Barcelona !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a city! Everything you need, and could possibly want. There's great architecture, shops, green spaces, beaches (not that great but still, water and boobies), and of course the brain children of an engineering genius, Gaudi. This man is just incredible..........the stuff that came out of his head is so far fetched and so ahead of his time. It seems that even the imagination can't spit out something that parallels what he was able to actually materialize. From the Park, to the Sagrada, and to the various houses and buildings he designed, you just gotta wonder how the hell he thought that these shapes, and the actual engineering could be tangible. He was simply an amazing man.

So, I arrived in Barcelona at 7am with another great night bus, and headed straight to my hostel (Gaudi Hostel). I had no idea but it was perfect, located only 20 minutes from the bus station, and about 5minutes from La Rambla, and the rest of the city center, and had awesome staff. So I checked my bags and hit the downtoen core.

La Rambla is THE street in Barcelona (pic left at 8am so you can imagine all the people in the afternoon). It is a wide cobble stone avenue made for pedestrians, and it goes for about 20 blocks or more. It is flanked all the way down with shops and street performers. The street performers usuually don't move much, and are dressed to look like they are made of stone or metal; not much action but eye catching nonetheless (pic right). There's also a huge food market just off of La Rambla that has everything possible, and it's all fresh. It was awesome getting all of those fresh fruit, veggies, and cheeses. La Rambla leads all the way from Placa Catalunya, which is the center of the city, down to the port where there's a nice boardwalk lined with palm trees.

MAUDIT GAUDI !

The next day was the start of my love affair with Gaudi.......I visited the little park (pic left). Simply a masterpiece! Everything is covered in mosaic ceramic tile, and the shapes, curves, colours, and interaction with each other is just mind boggling........obviously gorgeous. Upon entering from the main entrance, you are faced with this (pic right), with the sitting and observing area up above. You then go up the steps and encounter the famous symbol of the park, the mosaic lizard fountain that just pukes out every colour of the rainbow at you (pic left). And then you have the huge columns with a mosaic ceiling with various designs and colours. Very appropriate that there is a man playing Ave Maria on the flute under the columns......sort of majestic.

The steps leading up to the main observatory floor is flanked by stone corridors, that kinda hit dead end, but then you come back to reach the famous sitting area (pic right) with "la vue de la mort"!!!!!! The view of the city is beautiful, and even better from the top of the hill just behind but still, what a place to relax. You can see the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and the many towers of the Sagrada Familia. Check the detail and flow of the benches (below). And you can also get a good view of the two buildings that guard the entrance once overlooking the city (pic below right).

The most beautiful part is that access to the park is free, so people come jogging by and you come and go as you please. The Gaudi portion is surrounded by trees and you can follow trails up to the summit of the hill. I also checked out the Museo de Gaudi at the Park......Not worth the 3 € but atleast there was one crazy and huge cabinet door (pic right).

After a little lunch in the park, I headed down to the Sagrada Familia. On the way there, I stopped by to quickly visit the modernist Hospital de San Pau, built in the 30's I believe. This place is really impressive! I would love to break my leg or be on the butt-end of a gunshot, just so that I could recover in this place (pic left). It is really beautiful.

Then you can walk straight down Ave. de Gaudi straight to the Sagrada (pics left + right). The unfinished, and not soon to be either, impeccable artwork that just happens to be in the form of a church. Gaudi was just insane. I took so many pictures but you get the drift after a couple. The outside is just so intensely condensed with moldings and carvings, and arches, and light, and dark, and just.......whoa!...... an occipital lobe overload !!(which is the posterior portion of the brain, where the visual reconstruction and representation of our environment is undertaken).

Then the inside is almost completely covered with scaffolds and people at work but that kinda adds a little personality to the area. It's a cool feeling because it's a work in progress and you see the carpenters and everyone else hard at work, trying to get this masterpiece done. It's so unique! The ceilings are incredibly high and the pillars, coloumns, shapes, windows, stained glass and all the colours are just divine! (pics left + right) I also walked up a tower and got some nice views, but you can't go up to the top unless you take the elevator and pay, of course.

