He’s from Barcelona

For those who don't understand the titular reference, stop what you are doing and go watch Faulty Towers. 

Riding the bus from the airport to our hostel felt like a jump back to the modern world after Renaissance Florence but when we were wandering around the thin alleys of the Gothic Quarter, the lovely sense of strangeness was back. 

The next morning Steve and I went on a walking tour. Our Northern Irish guide brought up to speed on the history of Catalonia and it's independence situation. Mainly that they want their independence, different flags represent different ways the people intend to get their independence, and that the Catalonian flag is, by law, always flown a few inches below the Spanish Flag just to rub it in.  The only perspective of people's homes visible from the streets are the balconies, and from the vast majority hang flags. The main emblem on the different variations of the Catalonian flag are the 4 red stripes, with possibly the coolest origin story ever. Wilfred the Hairy is credited as being the founder of an independent Catalonia and during a battle against the Moors, wherein he received a fatal wound. His friend and ally, Charles the Bald dipped his fingers into Wilfred's wound and wiped them down his golden shield laying at his bedside. Four red stripes of blood on a yellow field. Awesome. Probably not true but who cares. We have a red leaf. 

We finished off the tour at a place that was supposed to be a market place, but when they started digging they found a whole Roman ruin under it. Because that can happen here. We then went on a hunt for Tapas, the traditional all appetizer meals. We have the policy of having one 'tablecloth meal' (a meal in a place that is actually fancy enough to have a tablecloth) per city we're in. What we found is that if you stand in front of a restaurant long enough, looking indecisive, they'll tell you what their discounted day specials are and then you can get a really awesome meal for a pretty good price. The pasta we had was better than the place we went in Italy.   

We were right by the Sagrada Familia Basilica so we had a walk around. It looks like an eroded sandcastle. The figures, stories and symbols built into the walls are amazing to find and interpret. I know Gaudi is known as a brilliant modernist architect (and needs to look both ways when crossing tram tracks) and the building is impressive, I just prefer gothic. We walked back along the Arc of Triumph, and through a park where we were approached by a curious gentleman on a bike asking us if we wanted to go to a coffeehouse.  I was confused by the request until he clarified "it's like Amsterdam, totally legal." We passed, but I guess being a few blocks from the The Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum it's not exactly surprising. 

We wandered through the gothic quarter for the evening. It has such a lively atmosphere, labyrinthine passage of quirky shops, bright patterns and charactered restaurant with music pouring into the alleyway. We found ourselves at a gelato store that sold gelato in litres. Challenge accepted. We sat in the lounge of our hostel, planning the next day, eating gelato and listening to a rowdy crowd of Germans.