Barcelona 3

Poster advertising Benidorm-Alicante, with sun-bathing beauties: Sueñas en sus playas. ¿Son suecas or españolas? (Dream on their beaches. Are they Swedish or Spanish?) indicating that the Spanish were now affluent enough to holiday at the beaches that used to attract foreign visitors.

I had a breakfast of ensaïmada (a Mallorcan pastry) and chocolate at a local cafe. Then I headed for the Mercat Fira de Bellcaire, also known as Els Encants Vells. The metro was crowded because it was Monday, a working day. Barcelona's metro uses both a third rail and overhead lines for power. It took a while to find the entrance to the mercat and I passed these seniors passing the morning playing boules.

As you can guess from the nickname The Old Charms, the mercat is a flea market. There was a sidewalk portion, and a covered portion. Just some of the things found here: clothes, pictures, books, magazines, fittings, utensils, tools, appliances, records, cassettes, CDs, used electronics, cameras. I heard more Spanish spoken here than elsewhere in Barcelona.

In the comestibles section there were the usual meat and veges but also pan (bread), queso (cheese) and smallgoods such as chorizo (Spanish sausage). I bought some cheese, sausage, apples and higos (figs) for snacks. The figs were particularly good and I finished them by afternoon.

I also saw some churros but decided to leave that for later. Mustn't give in to temptation (all at once). Incidentally the sign says that you can buy bull meat at Lidia's stall. Some of the meat come from bullfights. Nothing wasted.

That done, I headed up Av. Tibidabo towards the eponymous mountain. At the foot a funicular takes you up to the peak. The broadcasting towers were higher than the spires of the basilica on the peak. Demonstrates where real power lies these days. The oldest amusement park in Barcelona is also there. When the haze permitted there were great views over the city. The mountain's name comes from the episode where Satan tempted Jesus with a panorama from a high mountain: tibi omnia dabo, Latin for all this I will give you.

While relaxing I read my copy of Vanguardia for language practice. Classified ad: Relax: Madam Betty. Tus fantasias de sado. Hmm, no problem translating that.

It got cold and windy so I headed down to Parc Güell. This has a large collection of architecture created by Gaudi for his patron, the industrialist Count Güell, over a period of many years.

Another of his mosaic decorated houses.

This mosaic at the main terrace was very popular and tourists were snapping away.

It had been a tiring day due to the cool weather and the long walk to and from the foot of Tibidabo so I had a pasta dinner and retired to my room to write postcards and budget the rest of my time. I decided to give up the idea of visiting Portugal this trip.