Budapest & day trips from Barcelona
Alan's Log:
Joan's Log:
Budapest, Hungary
March 2008
Because of the Schengen Treaty and for reasons I'm not sure I understand and are far too complicated for me to explain, we had to leave Spain (which is a Schengen treaty country) and get our passports stamped in a country outside of the Schengen group of countries to extend our stay for another 90 days. (This doesn't actually solve the problem of overstaying our welcome in Schengen countries, but it does give us a point for discussion at immigration if needed). See... I've already made it sound complicated! So we decided to take advantage of the extremely low airfares and take a little 3 day trip to Budapest, Hungary (an EU but not a Schengen country). My first time to visit an Eastern European country. Budapest is actually two cities, Buda and Pest are separated by the Danube River, and eventually became known as Budapest! It was...interesting.
First of all, Alan picked up a nasty food-born stomach illness just before we left Barcelona, which sort of set the mood and tone for our visit, in any case he wasn't exactly up for a lot of sight-seeing. Actually most of the really old historical sites had been destroyed and rebuilt so many times that they weren't that old any more.
It did have a distinct "old world" feel to it though, which could have been charming but came off as old, worn and shabby most of the time. It didn't help that in every square, the many statues were, for some reason, all wrapped up in plastic sheets or sacking - no reason given . Maybe it was the grey, overcast sky and the fact that it was still winter, but the whole place was kind of grim and depressing, and you could see the effect Communism and various wars has had on the country, city, and in the faces of the older people who, by the way, were very short! Being American and coming from a nation of tall people, I was struck by how short they were. The younger 20 and 30 something Hungarian's towered over them. I can only guess a serious lack of nutrition during their formative years is the reason, which drove home the hardships and privations they must have suffered.
Our hotel was on the Pest side of the river, and centrally located, which gave me the opportunity to explore on my own (sans husband). I can not go to a city without checking out the market, and was able to rouse Alan into accompanying me on a walk through the Central Market, which is in a cavernous Victorian-era building. What a contrast between this market and the Boqueria in Barcelona. Where the Boqueria is loud and raucous, this was oddly silent and orderly, where the Boq is crowded and chaotic this felt desolate and organized. It WAS plentiful though, with piles and piles of neatly arranged fruits and vegetables and very few buyers. The big specialities were all sorts of sausages and cured meats and jars and jars of pickled everything and lots of sauerkraut. Hungarian paprika is quite the item as well and I picked up a few cans but my big score was some high quality Russian caviar, at a fraction of the cost in the U.S! Oh...and there was a stall that sold nothing but strudel! The best ever! We shared (truthfully, Alan only got a few bites) a combination apple/cherry. The pastry was impossibly light and flaky, the filling slightly tart, and served with a generous dusting of powdered sugar.
Go there! Just for that strudel, you won't regret it!
Budapest is famous for its thermal baths which for centuries have been known for their healing properties. We couldn't resist trying one. An interesting experience. First of all I was a bit surprised to see men casually strolling through the woman's changing room. What was up with that? I had to check the sign on the door to make sure I was in the right place! Also what was the meaning behind the sign of the tooth and the hook? I'm not sure I wanted to know. We ended up in a huge industrial hot (very HOT) tub, surrounded by a large group of Hungarian's having a wonderful time chatting and socializing, after a while I felt like we were being stewed in a big pot of Hungarian Goulash. Alan got a Swedish style massage afterwards by a huge Hungarian guy, which he said wasn't very pleasant because it was dry, no lotion or oil...ouch! The thermal bath was a lot of fun. It was a little too hot for Joan but the hotter of the two baths suited me just fine. It was as big as a swimming pool with a fountain where the even hotter water entered the pool and the temperature was perfect for me, like an enormous version of our old hot-tub back in Texas. I lounged for an hour or more before my massage. The people-watching was interesting in an paleantological way, less Malibu more Miami. The massage, as Joan indicates was quite an experience. In the men only dressing-room, a very large, nearly naked, masseur started pummeling me with brio. As I flinched and braced, various presumably Hungarian ladies (I couldn't see them) wafted by, stopping for brief conversations and laughs with the masseur. Enough for me to wish I had a towel over my nether regions.
I took advantage of Alan's weakened condition and suggested a trip to a quaint antique market, reputed to have antiques from all over Eastern Europe and the Ukraine. I was thinking quaint folk art, ceramics and pottery, primitive hand-painted chests and furniture, all sorts of unusual kitchen accessories, I could hardly contain my excitement as I envisioned what treasures I would find...wrong!
