Camino de Santiago LITE: Day Minus 1: Barcelona, Spain

To get to León, the Spanish city on the Camino where we are choosing to start our walk, using Madrid as a gateway may have been an obvious choice. From Madrid, it is just a few hours on a fast train north to León. Of course Spain has had its share of train wrecks, literally, in recent years, most notable of which are the post 9/11 Madrid terror attack and also more recently a derailment near Santiago itself. But it was not because of the fear of the train ride I did not choose this route. (In fact, we took that León line from Madrid when going to the wonderful town of Segovia in December 2010.) But rather, it was more along the lines of 'when you have an opportunity to visit Barcelona, why not." (There is something nice about continuing to go west once in Spain. Also there is a convenient internal flight on Vueling from Santiago back to Barcelona when we are done. )

Early arrival in the Catalonian capital left us enough time to take in some sights before our hotel room was ready. Not far from our hotel are two of Gaudi's most important works: Casa Batllo and Casa Mila (La Pedrera). There is Gaudi galore in Barcelona. Gaudy? No, he was simply a century ahead of his time. "Modernisme" sounds still appropriate. Admission charges are steep but there is no other support. So we can establish that tourists are not gouged for the gaudy Gaudi.

Casa Batllo

Roof, Casa Mila

Attic, Casa Mila

Apartments, Casa Mila

Lunch was at Tapas 24, where the chef is supposedly a disciple of Ferran Atria, according to Rick Steve's pocket guide. Regardless, when you want some tapas, and at any time you want it, what could be more convenient than a place so named?