for the duration of our visit, so the day we arrived in Barcelona was the only time to see it properly.

On our way there we passed a bus advertising Priscilla the musical, an old Bullring, now converted into a shopping centre, and walked past imperialist monuments and past an Oktoberfest tent.

The Barcelona Pavilion is such a peaceful place and so modern. It is hard to believe it was designed 100 years ago (although we did discover it was dismantled and the current building was put up again in the 1980s). The marble used in the building is just beautiful. And of course we had to sit on the Mies van der Rohe's famous Barcelona chairs, placed in the pavilion for exactly that reason.

We then climbed the stairs and cheated on escalators to go up to Montjuic to view the sight of Barcelona below. On the way we passed, of all things, a balloon museum!

There were so many people there enjoying the view. Unfortunately, because of a long, hot and dry summer, the 'magic fountains' were dry and not in action. Apparently they are usually a nightly spectacle.

A few kilometres later, after dinner at a little pizza joint we found ourselves back at our accommodation, in our tiny little room, our home for five nights. Our pizza (quick and easy) had been different to any we've eaten before. The only part that was cooked was the base and the herb/ tomato topping. The rest - prosciutto, mozzarella, goat's cheese and rocket+other greens - was obviously added after the pizza was taken out of the oven. Still delicious.

Day 53 (21st Oct) (17.83 km) - Barcelona: We had spent some time trying to prioritise what we wanted to do in Barcelona. Seeing Gaudi's work was a priority for me but we weren't doing that straight off. We had that booked for Days 2 and 3 or our time in Barcelona. Choosing everything else was so hard.

We decided to start the first day going down to the port and beach areas. The America's Cup had just been on, but unfortunately for us New Zealand was just too strong and the races were over and done with before we arrived. We had no luck in finding any of the racing yachts but enjoyed all the other millionaire/ billionaire toys that were around. I'd never seen anything like this speedboat.

This one was for sale recently for 9.8 million euros.

This black-masted one with solar panels along its sides, can be hired for 69,000 euros a week during low season or 89,000 euros in high season.

As is usual in most places we've been to, there were various sculptures around the port and beach area to enjoy.

The beach was attractive enough but not for swimming. It was too cool. There were not many people in the water. We found an Argentinean Cafe nearby for morning tea before heading on an architectural walk through the old Gothic quarter of the city.

Pete had found a route to follow which we did, roughly. Many interesting buildings.

And many interesting shops including the Barcelona Duck Shop ...

... and the Caganer shops. The latter were full of pooping figurines! Apparently, sometime in the 18th century someone used one in a nativity scene as a symbol of hope for fertility in the year to come. Since then, people place one, often inconspicuously, in their nativity scene and rather than a symbol of fertility they are like a lucky charm. Many famous people are happy to have one made in their image. Even Yoda ... Yep, it really is a thing.

Some of the cakes/sweets shops have amazing window displays and a ballet shop had two walls with a beautiful display of ballet shoes.

Iris galleries also seem to a thing - a place where you take a photograph of your irises, as in eye irises, and use them to hang on your wall as works of art.

At night, while looking for somewhere to eat we found an interesting venue. Maybe we should have tried it!

Instead, we opted for an over-priced tourist-trap tapas place.

Day 54 (22nd Oct) (19.42 km) - Barcelona: This day was a dream come true for me. Ever since I was about 14, when I learned about Antoni Gaudi while doing a project on nature in art and how nature influences art (you see nature has always been a passion of mine), I have wanted to see his work for real.

We didn't start with Gaudi. We started with the Picasso Museum. Just as in the Dali Museum, this went through Picasso’s development as an artist in chronological order. It makes so much sense to me that way. I feel it makes you understand better why their art is like it is and thus appreciate it better. I took a few photos to remind me about how his work changed.

A portrait of Picasso’s father

It was quite some walk to La Sagrada Familia but we had plenty to see on the way. We walked through another area of Barcelona famous for its Modernista buildings, including those of Gaudi. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, many of the bourgeoisie had huge mansions designed for them to live in and often rent out as well. They are all over a particular part of the city. Here are some non-Gaudi examples.

I also became obsessed with looking up. So many interesting decorations on buildings that are rarely seen because people don't usually look up. While they are wonderful to observe, I feel somewhat guilty enjoying them because like the churches they are symbols of wealth and power. With beggars everywhere … Nevertheless, I continued to be entranced by the buildings of Barcelona.