We took a long expensive taxi ride out of the city to a very disappointing half-deserted flea market, loaded with the saddest assortment of junk I've ever seen! As we passed stall after stall of worn out knick knacks and broken furniture, I kept thinking this has got to get better. To top it all off there was a painting of Adolph Hitler for sale. Ugh! The best part was our taxi driver hung around to give us a ride back to the city, otherwise it would have been a long walk back to the hotel. Today we made a taxi driver rich. Other than that it was uneventful. Fortunately I did not need a used fan-belt which was about the only useful item for sale in the market.
In the end our visit wasn't all bad, the people were so nice, welcoming and friendly. I'm sure the best time to visit is in the summer. There are some lovely old-world style cafes specializing in cakes and coffee, and then there was that strudel!
Day Trippers
Back in Barcelona we have done some more day-tripping and Alan has continued studying Spanish. I, on the other hand found I was spending all my spare time studying and not enough time painting, so I dropped Spanish in favor of art, and finished 3 paintings.Manresa, Spain
We heard that there was a festival taking place in Manresa, about 50 kilometers from Barcelona. Apparently a miracle occured there many centuries ago involving a ray of light striking the bell-tower and ringing the church bells. This miraculous event ended a feud between the people and the church and led to the end of the town's excommunication by the bishop and a consequent resurgence in wealth. We checked the bus schedule to find that the direct bus left from right outside my Spanish school. We hopped on the bus sure that we would find a town overwhelmed with festivities. On arrival in Manresa there were no people around and no signs or directions and it took an hour or so of wandering up and down deserted town streets, till we found the medieval center of town. The whole town was here! It more than made up for the wait. The narrow cobbled streets and small shopfronts made an ideal backdrop for a wholehearted medieval festival. The townspeople really got involved and were all dressed in their versions of medieval dress for the occasion; there were soldiers, lepers, tradespeople, fawns, mischevious jesters, princes and princesses. The gypsy dancing was the definite highlight, although the local artisanal cheeses came a close second. We had a lovely lunch in an underground cellar, sitting next to the Queen of the festival. It was a good day.
Barcelona revisited
We had a super visit with Alan's Mom and Dad, who were first time visitors on Moonstruck. It was really fun having them on the boat and giving them a little perspective of life on board a small boat!We will be leaving Barcelona soon, so it was a good opportunity for us to show them around while reacquainting ourselves with some of our favorite places. We took in the largest fresh market, La Boqueria, and had one of El Quim's wonderful breakfasts (Spanish omlette, Small fried squid and fried artichokes). Then it was off to Gaudi's Casa Batllo. My favorite destination in BCN and a house I think is quite amazing for its time. (Note there are only a couple of pictures of Casa Batllo on the site, back in 2007, mainly because I really do not feel I can do justice to it. Either visit in person or if that is impractical, then look it up online). Then it was off to see the exterior of Gaudi's unique Sagrada Familia, still under construction after 120 years.
The last stop on the Gaudi tour was to Parc Guell, an open park in the outskirts of Barcelona. It was built as one of the earliest examples of a "planned community", however Gaudi, whose La Sagrada Familia was beginning to dominate his time, lost interest in the project and only the gatehouses and two houses were ever finished. It is now a fun place to visit to people-watch. On a nice clear day there is a great view over the city and down to the water, it is full of groups of schoolchildren, young lovers and Japanese tourist groups. A musician was playing a lute. In true Gaudi style there are no straight lines in Park Guell, and even the walls are dimpled, with alternately convex and concave shapes, all finished with a mosaic of broken tile. Gaudi obsessed the details and it is notable that the long winding bench in the last picture is anatomically curved to provide a relaxing seating position, while the cool tile would provide welcome relief on a typical hot summers day and the whole bench contains drains so that water will drain and to facilitate keeping it all clean.
We skipped the previously visited cathedral in favor of the equally splendid and more user friendly (no admission charge!) Santa Maria del Mar in the Born district close to our marina in Barceloneta.
We found a new site to visit under the Royal Palace, in the Barri Gottic district where lie the most extensive subterranean Roman ruins in the world. It was very well presented and was fascinating walking through this (now) underground town, with its straight streets, heated baths, a wine bodega, and a large laundry which - in an early example of recycling - had urns outside to collect urine from passersby, which would then be used in the bleaching & dying of fabric.
