A Random Walk Around Barcelona, And A Planning Fail

After Montjuic, we took the Metro to Plaza Catalunya.  From there we wandered the city with no particular place to go until we wanted to go to our Beach Bar at Barceloneta around 4:30pm.

Our first stop after getting off the Metro at Plaza Catalunya was the Fount de Canaletes on La Rambla.  It’s legendary, because legend has it that if you drink from it, you will fall in love with the city and always come back to Barcelona.  Sign us up for that!

Carol's already in love with Barcelona,

but why not make a return a sure thing?

Don and Jennifer want to come back!

We then walked around Plaza Catalunya.  The ladies did not want to walk through the center of the plaza because they were worried about being the targets of pigeon poop.  I was secretly relieved, so we skirted the outside.

Cool statue to a 

Catalan leader.

Odds of wearing pigeon

poop here? 100%! 

We then headed down to the Cathedral, stopping outside the Four Cats to see if Don and Jennifer would remember it having dinner there in 2019.  It maybe a tourist trap, but the food is good and the Modernisme building’s architecture is special.

From there we walked through the original gates of the city, past the cathedral and the cool mailbox on Casa de l’Ardiaca, just down the street from the Cathedral.  We decided to save a visit to the cathedral until our next trip to the city.  

The cathedral under reconstruction.

Did not realize companies

could sponsor it, but that's

the way it goes.

The very top.

The mailbox, which Carol and I visited Sunday before Don and Jennifer came, features five carved swallows and one turtle.  The legend is that patting the turtle brings you luck.  It seems a bit damaged since 2019, so we didn’t touch it.

We walked under the second story Gothic bridge inspired by Venice’s Bridge of Sighs and into the Plaza that features city hall.  Signs reading “Barcelona and Ukraine” hang across the buildings.  From there we headed to St. Jaume Plaza and stopped at a pastry shop for a quick snack and water break.  We lingered, enjoying the ambiance of the place and the rest it afforded.

Very cool, but it was built

in 1919, so not that old.

From there we walked one more time past Santa Maria del Mar, and then down to our beach bar.  I noted in the Montjuic blog post that it’s not well rated, but we love the place.  At first we were in the row of tables furthest from the beach and views, but two tables upfront left at once and we quickly moved to those choice two tops.  We hung out there for a while, people watching, boat watching, and just enjoying the Med.  It’s hard to beat that place – it’s the Chiringuito Barceloneta beach bar, situated between the boardwalk and the sand.  If you find yourself in that part of Barcelona, definitely stop in for a drink and drink in the atmosphere.

I love this bar.

I will write about dinner in another post, but afterwards we had a total planning fail.  And by “we” I mean me, I had the total planning fail.  The Magic Fountain is all the way over in another part of the city.  When I had checked a website for the Magic Fountain in the early stages of planning the trip, it said that in November-December the fountain was on Thursday, Friday, Saturday with two shows – 8pm and 8:30pm.

It’s amazing – music, lights, and a variety of water patterns.  Even though it was crowded when Mrs. Iron Tourist and I went in 2019, it was definitely worth seeing.  

This night (Thursday), Carol was worn out and headed back to the apartment on her own, as I shepherded Don and Jennifer across town to the Magic Fountain.  On the way, I was sitting on the Metro when a young woman sat next to me and started loudly playing a video, that had talking.  She didn’t have ear buds.  The whole idea you can play loud videos in public spaces is rude, so I asked her to turn it off.  

She got offended, so we got in an argument.  I started playing a random video on Twitter to show that it is rude, but she was having none of my point of view.  Fortunately our stop came up, so I got up and left the rude woman behind.  Jennifer was quite amused by this interaction.  Hopefully the young woman has since bought ear buds so this scourge of society has one less deviant believer.

Editor’s Note: Well, I know who not to sit next on the metro!

Blogger: If you listen to stuff in public with no ear buds, you’ve been put on notice.

Anyhow, we come up from the metro and walk to the Magic Fountain.  It’s not very crowded, but there are other people there waiting.  I’m beginning to wonder if something is wrong, as 8pm comes and goes.   A quick search on my phone indicates the Magic Fountain is closed for November and December for maintenance.  Arrgh.  

I apologize to Don and Jennifer, but not to the young woman on the Metro.  We took a quick cab ride back to the apartment.  Oh well, as Robert Burns would say, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”