Somewhere in some cafe on some street on our way to Sagrada Familia, we gathered strength for what we knew would be the crowds around this landmark. Despite its size and despite the fact that it towers above any building around it, it is amazing how close you need to get to La Sagrada Familia before you see it. Then - wow!

Despite the fact that it is still years off completion, it is unbelievable. There is not a piece of this amazingly complex building that is not there for a reason. Every sculpture, every word, every tower has meaning. All is about the glory of God and the family of Jesus and apparently about inclusion. Even the height is what it is for a reason, slightly below that of Montjuic, because Gaudi believed that something man-made should not be above something God had made. The cathedral is meant to be a place for all. Hopefully their is some way for people without money to be able to access the inside.

The two facades that we can see now (the other two are still being built) are completely different. One celebrates the birth of Christ and life. This is done in a rather gothic but celebratory style. There are animals everywhere, there are sculptures of Jesus during his early life.

The other, the Passion facade, depicts Christ's crucifixion in a very brutalist way and warns you against the temptations and evils around you. One figure, high above the others, a gold statue of the risen Christ, is meant to provide an overriding sense of hope. I’m not sure that it does that because I don't think you'd notice it unless it was pointed out to you or you were standing back from the building.

The interior of La Sagrada Familia is amazing. While I appreciate the outside, it is the interior that really wows me. I could have stayed inside all day and found something to look and wonder at. Even on a cloudy day, the light inside is beautiful. Gaudi wanted there to be colour, and there is. On a sunny day, the inside would be filled with colour from the windows. There are none of the usual chapels filled with icons and saints (at least not yet). Even with the crowds, there is something really special here. My photos don't do it justice. I think few really reflect he majesty of the height of the interior. It needs to be experienced.

The columns look like a forest

These are the initials of the original ‘sacred family’ of Joseph, Mary and Jesus

The towers are also significant. The tallest, not yet completed, represents Jesus. The one with a star, represents Mary. The next four tallest, looking like animal angels, represent Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the rest, the colourful ones, the other disciples.

After Sagrada, Pete and I took our time wandering up the hill to Park Güell, a place designed by Gaudi and one of his many colleagues as a garden city within a city. It was never finished and while it was meant to accommodate 60 houses it only ever accommodated three, including the warden's cottage.

Most of the park consists of paths winding around lovely greenery and some whimsical structures. There were a few autumn-flowering plants in bloom and quite a few berries.

But the plants are not what this park is most famous for. The main entrance is.

There are water features covered in Gaudi's type of mosaic art, there is a forest-like structure that supports a large plaza around which are his famous mosaic benches. The shapes are organic, the designs all inspired by nature.

At the front, and guarding all this area, are two buildings, one the warden's cottage, now a museum, and the other another cottage, now used as a shop. These both have fantastical roofs and mosaic around the windows and on the walls. Beautiful.

It was a long, slow plod back to our accommodation although we did have a break for a drink at some place on the way. We decided upon a G&T with olives to nibble on. It seems that here you get a double shot as standard. My what a drink - huge and I must say that at the end of our day, delicious!

Our accommodation was on the edge of a very Muslim part of town and so on this night we opted for a meal out at a Pakistani restaurant. Another great choice. Heaps of delicious food for a very reasonable price.

Day 55 (23rd Oct) (11.04 km) - Barcelona: Today we had two more Gaudi places to visit, two of his houses (or more accurately housing complexes owned by wealthy people but housing more than just the one family), Casa Mila (La Pedrera) and Casa Batllo.

On our way to La Pedrera, we went via a street we had glimpsed in the evening on our way back from Park Güell. Here there were some more interesting Modernista buildings.

Suffice to say, I loved our visit to La Pedrera. Here a few taster photos.

CASA Batllo was likewise inspirational. Here again are just a few examples of what it is like. In both places, light is everywhere. Gaudi developed ingenious solutions to ensure natural light was available in every space.

The central atrium was beautiful to watch as you climbed up. The colour is graded from a light blue to a dark blue and as you climb you watch this through wavy glass, making you feel like you are underwater. My video isn’t great, but it gives you a little idea of what it was like.

My curiosity about Gaudi is satisfied! I am still in awe of his creative and architectural genius. I learned that he also designed furniture and all sorts of things like door-knobs in his houses.