The back part of the Sagrada is also very impressive. It's just a little less dense in carvings and moldings, which is good because the statues and towers just pop out.In the pic on the right, you have writing above the doors which is all carved in 3-D and it is all of the thanks in all of the languages. Pretty sweet. It's all of these individual things that seem so specific and amazing on their own, and Gaudi was able to have them all interact to make an immense collage of various ideas and beautiful works of art. Just an amazing genius!!!

There´s also a museum in the basement of the church which explains some of his inspirations and logic and innovation for the engineering aspect: like for the arch system, looking for the best and most natural weight distribution, he devised a weight on a string system (pic right). It was little weights that he attached at the end of a string, tied the strings and let them hang to see how they would distribute themselves; they followed a natural arch so he emulated this. You also see some of his original plaster models of facaeds and arches and towers, and again, it's amazing. To have an idea of crazy structures everywhere, and to make scale models is one thing, but to make it huge like that and have everything work and come together is really something. You then also see a work shop where you can see some other models and actual pieces the carpenters are working on (pic left). Pretty cool.

And then, coming back from the Sagrada, I had an awesome surprise......KIMMÉ !!! I knew were going to meet in a couple of days in San Sebastien, but she was in town, and saw from my blog that I was coming to Barcelona so she emailed me, and after some misscommunication (stupidness) on my part, she actually showed up at my hostel later that evening. So we got to hang and check the town together for 2 days. It was really nice having a good friend to joke around and be stupid with, and of course check out some amazing things. One of those things I.........we........just freaked out!!

Casa Battlo, is a house designed by Gaudi, and it is the architectural highlight of my life!!!!! It is purely gorgeous, and just calculatedly insane (pic left). Gaudi just keeps on surprising and awing me over and over, but this takes the cake. I knew Jules and Steph had seen a house of Gaudi's, but I wasn't sure if it was this one or his appartment building, La Pedrera. The Casa Battlo just seemed more crazy from the outside and it is finally the one they had really recommended when I saw the fire place (pic right). Just the innovativeness and craziness........I love it all, and it gives me good ideas for a house later on.....Not everything like this, but little things here and there.

We had the audioguide included which is good because there's so much to know and then to realize how much forethought went into everything......everything!!! Again, the shapes, colours, and natural light in everyroom, which was very important. The picture on the left is the main study with the window same as the big one on the picture top left. And the picture on the right is the ceiling of the same study.

Another room leading to the back terrace has this massive window. From the inside you see the picture on the left, and with the direct light from the terrace, you see this (pic right). The molding in the ceiling might represent a woman's nipple, but they're not sure. The most basic things like windows and doors are all original and oddly shaped but just gorgeous!

The whole natural light part depends on the inner courtyard which gives both light and air circulation (pic left). The windows get smaller as you go higher, in order to give the same amount of light since more light enters higher up, and the tiles are darker as you go higher in order to give a uniform blue colour since again, there's more light higher up. For the windows that look like a mask, the mouth part is a grill, where you can open the flaps inorder to calibrate the air circulation. The most particular and specific things are basic for the G-dog.

Then you get to the top floor, and check out the hallway, and the lights (pics left and right).

And then, you reach the roof, and again, you fall flat on your ass in amazement. He seriously materialized the imagination of crazy stories like Alice in Wonderland, and things that only seem possible in cartoons. To see the shapes and architecture is one thing but then the mosaic of multicolour tiles is amazing also! This man is THE BOMB !!!

Since I missed out on Sonar, I had to check out the club scene in Barcelona; and it just so happened that Jeff Mills was in town, so I coaxed Kimmy into going, not very hard, and we went to club Pacha. Kinda commercial, but there were dancers and it was a great set. Jeff Mills only spun on 2 decks but he was comfortable and fed off the crowd so it was a really good time. The 60 cent 1 L Sangria boxes helped a bit also.

BARCELONA kicks so much ass and is the best place I've visited so far...........bar none !! There's so much more to discover in that town that I didn't have the time for.

Short stop in Figueres

After one ingenius nutbar, Kimmy and I went to check out another intense, amazing and creative mind...... that of Salvidor Dali's in his home town Figueres, just north of Barcelona where they erected a museum in his honour. Again, crazy and awesome stuff !!!!! And of course his trademark 'Stache is just as symbolic of his flare.

