Sunday 27 October 2013

The holiday and a vanishing trick.

Apologies - there is not a single photograph of Treshnish in this post, due to Farmer having a holiday.  Rest assured, he is back at work today, filling potholes in the wind and rain...

We did fly to get to Barcelona.  We will try not to make a habit of it.  


The view from the apartment in El Born.  This quiet looking street did not sleep at night.  It became a social thoroughfare, voices carrying up to the open window, and footsteps thundering away and towards.


The entrance to the stairwell was on this narrow 'carrer'.  We were on the 4th floor, so raced each time in the dark, to beat the timer on the lighting, with its very loud tick tock.


Graffiti was one of the highlights.  Wherever there was a roller shutter door or a slightly neglected doorway, there was street art.


There was this sort of street art on the Ramblas, which we walked up once but did not linger.


Not many takers for a portrait...


A very stylish cafe in the busy Plaza Reial.  Street performers doing acrobatics at each cafe.


A herbalist at his counter.


Having a laugh in the S Caterina market.


Outside a municipal building on our second and last afternoon in Barcelona.  The afternoon my messenger bag vanished.. and I spent time in a police station filling out crime reports. Thankfully passports were in the apartment and the camera was on the cafe table (my bag was on the floor when it vaporised - aided by a very clever man wearing a decoy baby carrier on his back) but I lost everything else. Note to self: next time do not relax your guard however small and quiet the cafe is, there will be someone somewhere waiting for you to look the other way...

Next day. On to Cadaques - by super fast train to Figueres, where we then caught a bus to take us the winding road over the arid hills and down to the coast.


A sea front bar.


Rooftops.


The tallest of cacti.


Sunset from our Airbnb balcony. Bliss.



More bliss.


Inside the church.



The journey back began again with the bus to Figueres where we had 3 hours before our train.  We tried to go to the Dali Museum but it had a very long queue.

The market was buzzing.  It was a wonderful market, really vibrant and full of amazing produce.











The market was in a new pupose built shelter, rooved in solar PV panels (you can see them reflected in the window of the white van). The roof generates electricity whilst providing shade.  Ingenious!




A fine ending to a great holiday.  Equally good to be home though.
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