Spain Vs Barcelona
Travels with Anzie – Spain 2018
March, 2018
Madrid v. Barcelona, the Independence Movement – Gaudi and Other Architectural Marvels – Birthday Treatment in Madrid – Bullfighting Today — Cruising the Tapas Scene in Barcelona – Beach Towns North of Barcelona
Nightmare Journey: We drove for eleven hours to Madrid. It’s normally a seven hour trip, but we were stalled for four hours on a super highway just north of the Spanish border. Reason? Nobody knows; no accidents. Perhaps the toll booths were closed for some reason. But trucks! – at least 200 – we have never seen so many lined up. Arrived in Madrid at rush hour. Our apartment was tough to find. Our phone, bought especially for use in Europe, locked up on us, so we were unable to phone our contact to get directions and say we were running late. We had to rely on GPS, that turned out to be not so reliable.
By the way, we worked with an outfit called Home Club on the Cuesta de Santo Domingo that Anzie found on booking.com. People buy these apartments for the express purpose of renting them out. The building we were in was owned by a Chinese company and used only for short term rentals. It looked nothing like the beautiful photos we’d seen, but had two bedrooms, two baths and a kitchen/dining room/living room. The best thing about it was the location: next to the commercial center of shopping, restaurants, theaters – the Times Square of Madrid.
Learned something about parking. Very expensive in center town: $35.00/day! Next time we will park in a suburb, and take a Metro in. After all, the car just sat there for three days.
“The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain.” Not so in Madrid. Every Madridian we spoke to was astonished at the unseasonal rains, saying it rained for 5 days a YEAR at the most. But of course it rained the yearly ration in the four days we were there. I swear that I bring bad weather wherever I go!
Enough of the bad stuff.
As usual, we took the “Hop-On-Hop-Off” Bus. We find it a fast and most economical way to orient ourselves to a city. Madrid is a town of fascinating architecture. The older buildings are especially baroque. It’s like the architect wasn’t satisfied with building a “cake”. He had to cover the top with over-the-top decorative frosting.
Madrid vs. Barcelona – Independence: As we rode around town, we noted that many buildings and apartments were flying the Spanish flag. When we asked what for, the answer was “Unification”. These people were for a unified Spain, and against the cries of the Catalonians and the Basques for independence. More on this later.
Happy Birthday!: On March 5 I was celebrating my 78th. Pretty soon I’ll be really old! We decided to celebrate with a good dinner. Unfortunately the restaurant, El Asador de Aranda, where we had eaten the night before and really liked was closed on that day. So we selected another close by, Café Varela in the Hotel Preciados. We stopped there to make a reservation. Anzie was quick to mention that we were celebrating my birthday.
That evening we decided to have a drink before dinner at a little bar up the street in the Hotel Santo Domingo. We had stopped there on our first night, after our trip through Hell. I introduced myself to the bartender, Jose, and asked him if he knew how to make a Manhattan. “Of course,” he replied, “I am a professional bartender.” Nevertheless, I watched him make it. I asked him to chill the glass with ice and a little water. When he poured one shot of Canadian Club, I asked him to add another. I asked him if he had bitters. He searched around and found the Angostura bottle. After that everything went smoothly, and the end result was perfect. That Manhattan brought me back from Hell.
We arrived at the bar on my birthday only to find that we had just missed Jose. His replacement was not a “professional bartender”. Not wanting to go through another training exercise, I ordered a beer. However, Anzie mentioned to him that we were dining at Café Varela. His eyes lit up as he said a very good friend of his was a waiter there, that they grew up together as “Malaguenians”. This, I discovered, meant that they came from Malaga, a Mediterranean coastal town. I had heard the song, ”Malagueňa”, many times, but never got the connection until then.
When we arrived at the restaurant, the Maitre d’ treated us like visiting royalty. “We want to make your 78th birthday a memorable one”, said he. He ushered us to the best table located in a semi-circular window. We felt we were on display. We asked for Christophe, the Malaguenian waiter, who turned out to be a delight. Regretfully, he was not our waiter; however, he did choose a nice bottle of Rioja wine for us. Although we had a waiter, the maître d’ took the most care of us.
Without boring you with the details, suffice to say that our dinner was exquisite. We were pondering whether to order dessert when Christophe, the maître d’ and our waiter came to the table and burst into “Feliz Cumpleanos”, “Happy Birthday”. They then presented me with a cake, more like a tira misu, complete with one candle. Thank God they didn’t try for 78 candles. First, there wasn’t room. Second, the flames would have set off the smoke detector.