The man can make completely different objects and sceneries just mix and intertwine together. Things that shouldn't or don't seem to go together. You need a long time to especially see all of the interaction in his paintings. Shapes and objects disappearing into something else. I knew of his paintings but not of his statues and other funky decorative sculptures (left and right).

The museum is great, and there's so much to see on top of the amazing paintings. For the paintings, I took pictures of some, and you can go see them all on snapfish, but I put my fav's below. There was this one room that had the more interesting concepts. There was a small hole in a black wall that gave a view into the opposing bedroom (pic left). It was like a fairy tale forest with trees, and lights and intense greens. And then a little further was this funky living room arrangement (pic right). Couch in the form of lips, and actual paintings of a lake and I think Paris, as eyes, and you see it all come together with the huge hair portion, when you look through a contacting lens. Crazy cool huh??

So after the most amazing time in Barcelona, Kimmy and I trekked out to San Sebastien, on the Cantaberian coast, via the night bus. Tune in next time........................

Ahhhhh España

It's so nice to be back in Spain.........After Morocco, anything seems a little more civilized and I kinda needed to relax a bit.....And of course the topless beaches fuel the normal north american's thirst of voyeurism.......Spain doesn't disappoint! The people are great, the weather is perfect, and the cities are gorgeous.......I'm meeting more and more Quebecers though......which is good and bad I guess.......fun cause you usually get along but you kinda want to meet different people. And I always love the classic lowbrow call from "La Florida": qu'est'ce tu fait icite tabarnac!!

Cadiz

After taking the ferry back to Tarifa from Tangier, Pascal, Joe, and I went straight to Cadiz, a very relaxing beach town near the southern tip of Andulicia. It is surrounded by beaches since it is a small inlet in a bay (pic right). The city is really cool cause there is the new and the old part. We hung out in the old with the tight medina like streets with many shops and bars. There was also a great indoor market with fresh fruit and meat and everything you need. And of course, return to my everlasting love, BEER !! (pic left) (I wonder where i got that gene from.......hey pops!). It was almost orgasmic to get that 1st sip and let that silky smooth, cold refreshing liquid dance all over my tongue.....taste so sweet on my lips..........OOHHHH YYAAAH! DUFF MAN! I think me an da boyz were alomost in withdrawal from the 3 weeks in Morocco. (en manque si vous ne comprenez pas)

The first night, we were stuck in a pension, still okay, but the next night we stumbled upon an amazing hostel. We were roaming the streets looking for hostels and saw backpackers come out of a blue door so we checked it out.......and then we stayed there for 4 nights, sleeping in hammocks on the roof terrace (pic left) for 10 euros a night, including showers, kitchen, breakfast, coffee all day, internet, and really cool staff and other people. Easy on the mind and wallet.

Cadiz was just perfect to get back into the chill european lifestyle. So we hit the beaches (pic right with view of Catedral), had some tapas, made some great cheap communal dinners, had some great cheap beer (80 cents a liter), relaxed, and just got our feet under us for the upcoming destinations. We also checked out the Spain-France soccer match in a square outside a bar (pic left after Spain scored). About 2 to 3 hundred people just screaming and yelling........I love european futball !! The players are just amazing and the fans are all insane.........makes for good action..... Unfortunately Spain lost, so we hit the bars and still had loads of fun. Great funk music actually........very surprising. Partied with more good people, from New Orleans and from Poland, that are just travelling and sleeping on the beaches. We also checked out some Flamenco Fusion which was no dancing but a mix of Jazz with Flamenco music.......really surprising and awesome.......rather experimental but the mix works really well.

Some shitty news though.....Appropriately.......I was suffering from the return to regular food and water, and continuing with the heat so some form of Gastro was in order (wish I had pictures to elaborate a little bit, but imagination is always better). For a week but then it was good..... It was also a plus cause it kinda forced me to hang out in Cadiz an extra 2 days which was very welcomed on my part.
....and really crappy news: Joe and Pascal were headed to Portugal after Cadiz so it was our fork in the road. It was really nice travelling with them, almost for a month, and effectively so, travelling with others is much better, especially when you're on the same wavelength. It was also a plus cause Pascal is getting pretty good on the Djembe, and he bought a big 13 incher in Morocco, so he showed me some things on the beach (sounds pretty sexy doesn't it?!). It was really nice playing music, max chillax on the playa.