Even a fireplace with seats built in at the sides

Our next visit was to the Barcelona Off-museum, a museum about contemporary Catalan culture by contemporary artists. Most were digital in some way, a few very derivative, for example a mirror and light ‘maze’, which seems to have been done to death. However, other installations were more interesting. One questions why a custom of wearing big paper mache masks heads never seems to include heads of modern ‘tribes’. It was a bit of fun trying on the masks.

The normal masks

I did learn about Catalan culture more but it wasn't the best museum. It was a bit of a let-down after Gaudi. Still, it was good to see something a bit different.

We saw a few more interesting architectural bits and pieces on the way home.

A Moroccan restaurant was the choice for dinner.

Day 56 (24th Oct) (14.51 km) - Barcelona: This was our last day in Barcelona. Still so much to see and do, but not all this time. We decided to head back up to Montjuic where we had started off.

First point of call was the Barcelona Olympic diving pool which, if you remember, was open air and had fantastic views of the city. It still does, even though the day was a bit smoggy.

After that we went to the Joan Miro Museum to see a wonderful exhibition of his work. Again, his work and his influences were described in chronological order. Here are a few different examples of his work.

We were lucky also to see an exhibition there about the relationship between Miro and Matisse and the influence each had on the other's art. Not only did we get to see some works by Matisse but we learned about a relationship I had never known about. Here a a few of the Matisse works that were on display.

After a couple of hours here we continued on our Olympic journey and saw the main stadium from both the 1932 Olympics (the exterior) and the 1992 ones (the interior). They have tried, and succeeded very well, in almost entirely blocking out any view of the inside of the stadium from curious passers-by. The stadium is currently being used by Barcelona FC while their own stadium is being renovated. They had just played the night before.

Next, we passed by a telecommunications tower designed by the same architect as the buildings in the City of the Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Santiago Calatrava.

We wandered back down Montjuic, past the balloon museum, past the now closed Barcelona Pavilion, to the old bullring, now converted into a shopping centre. There is a lift on the outside that you can pay 5 euro for to get to the top viewing/restaurant floor, or you can go in and find escalators and lifts to get you there for nothing. Needless to say, we did the latter. The building renovation is quite interesting. It is not until you get close up that you realise that a completely new structure is holding up the remaining outside wall of the old bullring.

Inside there are shops but also an interactive 'light floor' that lots of people were having fun with.

The views were good of close up modern Barcelona and it was interesting to see heaps of evacuated tubes that are being used for solar hot water. And a Joan Miro sculpture!

I had heard about a hospital that had been built in the early part of the 20th century and which is now considered to be the largest collection of Art Nouveau architecture anywhere in the world, so we decided to make this our last place to visit in Barcelona. However, walking there wasn’t an option as it was past La Sagrada Familia and that had been far enough. So we took the courage to try out the Barcelona metro (subway). Everything, including the change of line went smoothly and although we had to stand up all the way, it was much better than walking!

El Recinte Modernista San Pau was definitely worth the visit! San Pau was in fact the name given to a wealthy Barcelona banker, Pau Gil i Serra who donated money to have this hospital built for the Barcelona poor. It was a great success. The architect was Domenech i Montaner. He studied the latest thinking in sanitation and hygiene and ensured that every building had plenty of natural light and cross-ventilation. There were separate pavilions so different medical problems could be addressed in different spaces. There were tunnels that connected all the pavilions. Even the tunnels had natural light and ventilation and were built with tiled ceilings and walls that could be easily cleaned. When the buildings no longer could fit the number of patients, a new hospital was built and this establishment began to decay. Many parts of it have been restored now and some pavilions are in use by organisations such as WHO, and the Barcelona Health Hub.

The interconnecting tunnels

The ceiling in one part

The buildings are all similar

Mosaics of saints and others are all around

This part of each pavilion was the visiting room. Filled with light it was a lovely space in which patients could receive visitors.

The next two photos were inside one of the wards. This ward apparently is where the first ever bone marrow transplant was done. Inside was a museum of early 20th century medicine containers, medical devices and aids etc.

The administration building was extraordinary. Mosaics, stained glass, staircases. But anyone could enter this building apparently.

We were given one last treat as we walked to the metro that would deliver us closest to our accommodation - La Sagrada Familia in the sun. The towers were glistening.