Just smashed plates really...

A new day a new scam. Today we took the metro up to the St Pau hospital, which is now a museum of Catalan modernism. We bought tickets for tomorrow but didn’t visit today because we had tickets already for Park Guell. 

We decided to walk around the outside and I took a couple of shots, then I felt something hit my legs. Having read about this scam I walked on to find a safe place to examine the damage, so they did Janet too, who cried out and the game was afoot! 

It was mayonnaise, sprayed onto her back. Oh, said the helpful person with handy tissues at hand, it’s the birds in the trees, poo'ing on you. Here, let me help you wipe it off (fumble fumble around the backpacks). Oh it’s on your camera too, here let me help... 

Oh but we’re wise now, smile, back away, win. Revisit the hospital to clean off. Onwards...

It was our second visit to Park Guell. Twenty years ago we had free rein of the place and it was all open. Now much of it is behind paywalls and much of that is also under wraps, being maintained. Tourist numbers are seriously impacting the rather lovely organic columns and mosaics that Gaudi put there a hundred years ago. Much of the work in Park Guell itself was preliminary work checking designs for the Sagrada.

The gatehouse was as stunning as it was twenty years ago, but surrounded by more pizza, beer and chip offerings than I recall. But at least no-one else accosted me.

That’s key to accepting that not everyone in Spain is out to get you. Like anywhere you can be unlucky and had a run of bad luck, but that’s life. Sometimes it’s roses and sometimes it’s thorns. It’s all good.

Backblip 2 of 21. Do go check out the others using the tag #incredibacks19. And all the photos will be on Flickr eventually.