Barcelona

after i last emailed you, i went walking around barcelona and its a really vibrant, energetic city. also probably cos its easter, and my hostel was a little far from the city but oh so nice. i took a train to parc guell which was designed by Gaudi, a famous spanish architect. it was filles with weird, wonderful buildings and designs which looked sort of gingerbread house like. i waljked right up to the top of the park and it was so beautiful! you could see the whole city stretching out in front of you and the blue sea in the distance where the sea met the sky. jazz music played in the background as we were serenaded by wander9ing musicians. wandered around the park for a while, then hopped on a train to la rambla which is the main strip with loads of street performers etc. the weather was beautiful, warm sun, sunny blue skies... found loads of shops and stuff whcih all looked nice and interesting and stuff but wasnt very excited though.... huge zaras and mangos but... whats wrong with me??? :)

second day, i met up with jason and we hung out at montserrat which is a little town on the top of a hill (in singapore it would be a mountain). the weather was a little chilly so we didnt stay long after seeing the monastry and walking around for a bit. lunch was very good though; chicken with white beans with loads of olive oil. so tender and moist and superbly flavoured. hung out around la rambla looking for tapas but didnt find very good tapas which was a little disappointing. the next day we went for a walk along the shoreline and saw the cathedral and shopped around the whole day. one key highlight of our day was lunch at the mercato boquaria which was the market smack in the centre of the city. it was busytlingly busy with tourists, locals etc all buying fresh produce or just gawking. the market was flled with bars where u could hop up and order a meal cooked to order (usually seafood). wonderfulkly fresh but SO SALTY. most dishes were just quickly grilled with olive oil and herbs and smacked in front of you. really fun stuff. :) the grilled asparagus was excellent although in other cases would haveb been considered extremely overcooked.

dinner was at Set Portes which is a famous restaurant serving paellas. smart little me made reservations ahead of time so we waltz right past the very long queue and went straight in (haha). we had a very salty salt cod salad with crushed tomatoes and olives, fresh crusty bread with small olives and extra virgin olive oil, a stewed squid and meat balls, croquettes (mashed potatoes deep fried) and a rich man´s paella (peeled seafood and chicken). very good but salty salty salty. the vino blanc we had was excellent as well for a cheap 12 euros.

headed back after that as had early flight to catch. didnt get much sleep and arrived in seville (south spain) tired and grumpy. luggage still in barcelona and i just bought tickets to madrid for tues and planning a daytrip to cordoba tomorrow. hoping to catch a bullfight today if possible, good thing they decide the kill bulls on EASTER SUNDAY after christ has been hmmm... redeemed?