Return to Madrid and back to LA

Civil War

Our Spanish Civil War Guide

Cocktail Hour

Raise a glass to The Cathedral of the Sea

Choose your fish

Best Oyster Ever

Typical Gothic Quarter Street

Back of our hotel, the Old Roman Wall

Cathy and I have been fascinated by the Spanish Civil war. We have read many books about it. Barcelona was heavily damaged as the various factions fought it out. There were Communists, Left wing groups, right wing groups etc. It is all terribly complicated. I always knew there were Anarchist, but I was surprised to find out that the Anarchist were a political party. I would of thought of them all is being independent actors not organized at all. Now I know.

 

We took a tour of the some of the locations where the fighting happened. George Orwell of course fought and wrote about it. Our guide was unbelievably knowledgeable about the Civil War and as we walked through living history, he explained it all to us. He was very keen on saying that history repeats itself and drawing parallels between what happened then in Spain and what is happening now in the US. It is quite chilling and depressing.

 

I won’t detail Cathy’s adventure as she was attached by a giant cockroach as she was in a bathroom at a restaurant. We won’t return to that restaurant.

 

At the end of the tour, we went shopping for gifts. We walked through the Gothic Quarters maze of streets guided by Google Maps. It is amazing the maps are accurate in this maze. Tonight, we walked through the maze again to a fish dinner at Estimar, an excellent fish restaurant. We had probably the biggest and juiciest oyster we have ever had. Among other fish delights we had Turbo which is almost never available in Los Angeles. We then navigated ourselves back to our hotel. Tomorrow, we take the bullet train back to Madrid.

 

We feel more comfortable navigating in Barcelona, and it is a beautiful city with gorgeous architecture. Unfortunately, it is overrun by tourists. Our hotel, The Mercer, is an architectural gem located in the middle of the Gothic Quarter. 

 

Oye, the Stairs

 

Painting in our Room, "Trying to Poop"

Typical Gothic Quarter Street

Dining Room at our Hotel with Roman Walls

Cathedral of the Sea

Best Potato Brava Yet

Today was a typical vacation day that reminds us to go with the flow. We started off walking from our hotel down the narrow twisting streets of the Gothic Quarter. We arrived at The Archives of The Crown Of Aragon and walked through an excellent exhibit of the emancipation of women and their powerful impact in the political and culture of Spain and the EU.

 

From there we went to the Juan March Museum where you could see the actual Roman walls that surrounded this ancient city.

 

We then went to a tour of The Cathedral of the Sea. This church was built in the 14^th Century. The story has been fictionalized in a best-selling book: “The Cathedral of the Sea”, Which we recommend. The tour guide was great. The only problem was the tour took us up to the roof that was over 150 steps up a very narrow twisting stair. We weren’t used to climbing that many stairs. At the top of the stairs, we were on the roof of the Church were great views of Barcelona. We were both exhausted from the climb, then realized we had to climb down another 150 narrow steps. This church is the most beloved church in Barcelona, but really isn't a Cathedral which by definition is the home of a Bishop. This really is just a parish church, but the Catholics of Barcelona love it more than the real Cathedral. Read the book to find out why!

 

For some reason it was impossible to get a cab to return to the hotel. Literally dozens of them passed us, but none stopped for us. It was extremely stressful. Finally, a taxi did pick us up and we took it to the entrance to the Gothic Quarter. He refused to take us any farther into it and wouldn’t take any money for the relatively short ride. He dropped us off at the entrance then Google Maps guided us to the hotel.

 

We were supposed to go to dinner at a nearby restaurant, but they called to cancel saying they were closed due to an emergency. We decided to eat Tapas at the Hotel. We were glad to just hang out in this beautiful hotel. We had drinks, Face-timed Barbara and Kiesha (with Parsifal and Layne) then went to our Tapas dinner. I finally had the best Potatoes Brava I have yet in Spain!

Everyone experiences cities differently, but we definitely like Madrid better than Barcelona. On our previous visit to Barcelona, years ago, it didn't feel so touristy and crowded. Now I guess everyone wants to come here.