Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia

When the keys to the apartment were handed over on Sunday morning we'd mentioned that our return flight wasn't until 10.00 pm, and arranged to leave our bags there during the day, checking out and picking up our security deposit at 7.30 -- at least, that's what we thought we did. It had all been a terrible misunderstanding, as we discovered at 9.30 am when the guy we thought we'd made the arrangement with turned up at our door expecting us to be packed and ready to leave. Someone had actually turned up at 7.30 am, but I'd sleepily thought he was someone who mistakenly thought he was on to a food takeaway service. It took a while to sort things out and to calm things down all round. Someone else was due to check in around midday, so we had no choice but to leave. The guy who'd checked us in called his boss, he gave us an address where we could leave our bags, and we packed and waited for the rep to return with our deposit money and to take back the keys. It all took a while, but we eventually left the place at 12.30 or so.

At this stage we didn't fancy the idea of lugging our bags around metro stations and trying to find the left-luggage place we'd been recommended, so we took a taxi to Sants station instead and left our stuff in a luggage locker there. Our plan for today all along had been to see Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, so we took a metro from Sants and spent an hour and a half at the site. It's changed a lot since I saw it in 1992, but I have to say that I remain unconvinced by its exterior (the earlier parts -- building began in 1882 -- now look very, very old, and are in quite bad condition, while the newer parts look more like later additions than an integral part). The interior, though, is a different story altogether, and is probably where Gaudi's extraordinary vision and imagination shine through most spectacularly. We would have liked to go up one of the towers, but the queue for the lifts was far too long (estimated waiting time was over an hour), so we spent a short while in the museum below instead and then headed off into the surrounding streets for some liquid refreshment.

We headed off in what we expected was the general direction we wanted to go afterwards, finally saw a recognisable landmark in the distance, and headed for that. We hopped on the metro and made our way vaguely towards Sants station and our luggage, hoping to find somewhere nice en route where we could have a final meal. As it happened we found a really nice place indeed, and thoroughly enjoyed a massive feed of various tapas dishes. Checking the metro map made it clear that we'd be better off taking a taxi to Sants, so we did that. Trains from there to the airport weren't at the right times to suit us, so we took another taxi instead. Our aim was to be at the airport by 8.30, and we managed that. Our flight was on time, we got in to Dublin ten minutes earlier than scheduled, but still not in time for Carl to catch the airport coach to his place. The queue for taxis at the airport was the longest I've ever seen there, but it moved steadily and we finally got back to my place around 1.30 am. I drove Carl to Glasthule, grabbed a quick espresso and came straight back home.

It was an enjoyable trip and a welcome break. Maybe packing in as much as we did on our first two days was a mistake -- only having one hour's sleep the night before, heading to Sitges on the evening of our arrival, and going a bit mad around the bars there wasn't such a sensible start to a short break away. But I still rate Barcelona very highly on my list of favourite cities and I look forward to returning some time, and not after as long a break as the sixteen years there's been between my first and second visits.