Art in Madrid: There’s a lot of it. Everyone has heard of the Prado. I visited it in 1962. Anne in 1975. Not to be missed. However, there’s a new art museum in town that’s all the rage: Museo Thyssen Bornemisza. Located almost next to Prado, it contains the collection of the Thyssens, a German family who made their money in steel and mining.
The collection was begun by the original Baron Thyssen in the 1920’s. It was housed in Lugano, Italy. In the late 1980’s the latest baron, Hans Heinrich Thyssen, wanted to expand the museum, but the city fathers said no. That’s when he moved the collection to Madrid. The museum opened in 1992.
It’s an impressive collection: Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo painters are all there including Titian, Tintoretto, Frans Hals, Holbein, Durer, Rembrandt, Rubens and many more. All of the Impressionists, Expressionists, Cubists, Surrealists … you name a category and they’re there. Below is a painting of phone booths that we thought was incredible.
After the Baron died in 2014, his fifth wife, Carmen “Tita” Cervera – former Miss Spain (1961) – took charge of the collection. She oversaw the decoration of the museum galleries. An art collector herself since 1980, she established a collection in the city of Malaga just a few years ago at the Museo Carmen Thyssen.
Regretfully we had only one hour to visit, so we spent it with the 20th century artists on the ground floor. The collection is sensational. Our short visit just served to whet our appetites.
One other art museum serves to complete what they call “The Golden Triangle” – the Reina Sofia. Next time.
The Status of Bullfighting in Spain: When I last visited Madrid in 1962, I was infatuated with bullfighting. I had read Hemingway’s “Death in the Afternoon” and “The Sun Also Rises”. I had run before the bulls in Pamplona. (That’s a whole other story). At that time, Madrid was considered the Broadway of bullfighting – “If you could make it there, you could make it anywhere.” We ( brother Kevin, sister Katy and college mate, Seymour) attended a bullfight. Because this was their Broadway, the matadors took extraordinary chances in order to impress. I’ll never forget one matador who got too close. His thigh was pierced by a horn, and the bull proceeded to carry him around the ring on that horn. He was bleeding badly as he was carried off on a stretcher. The newspaper next day reported that he would survive … not sure if he would fight ever again.
At any rate, at that time bullfighting and soccer were considered as the top national sports. Things have changed in sixty years. In response to my inquiries I discovered that the popularity of bullfighting has sunk. The Spaniards have come to side with the bull and against what they consider “torture”. Sixty years ago you could find bullfight posters all over the city. Now it’s Football. Barcelona has made bullfighting illegal. Madrid is still putting up a good fight. In Portugal bullfighting is still carried on; however, the bull is not killed – at least not in the ring.
Next day, off to Barcelona. Drove through the nation’s breadbasket – flat plains, where the rain is supposed to stay — followed by green rolling hills. Beautiful! We arrived at our destination, the Gothic Quarter, while we could still drive through it – 3 to 5 PM. Our digs, the Hotel California, was perfect: not fancy, comfortable beds, breakfast, great location. The front deskman, Guillarmo, was very helpful and possessed a great sense of humor. Found parking not far away and way cheaper than Madrid.
The Gothic Quarter is the oldest part of Barcelona. We came upon remnants of the ancient Roman Wall. All of the streets are pedestrian only, except for a few hours each day. Barcelona, we must admit, is one of our all-time favorite cities. It is ancient but hip – laid-back.
We visited here in 2006, on our way back from Africa. Before that I was in Barcelona on business in 1994. Before that I was there in 1962 after my bull-running. I remember the guide book we used, Frohn’s “Europe on Five Dollars A Day”. We stayed in a place for $1 per person per night. Of course there was no hot water, and we all stayed in the same room and used a communal bathroom. But, at that age, we could handle it.
Stalking the Perfect Tapas Bar: So, the fun thing to do there is to visit Tapas Bars. The first one we hit was an Irish bar. We had a couple of tapas and beers. It was nice but too quiet. We continued our search.
We left there and found another bar that looked promising. It was only men lining the bar. We ordered beers and surveyed the tapas offerings. Anzie looked around, and finally piped up, “Is this a gay bar?” The whole place went absolutely silent. Finally, the bartender responded, “Why, is that a problem for you?” “Not at all”, replied she, “I was just concerned that I wouldn’t be wanted here.” The bartender replied, “No, not at all!” At which point a man next to Chuck said that he and his partner had just been married. After that we were included in a friendly group conversation, enhanced by the killer (4 types of alcohol) sangria Anzie had! Eventually we left and continued our search.
