Day 79...Spain sucks the proverbial part 3 - 13th September

Although it was no longer raining and the sun peeked out, we packed our bags and got outta there asap. I got my revenge on the landlord by slamming down the keys and looking totally put-out, just as he was trying to sign up new guests. Hah!

We drove up to Barcelona, hoping the northern coast would be better. Those who had raved about Spain were usually north. We hadn't heard from anyone who was as far south as we were. Along the way to Barcelona were dead, rusty towns in the dirty hillside with the occasional ruined castle perched on top. The ruined castles were cool, but it wasn't as charming as it sounds. There was lots of empty land for miles in -between what towns there were, and it was all barren and unfertile dry land. (Plus the occasional massive bull billboard. Those also disappeared near Barcelona, as the area of Catalonia in Spain like to keep themselves different. So they have the donkey instead. Interesting choice.)

Barcelona was a bit tricky to get into initially, but ok to get to the TIC. The tourist office didn't help at all, just handed us a booklet of expensive one star hotels. So we called from the Lonely Planet book and got a much cheaper place. --- then driving Barcelona was a nightmare. The hotel was located in the old town - the Barri Gotic which is a classic medieval warren of narrow winding streets. So the winding streets were one-way or no-way at all. So we got very frustrated, but kept our cool at each other. We called our hotel a few times to let them know we were coming, then ended up jsut parking as close as we could. We loaded up and truged all the way there, only for her to tell us that our room was booked by a reservation she made the previous day and she had overbooked. We were hot and frustrated, so I told her she was fucked (literally) and stormed out, no nearer to accomodation than when we started hours ago. We were angry as we didn't like trudging through the barrio with all our possessions loaded up like vulnerable turtles. Normally its ok, but there were loads of shifty characters around doing nothing but eyeball you, your stuff and your red-licensed plate car. (Plus I keep getting the elevator look by dirty old Spanish men. Its prolific here).

We trudged through the barriors (I couldn't help but be charmed by them), and by pure luck fenagled one at the end of the street the other hotel was on. The guy there was an absolute charmer. Incredibly friendly, could speak four languages fluently (spanish, english, dutch, german) and had been traveling for 12 years so was incredibly sympathetic and helpful. Top notch. A first for Spain. hooray! Sitting in the lobby with him was a weird, toothless old crow of a woman watching a Spanish western on TV. I didn't even realise she was there and accidentally got in her way. Nathan saw a toothless old face peering out from behind me, she had clamboured up the couch to see the TV, so I got out of her way. We managed to get a room cheaper than the one we had booked and din't get ($40 euro) and it even had a balcony! (shared bathroom and toilet). The balcony looked over the narrow winding streets from the 3rd floor and was very charming.

It was late arvo and we hadn't eaten lunch yet. We fearfully grabbed something from an OK looking bakery. Nathan had a pizza slice, while I picked out some spanish speciality which tasted like shit covered in sugar (hence the sugar). We got changed from our sweaty clothes and meandered through the barrio which was actually pretty cool. Very few of the buildings date from after the early 15th century! These 3-4 storey buildings were filled with washing, dogs, people on balconys smoking and homeless people, and people sitting on the ground looking to rob you. I did find the windy streets very captivating though, and enjoyed myself thorougly. It was raining slightly off & on, and most places were closed. It was early evening and Spains nightlife doesn't open till late. (including dinner). We walked to Palacia Real, a very large and classy looking square filled with tourists, touts and hobos. Apparently drug deals are done here, along with the fine dining. Which explains why there are so many people standing around doing nothing. We sat in the square and watched the festivities. The street performers would work their way around the square, begging for coins. There were jugglers, booby shakers and tricks with bikes. People were sitting up in their apartments, opening the shutters and watching the action below. Nate and I consumed a large jug of sangria with some more shitty tapas and every two minutes some street performare would come and ask for change. After the fourth time it got irritating. There was one exception - one lady wearing casual day wear had set up her own little tape deck. She was trying to do some weird interpretive dance but was so bad she nearly kept falling over, or looked like one of the people from the Fat Boy Slim video clip. Sometimes when a guy looked at her, she suddenly tried to be sexy (we think) and would nearly fall over. She was clearly not right in the head and we were thoroughly entertained. She still didn't get our money though!! ha HAH

After consuming our large jug, we found some restaurant and ate in the basement surrounded by cigarette smoke. Consumed a bottle of wine and can't remember what we ate, then toddled home around midnight to home.