Change In Plans

From the cafe, we walked through the park for about 20 minutes (past the Olympic swimming pool, high above the city), and found the Joan Miro museum. I am finding that it is impossible to predict what will get the kids excited. Zola loved the Miro museum (particularly with the audio headset), and ran from picture to picture to hear the stories. On the roof deck, with no audio, he was even interested in the sculptures.

Of the two hours we spent at the museum, however, at least 40 minutes was in the room of white Legos. This was basically a long table with thousands of white Lego pieces scattered on it, and some structures already well advanced. Super cool for all ages.

After the museum, we walked to a different cable car, which took us up to the castle at the very top. We climbed the ramparts, looked at the military museum, and read about the battles and sieges (and the torture and execution of the President of Catalonia after the Civil War). From the walls we could see down into the working harbor, and lucky Zola got an in-depth lecture from me about the wonders of inter-modal transportation.

When they closed the castle, we walked down the mountain a ways, and found the best, most hazardous playground slides I have ever seen. Top to bottom was at least 35 vertical feet, and
Zola and Lu (in particular) were giddy with reckless exhiliration. India and I had to position ourselves at the bottom of the slide to catch Lu, so she didn’t fly off the end and really bust. Further evidence that Spain is not ruled by personal-injury lawyers.

We took the cable car back to the lower station, then walked along the (largely deserted) main park road in the twilight, looking for the Poble Espanyol, which was built for an exposition in 1929. We walked past the (feral-cat-infested) Olympic stadium, and found a palatial structure above us.

This 1929 palace is now the modern-art museum, but there was a huge crowd of people staring down the waterfall fountains of the grand entrance, at an even larger crowd around a circular fountain down below.

A few minutes after we arrived, the big circular fountain came alive with colored lights and showers, pulses and sprays. This is the famous Barcelona magic fountain, which we had stumbled upon. We walked a quarter mile down the grand entranceway, and sat on the lawn next to the big fountain for a long time. This is a classic Barcelona tourist moment, but we hadn’t really thought about it until we were there. It was truly spectacular and ridiculous.

So, we spent about six hours in the Montjuic Park, and saw two great museums, a castle, some great views, Olympic venues, and a big fountain and light show. We took two cablecars, rode a huge slide, and walked about five miles (with Lu mostly on my shoulders). This was a good day on the Baird family trip.

This very short post is about Tarifa, where we are spending our last two days in Europe. Tarifa is the southernmost town in Spain. On Wednesday we will take a ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco.

Although Tarifa is part of the EU, it is hard to think of it as being in the same ‘country’ as Stockholm and Frankfurt, and the well-scrubbed towns of France and the Netherlands.

The sunlight, the architecture, the smells, and the generally relaxed and run-down atmosphere all seem like Morocco. We are staying in a small hotel within the crubling old city walls, on a street which is eight feet wide. The nearest cross street is “Almedina.” All of the buildings are stucco and tile, with open courtyards, and Moorish decor.

Morocco is visible across the water. The big differences appear to be religion (a few Catholic churches, no mosques, no call to prayer, and no green doors in Tarifa), a lot of liquor being served, and Spanish being spoken instead of Arabic or French.

There is a statue down by the water to King Sancho IV (The Brave), who, it appears, chased out the Moors in 1292. It seems that their influence lasted. This is a good transition place before we leave Spain.