We were lucky to find one that we knew from before, a Basque bar named Irati Taverna Basca. The way it works is, you stand before a long bar covered with plates of tapas. Each one you select has a toothpick in it. They offer such a variety, from serrano ham to shredded crabmeat, to caviar, to mixed olives, to pate, to fried meat balls coated with panko, etc. When you think you’re full, they bring out another succulent dish from the kitchen. Eventually you must pay up. It’s two euros per toothpick, plus the drinks. We tasted everything but the anchovies and sardines.
The next night we found another worth mentioning, Taller Tapas in Plaza Pi. You can’t miss it. It’s next to the Sex Toy Shop.
Of course, you can’t miss the covered market, La Boqueria. Here they sell all sorts of perishables: meat, fish, veggies, even edible insects. You ain’t lived until you’ve bitten into a spiced grasshopper! They even sell scorpions. No thank you.
Gaudi: On my visit in 1994 I first discovered Gaudi the architect. I was enamored from the get-go. Considering that his primary work was done in the early 20th century, he was so avant garde for his time. Please look at the photos of his work attached. Perhaps his greatest work has yet to be completed: the church Sagrada Familia.
Sagrada Familia
The interior ceiling
Construction began in 1882. Gaudi worked on it until his death in 1926 at age 73. Since the church is funded by individual contributions, it is still under construction. It is hoped that it will be completed by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death.
Here are some other examples of Gaudi’s work from the Gaudi Park to an apartment building he designed in downtown Barcelona: the building, a detail of a balcony (each one had a different design, all leaves and vines) and a copy of the lizard that welcomes people to the Gaudi park (this copy was in the great Gaudi museum).
His organic constructs reveal that he was inspired by nature; back then Barcelonians must have considered them extremely avant garde.
Madrid vs. Barcelona – Independence:
In Barcelona you see two different flags hanging from balconies throughout the town. One is the official flag of Catalonia: four red stripes on a yellow background. Legend has it that, during a battle against the Moors, the Count of Barcelona came upon one of his fiercest fighters, Wilfred the Hairy (I kid you not!). Wilfred was seriously wounded. The Count dipped his hand into the wound and dragged four fingers across a yellow cloth. Thus was born the Catalonian flag.
The other flag that has become popular is the one with the star at the top. The star was borrowed from the flags of Cuba and Puerto Rico, which gained their independence from Spain in 1898 and 1902. Both sides, Catalonia and the Spanish government, are taking this fight seriously. The government knows that if Catalonia is granted its independence, the Basque country to the north will follow. Both regions together represent one-third of Spain.
Our Hunt for the Best Paella: Most restaurants in Barcelona offer Paella. We stopped at an Italian restaurant during our tour of the city. There we met Gabriel, who originally comes from Torino. We asked him where we could find the best paella. We expected him to name a restaurant in town. “You have to go north, along the seacoast, to the town of Tossa del Mar. There’s a restaurant called “Da Giovanni”. There you will find the best paella.” “How do you know this?, I asked. “Because I know Giovanni. We grew up together.”
Since we had planned to go home by way of the seacoast anyway, we decided to take Gabriel up on his recommendation.
The next day we headed north, hugging the coast. Don’t know why, but we were amazed at how developed the coast was: good-sized cities with many high-rise buildings hugging the beach. Nothing very charming or picturesque, unless you think those adjectives apply to Miami Beach. Still, most of them are gifted with wide sandy beaches. Mataro is a real city. Otherwise many town names end with “de Mar”. Coming from the south, there’s Premia, Arenys, Pineda, Malgrat, Lloret, and finally, Tossa.
Tossa de Mar, located in the Costa Brava, has a population of 8,000. Besides its crystal blue waters and sandy beaches, it is known for the Vila Vella, Old Town – a medieval village topped by a 13th century fortress. The town exudes charm unlike its big sisters to the south.
After several futile attempts to find the restaurant Da Giovanni, we decided to just park the car and find a restaurant. We found a place along the coast road, parked, and looked around. Sure enough, about 100 ft. from our car we spied Restaurant Da Giovanni. We entered, introduced ourselves to Giovanni, and explained the connection to his friend, Gabriel. Again, we were treated like visiting royalty. And the seafood paella? Magnifico! Worth the trip.
When the weather warms up, we plan to revisit Tossa. It should be about a 1 ½ hour trip, barring unforeseen traffic jams. Because, seriously, has anyone ever seen a statue of a seagull!!!!!!! ☺
Tossa fortress
From Tossa we headed inland to the super highway to the French border and home to Narbonne.
A la prochaine,
Chuck & Anne