Barcelona: Aquarium and Barcelonita Beach

Tuesday morning. Just returned from getting a coffee. I was hoping to find a locally owned coffee/tea shop and went up the street a block to the patisserie I remembered, but it wasn't yet open so I went back downhill, collected a free daily paper, and to my chagrin, entered a Starbucks. I've heard that breakfast is not such an important meal here, so I'm not surprised that coffee shops are harder to find.

If I read slowly I can mostly understand the newspaper text. Speech is more challenging. I understand less of what I hear. Catalan is used most often, but it seems most people understand Spanish. When I speak I often find myself grasping for some key word, and sometimes must start a new sentence of similar intent. Or, the other person takes pity and offers some key words in English, as if saying, "It's okay, you can stop pretending to speak Spanish."

I'm quite impressed with what the brain can remember, though. With time, my skills in Spanish are warming up, and I find myself remembering words and phrases I wouldn't have a few days ago. I even catch myself thinking in Spanish. But I've noticed it in all other countries as well. Even though I haven't studied the language, I've found some familiar words regardless. Over a lifetime of reading and viewing, one builds what seems to be a huge, scattered database of words and phrases. You may have never visited France, but you certainly know plenty of French - names of foods, song titles, terminology, other sources. It seems the brain can refresh these relationships to offer up understanding when needed - not always just in time, as in speech, but often being helpful in interpreting things like signs and labels. So occasionally I find myself knowing a word I didn't know I knew.

Today will be merely overcast with perhaps some sun later. (Rain is forecast tomorow and the day after.) Perhaps we will go to the beach today. Yesterday we noticed open sky in cloud breaks, but it wasn't very blue at all - quite pale. Perhaps there was a really high, thin cloud layer, or city pollution.

I wrote this next part on Wednesday, but it's mostly about Tuesday. Wednesday will be in the next post.

Wednesday morning. Finally, a sunny morning! But I am wary. The forecast is for rain, and the locals are wearing jackets, and so I do also.

We're having breakfast at Starbucks. It's how we began yesterday as well. After breakfast, we took the Metro towards the waterfront. We stopped to get snaps of the monument to Christopher Columbus, memorialising his return from the New World to Barcelona.


We crossed the pedestrian bridge ...


... and made our way to Europe's largest aquarium. We strolled through the large entranceway into the first exhibit: a series of over a dozen tanks of various sizes containing aquatic life from different regions of the world.

From here, we entered a long, clear underwater tunnel and observed the sea life circling past, which included three sharks, skates, and sunfish.



We continued upstairs. We left Sarah with some time in the Explora childrens' play/education area, whilst we relaxed with drinks in the café. Sarah joined us for a bite to eat. Then we carried on to the last room and its exhibits. We walked through the gaping maw of a sperm whale to see an exhibit of deep sea life. Sarah gravitated toward a tank of skates and rays as it had tunnels underneath and a viewing area in the centre for wee ones to enjoy.

I came and watched. After a while I heard a splashing sound and went to investigate. It was a skate flapping against the side. And to my shock, it then came right up to me. The tank was open to the air but covered in a netting, so it couldn't leap out or anything. When Margo joined us she explained that skates are quite social.


It was like cats rubbing against your legs, excep these were (probably) slimy and their eyes didn't seem to move. But the tank fascinated us all and we lingered a long while.

The day's forecast was for partial sun, with rain fo rthe next day, so we had planned for today to be our waterfront day. But as we left the aquarium the skies remained firmly clouded shut and, to our dismay, a light rain began. We considered returning to our flat, but after some deliberation, decided to press on and make the moderately long walk through the Barceloneta area to see the beaches - if only just to look at them.

The rain ceased. We admired the Gas Natural building as we passed it. Then we climbed a ramp and turned toward the park, walking next to it.

In minutes we could see a street through the palm trees - and beyond it, the Mediterranean! Finally. I'd been quite looking forward to spending some quality time beside this most exotic of seas. We even had some light sunshine by now.

We crossed the street and descended some stairs to beach level. Margo found one of the concrete lounge chairs for herself.


Sarah and I bagged our shoes and stepped onto the groomed sand.

This being the off-season, and the weather being what it was, there were few others on the beaches. No lifeguards were about, and the folded lounge chairs remained stacked, presumably locked.

The dark grey waves looked quite strong, and as the first one washed over our feet, Sarah and I yelped - cold! This was not the tropical bathwater I'd envisioned, but then neither was the cloudy weather.


To Sarah's extreme disappointment, we realised we wouldn't be changing into the swimsuits we'd brought.


However, we made the most of it. We lingered for an hour or so, mostly standing at teh water's edge and jumping just as each wave hit us. We never let the water get higher than our knees - the outgoing current was strong. We periodically checked in with Margo and whiled away the time.

Margo was getting a bit chilly and so took residence in a nearby café, under the street and steps from the sand. Sarah and I carried on for a while but eventually dusted teh sand off our feet, re-shod them, and joined Margo.

The café was nicely designed in dark stone walls with orange accents. Wide horizontal mirrors against the back walls perfectly framed the watery view at sitting-eye level. Chillout music played, and the DJ booth hinted at its nightlife potential. I got a fresh glass to enjoy some of the half litre of house red Margo was enjoying - along with a tasy hamburger (no bun), cooked quite crispily yet juicy inside, with highly caramelised onions and a sweet barbeque-like sauce, wtih shoestring fries. After some deliberation, I decided to make this my main meal, ordering the same dish and another half litre, and a child's spaghetti with the standard lemon soda for the shortie. And so another relaxing hour passed as we enjoyed our fortunate moments beside the sea.


At one point, the sun became quite strong and the water became blue. I got more snaps.


Later the clouds regained their iron grip on the skies.

We took a taxi back to the flat. It was early evening. We had wine and snacks and mostly lounged, reading the Sunday Times I'd picked up, Sarah with her Doctor Who comics and Captain Underpants books. And that was our evening.