I Am Hiccuping Like A Madwoman

Hostel foyer, Carre de Casanova, Barcelona, 5.09pm

We meet again! So far from our last encounter in the Spanish capital, now I'm in the unofficial capital. The one everybody DEFINITELY visits.

Arrived in the dark last night and didn't see anything apart from the Metro (excellent) and my hostel and the 500m in between. This hostel is probably the best I've stayed at - certainly the best shower, all hot and hard and relaxing! And a similarly equipped hairdryer. On my list of things I miss most (not including friends and family) has to be my hairdryer. My hair certainly misses the power and heat of a full size model. So having access to a hotted up little one here in Barcelona is wonderful! My hair is smooth through drying technique, not greasiness!

But I digress, back to Madrid! My favourite things in Madrid were the Reina Sofia gallery and probably the sandwich I had for lunch that day. Both satisfying and uplifting, though in different ways. The Reina Sofia had the famous Picasso I wanted to see and it was HUGE and fairly impressive. The rest of the permanent collection was also excellent and it was a lot like being in Yr 12 Art History looking at all the Cubism and Surrealism. They also had a couple of temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists, my favourites being Zoe Anderson and Paul Thek. Zoe was a photographer with a sense of humour and Paul did collections of smaller detailed pieces, exactly the kind of thing I like. I did visit the Prado as well, but it had a collection of much older works, all fairly large and epic (not unlike Madrid itself), but they did have some excellent Goya's, although none of his prints, which are my favourites.

And then LUNCH! Spent forever walking trying to find somewhere and eventually plonked down in a reasonably hip kind of place. Selected a 'bocadillo' off the menu (baguette, sounds better en español) which I knew had cheese on it and something else random. I got presented with a toasted baguette with fetta and oozing brie and....CARAMELIZED ONIONS! I love caramelized onions! I almost ordered a second one I was so happy and it tasted so GOOD!

My second day in Madrid mainly consisted in Viewing Large Impressive Buildings, with a slight detour (an hour) in the morning where I viewed some of the inner city streets of Madrid (got lost). Highlight was spotting a cheese display in a window with a metre wide wheel of Swiss cheese in the centre.

After that it was off to Bilbao for Friday and Saturday. The countryside surrounding Bilbao is not what you expect from Spain. It was rolling hills, streams, twiggy trees and very green. Snow on the mountains in the distance, sheep with black faces in little flocks down in the valleys, stone farmhouses about five hundred years old.

Bilbao itself was also gorgeous and pretty cool. After Madrid being so LARGE and slightly lacking in atmosphere (apart from maybe being a little pompous), Bilbao was absolutely charming. I had the added bonus of a helpful chica from Uruguay who noticed me perusing my directions to my hotel and proceeded to walk me the entire way to the doorstep. Until I left Bilbao I couldn't, unfortunately, admit that she was genuinely helpful and kind because the whole time I was thinking 'Is she really this nice? Or do I have to be even more careful about getting my bag stolen while I'm in town?'. She was actually that nice though.

I stayed in the Casco Viejo area of Bilbao, which is very old, has lots of dark buildings close together over narrow pedestrian streets, packed with shops and bars, bit Melbourne really. Then the city is spread out along the river and is seriously dedicated to promoting a creative and arty feel for what was originally an industrial city. So along the river are some great buildings and sculptures, the Zubizuri footbridge and, of course, the Guggenheim. It's the Frank Gehry titanium, glass and limestone creation and is seriously cool! More sculptures outside it, including the Geoff Koons' 'Puppy'. If you haven't seen pictures of it, it's a ten metre tall puppy, sitting down, covered in plants, pansies at the moment.

The Guggenheim wasn't allowing access to their third floor and permanent collections, so I was only able to see the Cy Twombly exhibition - bit random. However the audio guide was included in the ticket price, so I did enjoy hearing more about the building itself, thought processes, inspiration, etc.

The other fun thing about Bilbao is that it's actually in an area of Spain where they speak a language called (something like) Euskada. It bears absolutely no resemblance to Spanish whatsoever. They all speak Spanish as well, but it certainly made for some interesting street names and signage. The best example I found was the word information. In Spanish it's: información. In Euskawhozywhatsit: agribideak. SEE?? CRAZY.

I then spent yesterday stuck on a shonky, noisy, cold train for nine and a half hours from Bilbao to Barcelona - squee. If I'd known it was THAT far, I would've sussed out a flight months ago. However, I did get to see a lot more of Spain in between the two cities, more lovely countryside around Bilbao, followed by what you actually expect in Spain - dry, rocky, harsh.

Today I got to hang out with Dan, Nicky and Nicky's mum, auntie and friends. We had lunch at their favourite restaurant, Dan, Nicky and I sharing a variety of tapas tasty bits and pieces. Dan and I had more of a chat in a bar that does a mean brekky (apparently) before he had to head back to his ship. Was absolutely awesome to see them and chat to them like I talk to all of you! Barcelona also seems to be busy and gorgeous, I look forward to seeing more tomorrow. Am thinking I will call it Gaudi Tuesday!