On a passer a traver des mechantes bonnes experiences. Il sont 2 crisse de bon Jack!!! C'est claire qu'on va se revoir a quelque par......C'est du monde comme ca que je veut rencontrer et tripper avec en voyage et dans la vie!!! Come on. Regarder cette yeule haisable la, et essaie don de me dire tu tripperait pas solide avec des mecs comme ca! (photo a la droite de Joe apres que la teinture de son foulard Maroccain a couler sur son front)


Granada

On the road again! Beautiful town with a great old city part. Granada is also in a valley, surrounded by the Sierra Nevada. Just gorgeous setting. There's plenty of hiking and trekking possibilities but I was still a little under the weather. There was a really nice sunset every night and on this night I got a nice pic of some guys tagging.

Again, all of Andulicia has so much Islamic influence........Granada is the sumum of this influence with La Alhambra....What an impressive place!!! You can spend the whole day just wandering the gardens aimlessly. It is the Palace(s) and surrounding gardens of ancient muslim princes and you can just feel the time and endless effort oozing from every single inch on every wall. The carvings within the walls, and ceilings and the distance effect; as you start close like pics on the right, you can see the explicit detail and symbols, and then you get further and further and see different forms and shapes that appear. It's like a mosaic of intense carvings and woodwork........Probably the most beautiful buildings and art I've seen. These 1st pictures are from the Palacios Nazaries, which is a collection of buildings and there respective gardens. All different with their own charm and splendour.


The component I loved the most was the many reflecting pools that add so much grandeur; it adds space infinitely it seems.
It´s just jaw droppingly gorgeous again as the carvings and ceilings as in the pics below. The ceilings just dip and melt down towards you.

After the Palace, there was El Generalife, which is a smaller house with amazing gardens that made me think of Alice in Wonderland (pics left and right).

And then the Alcazaba which was I guess more of the fortress and lookout. The views from here and the mini-medina here were just majestic.

My 1st two days in Granada, I stayed in an amazing hostel, Makuto, with an open inner courtyard with hammocks, a outdoor chillout room with cushions, a great kitchen, and a TV room. You even get a free beer upon your arrival.......ahhhhhhhhh heaven.......... There was a very interesting painting in a room (pic left). I thought it was really original. See if you can see what it is.
The indiginous specialty around most of Andalucia is jamon cerrano, which is sun cured ham. It is really tasty and salty, and you just cut thin strips straight off the leg to eat like that or in a sandwich as tapas with beer. There was a leg with access for everyone at the hostel (pic right).

There was so much to do in Granada also. The tapas were huge and free. Order a drink in a bar, and they bring you a plate of tapas for free, and keep on doing it with every drink. So for 5 euros, you have three drinks and eat your fill. I also checked out the Catedral with three 18 year old medecine students from montreal (a little young and nerdy but okay anyways) and a very cool french chick that I had met at the hostel in Cadiz. I really like the funky french girl names: Perrine, Elodie, Delphin, Eugenie.

So.....the Catedral was pretty massive and impressive (pic left with one of two organs on the right, all covered in gold). The stained glass was really impressive and again mosaic of symbols (pic right). And I found a statue of a monk that just says it all, Bryce de Nice style (pic below): " J't'ai CAAaaAAaasser "

And then came an amazing Flamenco show. My first finally! But no woman dancer. It was in a tiny basement in a semi-circle shape, that fits about 30 people. Really intimate, and it was a 75 year old man, Pepe, that was singing, simply rustic and amazing the control and juggling of his vocal chords. There was also a younger male dancer and the classical guitar. Everything was impeccable. A really great experience! I just kept on thinking how much maa and grandmaa would have loved and appreciated it.

The other hostel I stayed at was the Oasis, which is a little bit more commercial but still very chill and full facilities. The steps and bay window were quite lovely, and so was the roof terrace.

I also took a mini daytrip with other hostelers into the mountains to a mountain spring and had a great time. The water was so cold and nice cause it's really hot everywhere now in Spain, and a little sandwich lunch and a great bottle of wine for 2 euros. It was pretty funky too cause there was a dragonfly that was hovering above the water and dipping his tail into the water for about 5 minutes (pic right).

