Spain 11-18 May 2000

Second leg of 4-week backpacking trip to Europe and continued from France...

Much as i like taking trains and being in train stations sadly i don't quite remember the connections between the countries we visited other than that we got the Eurail passes and did quite a bit of strategizing prior to our trip to maximise the connections and save on accommodation in some cases. We heard lots of scary stories of being mugged in trains and whenever we did an overnight train we had to chain all our bags together to the cabin or hug our bags to sleep. But we were usually pretty tired out on these rides so it's kinda hard to keep watch on baggage really. I must say that we were pretty fortunate that none of us got mugged or lost anything on this trip despite all the stories and later on, accounts from fellow classmates who weren't so fortunate as we were.

Frank Gehry's Guggenhein Museum in Bilbao was up next and i remember sitting myself down on the floor against one of the glass railing corridors and trying to sketch an internal glass and steel facade and you know how it is with Frank Gehry and all his contorted angles and planes, it sure wasn't easy. For better or worse, I would've posted the sketch if only i can find my jotterbook (post-note: i found it eventually). I kept all four brochures in different languages just cos each pamphlet bore a slice of the building facade and when pieced together formed the entire Guggenhein Museum. Nice right? I still have it.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

Mies Van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion which of course as we know wasn't really the Barcelona Pavilion but the German Pavilion for the Spain Expo held in Barcelona in 1929. I like this building and the slender cross shaped steel columns supporting the flat roof.

Barcelona Pavilion

Richard Meier's Museum of Contemporary Art didn't really do as much for me as the exhilarating kinetic exhibits inside did. But i did like the ramp going up the atrium inside the museum which um, did feel very contemporary.

Museum of Contemporary Art

On to Antonio Gaudi's masterpieces in Barcelona such as Parc Guell, Palau Guell, Casa Batlo and the forever-under-construction-Sagrada Familia. Parc refers to a park, palau palace and casa house, if i recall correctly!

Parc Guell

I remember Palau Guell to have this crypt-like basement with arches and was previously used as a stable i think.

Palau Guell

Casa Batlo

Sagrada Familia

Port Velle

La Rambla was Barcelona's main street and was pretty happening too. As it is always crowded with locals, tourists, shoppers, vagrants, street musicians, buskers and the like, it was also notorious for its pickpockets. From the walls of our pension at night (our room had no windows cos it was the cheapest) we could hear shouts at night like "hey stop! take my wallet but leave me my credit cards!"

La Rambla

For a 4 week backpacking trip, i brought with me just one pair of pants other than the jeans i was wearing, four tops and a jacket so whenever we came across a landromat we'd plonk in a couple of coins, sit and wait around an hour for fresh clothes, finally!

I remember having to creep in through a hole in the fence cos the Igualada Cemetery was still closed for its siesta after lunch. Apparently Enrique Miralles, the "El Croqius" architect for the Iguala Cemetery and the Icarus Pergolas, both in Barcelona, went missing since July 2000. El Croqius is the name of an architectural magazine that was frequently seen in the architecture studio, and i remember one issue to be wholly dedicated to Miralles. Before he went missing, that is.

Igualada Cemetery

Icarus Pergolas

Somewhere nearby, we bumped into Wei Loong and Jessie who were also touring Barcelona at the same time!

Stranded! In Barcelona...

We were going to take the overnight train to Granada and we were pretty late coming into the Barcelona Train Station where we'd left our backpacks in lockers earlier on, so we decided to split up. I went to check the platform number for our train while the rest went to get all our backpacks and we were to meet up again at the platform. Alas, my friends got to the platform before i did (after some screw up in enquiring about the platform number). I feared the worst when i finally reached a correct but empty platform - no train, no people and soon enough i found myself roaming around the Barcelona train station alone and without my backpack. Stunned for a while and looking at the unfamiliar faces all around me, i contemplated my options, one of which was to walk back to our pension and stay another night but the thought of walking the dangerous streets alone at night didn't seem very wise. Another was to wait out in the train station which was brightly lit and there were more people including station staff which seemed like a safer option except that the train station would eventually close at 4am or something and i'd have to sleep the streets without my backpack as pillow. Like some kinda comfort food, i bought myself a happy meal at macs, sat down and kinda starting writing an entry about being lost in barcelona (!) in my jotterbook just to find something to do while i waited out my predicament (and partly also to allay any fear that was threatening to creep in as i surveyed the suddenly-turning-sinister faces all around me). After a while i wised up and walked over to the station office (why didn't i do this sooner?) and relayed my situation and straightaway the officer went "oh, 3 amigos, they coming back... next train". Turns out my friends, upon realising i didn't board the train spoke with the train master and managed to get off at the nearest stop (thank goodness there was at least one stop on the overnight train otherwise it would've been non-stop all the way south to Granada) and head back to Barcelona. What a relief! I don't know if they were being nice but they said they were glad not to be riding on that overnight train cos the cabin we were assigned to was to be shared with the bunch of gypsy-like passengers who were quite messy.

Our next stop was Madrid and for some reason, i don't really have photos of and i absolutely cannot recall what we did in Madrid, other than spending the night at the Madrid airport, from which we were headed for London.

next: London