The main purpose of this day is to make it to Barcelona. Fortunately, everyone was so enamored with San Sebastian that we were all going to take the late train this time. We checked out of our place and left our luggage with the owner. Funny moment: I had my UCLA Football t-shirt on and the owner said, "Ah, you're Americans. UCLA." Except instead of saying U-C-L-A, he pronounced is phonetically "Uck-la." This cracked me up because my friends from UCSB had a really stupid joke about a woman whose name is "Uckla." Lou, Eric, and Katz are all high-fiving as they read this story. You guys are idiots.
The rest of the group had been to a fort up on a hillside the first day (while I was still in Madrid) and I wanted to see it for myself. As they headed to the far side of the harbor, I ventured up the hill to the fort. Eric had said that when they went to the fort they had walked all the way around the hill, I decided to try to take a more direct route. Actually, according to the map, I went the right way, but then I reached the fort, the area was blocked by a chain-link fence. And it had been set recently. I was debating jumping down a 8-foot ledge, bouncing between a tree, and trying to stop my momentum down the hillside before I broke something when a guy in a construction vest walked by. "Esta cerrado?" I asked. "Si." Shit.
OK, time for plan B. Those who know me know this means I'm officially in "make it up as I go" mode. I will reach this fort or die trying, I head back to the trailhead and investigate the map. Based on how long the shortcut had been, I decided the route around the mountain wasn't so bad, so I headed that direction. This proved a good idea.
First, there was a group of restored cannons from the colonial days, poised at the ready to defend San Sebastian from invaders and mutineers! OK, they're just there for looks, but still, it looks badass. I decide that instead of getting a sign that says "Honeywell Home Security Systems" (or something like that) to put in front of my house to ward off robbers, I'm going to put a barrage of cannons. Go ahead. Rob me, bitch.
Rounding the far side of the hill I realize that the path runs right through an ancient cemetery. I didn't have time to stop and investigate, but the graves were pretty impressive. I figure if you can afford to be buried in a cemetery as part of a hillside overlooking the ocean, you must have been sticking rich. I did have a random thought about the graves though, specifically I wondered if erosion had ever exposed any of the caskets and forced them to be runoff into the ocean. Kind of like what happened in New Orleans to force crypts being built above ground. I decide to just move on.
Up another grade and a couple small switchbacks and - ta-da! - I've reached the fort. First, I see why the back way was blocked. A truck to dumping hundreds of cobblestones to a bulldozer that's pushing them into position. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the bulldozer wouldn't have been happy to see me show up if I had jumped off that ledge.
Fortunately they are working on the lower level and the upper level is totally clear. I walk out to the farthest point on the fort and have all of San Sebastian to myself for a moment. Spectacular. I can see down the hillside, across the canal, over to the crescent beach and off to the far points of the city.
I snapped a bunch of photos and headed back down the hill. On the opposite side I stopped to check out the harbor one last time and spied a Waverunner headed out to sea. I've done this on my Waverunner and get jazzed to see even on the other side of the planet people are as adventurous (or stupid) as i am. Unfortunately the guy only goes about a quarter-mile outside the harbor and turns back. Boo. You gotta at least hit the first mile-marker to get credit in my book.
I caught back up with the group at our hotel where we collected our bags and headed for the train station. On the platform, Eric spied a chick from the previous night. Why did he notice her specifically? Because Eric is a big boob hound-dog. We all crack up at this and I even nudge him a bit to go hit on her. I think she even ended up in the same car as us on the train, but Eric never engaged her. Too bad.
The train trip was pretty uneventful, though we had a few entertaining moments. Eric and I got into an extended conversation about running with the bulls because one of the stops was Pamplona. I definitely want to see it someday, Eric wants to run it. I am easily influenced to do crazy things. If he ever ask me to do it with him I probably will. Please include a link to this blog post on my tombstone in 2013.
While on my hike to the fort, the rest of the team had somewhat-wisely bought some bread, cold cuts, and cheese to eat during the train ride. I say "somewhat" b/c while the food was a good idea, one of the cheeses they bought stuck to high heaven. Yeah, we were "that group" on the train. Oh well, it was still very good food so we ate quickly and put away the stinky cheese.
A few hours later we pulled into Barcelona. Shazam! I'm pretty excited because I have heard nothing but good things. we take a few hops on the metro and exit onto La Rambla - the main drag of the city. It is a bustling street of tourists, performers, shops and restaurants. We take everything in as we venture to our place. Everyone seems to be doing pretty well, so of course something has to go wrong.
We get to the place and some 15-year old kid is running the common room/check-in. This does not look like the place we stressed for hours trying to book in Barcelona. The kid tells us that he's sorry, but the reservation system had malfunctioned and we were not going to be able to stay in the place we'd been told. He said the property was working out a solution, but we wouldn't be setup until the next night. For this night, we had to deal essentially with a crappy hostel setup. Shit. OK, it's 10pm and we don't need this shit. Two options, piss-moan-whine and achieve nothing, or take what we've got, go enjoy the city, and deal with this shitshow the next day. I railroad option 2. In my mind, there's nothing that can be fixed tonight, we just need to deal with it later.
Leaving the living situation for another time, we head back out to La Rambla. The place is still buzzing at close to midnight and after traversing the street we sit down at one of the cafes to get some dinner and people-watch. I ordered a beer - large of course - and waiter returns with a Liter glass. Holy crap! I wasn't expecting this until Germany. Fortunately, I'm a drunk and easily justified the drink as Oktoberfest warm-up. Thank you Keith-logic. After a pretty good meal (Joel and Anisha had some black paella that was really interesting and good) we continued down La Rambla to the harbor.
There was a pretty cool bar/club area built out on a pier, but unfortunately the place was closing because it was Sunday night. We walked along the harbor and spied some schools of anchovies being bombarded by larger fish. It was pretty cool watching them move out of danger. After a few blocks we turned back up into the city and eventually settled at a chill bar for some drinks. Mindy and Anisha were excited by the fru-fru options, Joel enjoyed a mojito, and Eric stuck to the beer with me. It had been a long day and inspite of the trials, it was good to be in Barcelona.
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