No trip to Barcelona is complete without a sampling of the regional Catalan Food and Cal Pep is arguably the best place to experience this. We waited in line for it to open for lunch and sat at the long counter while the next shift of prospective diners lined up behind us - this is a popular place! Within minutes a procession of dishes was placed in front of us, all cooked in front of our eyes. It was our second visit to Cal Pep and there are no menus. We let the waiter (Pep's son I think) order for us. We wound up with pretty much everything they served; Pam amb tomat (Bread rubbed with fresh tomato and garlic); Sauted tiny whole fish with fried egg; grilled fresh sea-bass; Fried Calamari; Sausage flamed in brandy etc. etc. Mum turned over her glass to indicate she didn't want any more wine, whereupon the waiter smilingly turned over her plate and said that she couldn't have any more food then! Needless to say she relented.
Girona & Peratallada
We rented a car for a day trip to the town of Girona, about 80 kilometers north. Girona, dates back to the Roman Empire, in fact the old Roman road Via Augusta, which once ran from Tarragona, Spain to Rome, cuts through Girona. There is a very high defensive Roman wall around the city. We took the stairs to the top of the wall and walked along it, looking down on the tiled roof-tops and maze of alleyways in the old Jewish Quarter. It was a cold but perfectly clear day, and from the vantage point of the wall, was a great view of the snow-covered Pyrenees, which reminded me of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. The city's cathedral which was built over and around the original Roman temple has the widest Gothic span in the world but it was built in grim, cold, grey stone and it lacked the beauty of other cathedrals we have seen in Spain, notably in Cadiz and the St Maria del Mar in Barcelona.
On the way back to Barcelona we took a little detour to Peratallada, a tiny fortified hilltop medieval village. It has changed very little since it was built in the 11th century due to a very substantial wall and a deep moat built completely around it. The wall has prevented significant updating and expansion and the town is entirely intact. We walked through the town on a cold clear day and it was completely deserted. We were the only people on the streets, everything was closed. I thought it was magical. The interior was amazing, the old stone street at the entrance gate still has the wheel ruts worn into the sandstone from centuries of use by horse-drawn carts and wagons. The entire village would make a fantastic movie set.
Gone with the Wind
We have been here in Barcelona for four and a half months, not counting the 6 weeks when we were at home in Washington during the holidays. Barcelona is a great place to spend the winter, the weather has been amazing, 95% of the time it has been sunny and although quite chilly at times, it has rarely been cold. If you are cruising around the Med. and are considering where to winter over, I highly recommend staying at the Port Vell Marina. It is close to everything, there is a real cruising community here of people who live aboard. There is a weekly dock party, a radio net every other day, and free Spanish lessons once a week. Ask for F dock it's the best! We have also been impressed with the security here at Marina Port Vell, and have experienced no further incidents since we moved here from Reial Club Maritim de Barcelona.In the last six months we have become city slickers, we have become major walkers; We are riders of bikes and the metro and buses and trains; We know our way around and hardly ever use a map anymore; I'm no longer afraid of getting robbed on the tube, or suspicious of every other person, I'm just aware. We have our favorite places to eat and to shop. I gave up shopping at the Boqueria a long time ago, as fun and colorful as it is, it is always way too crowed with tourists for my taste. I prefer the wonderful fresh market in our neighborhood of Barceloneta, just a short walk from the boat, with all my favorite vendors. There are the chicken ladies, who always cut up your freshly plucked chicken to order; my fish lady who knows we like our tuna cut extra thick; the nice vegetable guy and his mother; Alan's Jamon Iberico guy who laboriously hand-cuts the best bellotas into razor thin slices, and the wonderful selection of Spanish cheese. The best bakery of all time is right across the street from the market, there is almost always a line out the door! There was hell to pay when a lovely yellow Lab slipped his leash and wandered in and happily licked all the bread in a basket!
I now know enough Spanish to get by and not feel like a complete idiot. Alan's Spanish is fantastic, but it's time for him to start brushing up on his French and for me to dig out my French phase book. I really enjoyed the challenge of finally really learning Spanish, after speaking gringo Mexican for so many years! The classes were full of students from every continent in every age group and it would be a poor student that did not take advantage of the social opportunities. I made a number of friends from England, China, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Thailand, Morocco, and France. It was am amazing experience and one I hope to repeat - Perhaps Italian next year?
Our days here are numbered and we'll be on the move soon, with new cities and villages to discover. I'm excited, and at the same time just a little nervous too. It's been a while since Moonstruck has been under sail, I hope I haven't forgotten how to cast off the lines.
Next.....We are on the move again, to Marseille France, then Corsica and on to Sardinia and Pompeii and the Amalfi coast of Italy!