2geonomads

Friday 9th October 2015

A fairly early start for me as I have pre-booked a tour of the Nou camp, the Catalan football Mecca and home to the best club football team FC Barcelona. Gail has made doubly sure that I get to the stadium on time by using two alarms. One is the traditional alarm on her phone and the second one comes in the form of Gail knocking over a pedestal coat stand and creating enough noise to wake up the whole street as she rushes to turn off the phone ( which is in the kitchen)

Gail is doing her own thing while I am away having my football fix.

As always the efficient and inexpensive Barcelona metro comes to the rescue and I duly arrive on time to begin my tour.

Barca FC Museum complete with all the trophies they have won and a superb photo gallery of the super stars who have played for the team over so many years. What this gallery brings home to me is the total lack of any British players. Gary Lineker does rate a short mention on his time as a Barca player but that is all. Countries represented include Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria,Italy, Brasil, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark but no Brits. For me it’s a sad indictment of British fooball that Barca do not consider a single UK player to be worthy enough to join their ranks. Maybe the powers that be will one day understand that what makes the EPL such a great league for spectators is what makes the players ill-equipped to compete in the international competitions. The game at its best is one of a change of pace and not one of full-on pace with 22 rapid dogs running around for 90 minutes and thus sacrificing high skill levels. Just a thought!

The highlight of the tour is the moment when we are allowed to go down to the hallowed turf which would not look out of place at a bowling club. The surface is of a standard far higher than I have ever seen before.

The only downside of the tour comes when they try to sell photos of you holding the Champions League Trophy or photo-shopped to look like Lionel Messi. With prices of 20 Euros for 1, 30 for 2 and 55 for 5 I decline their kind offer and apart from anything else they are over-exposed and make me look like an albino old codger (yes I know that makes them quite accurate).

Off to the railway station to book tickets to Collioure on the border between Spain and France. Sadly the equivilant of the bullet train goes at the wrong time and so it has to be a local regional train  which can only be booked on the day ( tomorrow). My enquiry about first or second class is greeted by the ticket clerk with wry amusement and some incredulity. Second it is then.

Meet up with Gail who has had a very enjoyable time visiting the Palau de la Musica Catalana the beautiful concert hall commissioned by the Catalan musical society in 1905.

The Catalan Music Hall

Pillars depicting flowers of Catalan

Stained Glass skylight

We make our way to the station for the funicular which takes us up to the Olympic Stadium used for 1992. The whole complex is very impressive and would that more cities could make as much use of the various arenas post-Olympics. One stadium is staging a U2 concert that evening and there was already a very long queue of fans trying obtain the plum seats.

Walking through the lovely gardens next to the truly enormous building housing the Museum of Catalunya Art we find ourselves at viewpoint offering a wonderful vista over the city and looking straight down to Plaza de Espagna. Rather than take the funicular back we walk down the steps and past numerous fountains all of which make for a memorable spectacle.

Once at Plaza de Espagna we get a close-up view of the Arena de Barcelona, once one of the great bullrings but since this delightful ‘sport’ was banned in this city it is now a venue for less brutal pursuits such as taking hordes of tourists round the still impressive stadium.

On the way back towards our apartment we find a great bar and so it’s a Mojito for Gail and Sangria for me. The latter is far too strong for my sensitive stomach so I feel a bit sozzled as we move back to the area close to the Cathedral.

Nevertheless, we find a great tapas bar/restaurant on Calle dels  LLedo and have the unusual experience of the waiter actually DISCOURAGING us from having more than 3 courses.

Some more blog work then in bed by 12.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.