San Jose

So then I went to the Almeria province on the southeastern tip to enjoy the El Cabo de Gata natural park area with amazing beaches, mountains, volcanic rock coastline. San Jose is a good spot cause there's a beach there (pics left + right), and you can trek along the coast to other nicer beaches with less people and the trek with the rock and clear blue waters of the mediterranean are just breath taking.

I made it to playa de Genoveses just down the coast (pic left). You see a lot of topless as usual but also full nudists here. It's actually nice to see the naturalist aspect to it, and two buddies playing beach tennis in the water up to their knees, fully naked, and their shlongs whipping to and fro........it's quite beautiful!

I wanted to make it to the next beach, playa de Monsul, but I stumbled upon a completely isolated beach (pics left + right) to myself and decided to park it there for the afternoon. Since I was alone, and had been given the idea of going full out, I stripped down and worked the playa all primal (pic below).

A family with their 2 year old showed up, but all naked so it was all good. There's nothing like freeballin it in the mediterranean, or skinny-dippin anywhere for that matter as I'm sure everyone can attest to. It was quite liberating!
I also met a cool german girl, Lena, at the hostel and she helped me practice my spanish a little bit, and we also took the night bus to Valencia together.

Valencia

So, we show up in Valencia at 4 in the morning. Some hostels have 24hr reception so we walked over and found a spot for the following night, left our bags and went to check out the city. Oh yeah, we also found out around 4:30 am that the POPE.......that's right, the friggin POPE was in town. He was giving a speech later that morning so we made a very short pilgrimmage to go check it out. Pic on the left was around 6am or so, and that´s the Museo de Bellas Artes; it's a view from the Rio, see below.

There's a huge park called Rio del Turia that runs around the whole central part of town. It's called Rio cause it used to be a river a long time ago, but now it's all trees, pools, bridges, and parks all the way down.....really nice! It's kinda like Decarie expressway with Decarie street up on top except that the expressway is all green spaces, much longer, and friggin gorgeous. So we followed the Rio to where the Pope was going to be and holy you know what. It was like a music festival, no joke. People sleeping everywhere (pic left), porto-potties everywhere, garbage, and concession stands, except there didn't seem to be any drugs or alcohol anywhere. Everyone had their matching and official Pope yellow or white caps, shirts, and back pack. It was insanity! People really freak out over him! There are screens everywhere, and people camp out 2 nights in advance just to have their spot with a plastic chair in front of one screen. This is the closest we got to him (pic right), other than the screens. Pope-mobile baby.......pimpin........all he needs is some spinner mags on that baby.

At ground zero, it's where the Rio kinda ends and there's beautiful monuments and museums like the Nature and Science center (pic left) so it was a really nice 1st place to visit and thus our welcome to Valencia was perfect. I really like it here. The architecture, random sculptures (pic right), the green spaces, new and old city, modern and rustic and all really cool.

We seriously walked about 15 km that 1st day. Also did the playa. It was nice but a little crowded. But it always feels nice to go swimming even when the water is about 80 degrees, no joke! We killed ourselves, saw almost everything, so the next two days were really chill and we were able to enjoy the time a little more. But what a gorgeous city. For a big city, everything is so clean and it all just fits. We also checked out the Museo de Bellas Artes later and the Catedral but they weren't spectacular. Just the city itself has a great vibe.

The 1st hostel was in an old church and was really cool. They made a huge paella that night on the roof terrace (pic left) and it was the best one I've had. Met some really good people from all over and partied with them everynight. The other hostel was even better cause it's smaller, more welcoming, had free breakfast and internet and such a chill atmosphere (pic right).

One thing I'm really starting to appreciate in Spain is the Sangria at the supermarkets. All of the juice companies also make their own Sangria, so......for the same price as a liter of orange juice, you can get a liter of Sangria for about 70 cents to 1 euro, and it's damn tasty!

Oh well, I really loved Valencia, but next should be the topper, Barcelona.......It's gonna be crazy!

Gaudi's influence will just be mezmorizing.

Love ya lots and talk to youz guyz soon.

ciao,

RAF