Magnesia Cinfa

Barcelona - Day Three

     Today was another amazing day but before I go on,  I have to give you a little background. . .

     My daughter came home from college last Spring and lectured her father and I about eating healthier, getting fit and taking care of ourselves because she wanted us to be around for a long time.  In reality, she was saying, "you guys are getting fat."  She lectured us on reading food labels, eating whole, organic foods and exercising regularly.  She was a great motivator during the summer and helped to get us "fit and trim" for our trip.  She sat us down many a day in front of Dr. Oz and one day he talked about his "Poop Chart."  We all died laughing at this episode as he talked about the 7 types of stools and that a "No. 4" was the perfect poop!  Here is a link to his chart in case you are curious:  http://healthybodydaily.com/dr-oz-in-case-you-missed-it/dr-oz-poop-chart-poop-solutions

     So, having a "No. 4" was a big deal and it has become a joke around our house - we are weird like that.  As you can imagine (or probably don't want to imagine), after all that healthy eating, we got to Barcelona and forgot all about the organic, whole foods as we devoured tapas and paella and all the amazing dishes of Spain.  Yes, you guessed it - no number 4's for us!  In fact, there was no number 1's, 2's, 3's, etc!  As we walked around each day it got more hysterical until we finally had to stop to find something to get us "moving" again.  I was really anticipating a hilarious game of charades when my husband had to go into a pharmacia and try to act out exactly what the problem was.   As he began to describe the problem in spanglish, the pharmacist spoke up in perfect english and said, "you need something for constipation."  Dang it!

     She sent us back with a bottle of "Magnesia Cinfa" and the instructions to drink a capful.  That's it, just drink a capful.  So two nights ago, that's what we did.  No luck. We tried again last night with no luck.  By that time, we were in agony and I was trying to decipher the directions on the bottle with my limited high school spanish.  We even went as far as using an online translator to try to figure out what the maximum dose was.  It became hysterical as we were trying to figure out the directions and then both said "the hell with it" and chug-a-lugged the bottle!!!

      And this morning - I am happy to report, "OLE!  NUMERO QUATRO!"  These are things you don't find in travel brochures!

     Okay, enough of that - on Day 3, we spent another amazing day with Sonja wondering the city.  This was our last day and she was trying her best to cram in the most important sites.  We started with another Antonio Gaudi house, Casa Mila or "Las Pedreras," which means "The Quarry."  Guadi took a lot of heat over this design because it was covered in stone instead of his usual ceramic and mosaics.  No one appreciated what he was doing until it was finished and his critics could see the true beauty as the design mimicked waves and the wrought iron balconies were like fish nets with various items from the sea intertwined.  It is quite beautiful, but also innovated as it was one of the first buildings to have underground parking, and open courtyard for light and lifts.

     We toured one of the apartments inside that has been restored to its original condition, but the real surprise was when we went up to the roof to the terraces.  I have seen these images before in pictures, but had no grasp of the scope of these sculptures.  They remind me of monks or even soldiers and for some reason, even Don Quixote comes to mind when I look at them.  Again, there are no words . . .

     We really covered ground after Casa Mila as we went through the Gothic Quarter where we saw remnants of Roman Temples and parts of the aqueduct still intact.  We strolled down La Rambla where the streets were full of vendors, artists, musicians and every sort of social misfit in Barcelona.  It was like a circus - so full of activity!

     We walked down the "Manzana de la Discordia or the Block of Discord.  It is the most famous collection of modernist buildings sharing the same facade in Barcelona.  My favorite one was Gaudi's Casa Batllo - incredible to see and the other two facades pale in comparison.

     We had lunch in the marketplace - one of my favorite things to do when I travel to a new city.  I love the sights, smells, colors and people - vendors have tiny little restaurants all around the perimeters and we had an amazing lunch.  Our server fussed at Michael for not eating all of the meat off of his fish and she showed him how to cut around the bone to extract the tiny piece of meat and then made a show of feeding him!

     After lunch, we made our way up to the Olympic Stadium and saw spectacular views of Barcelona from Montjuic (or the hill of the Jews).  Sonja took us through the cemetary there where only the wealthiest of families have mausoleums.  The more common folk have a box in a wall (complete with a window) where all of the members are buried.  The only unfortunate part is that it takes two years for a body to decompose in one of these crypts, so if another family member passes before the two years are up, they are kept in a box somewhere else until the first body is decomposed and the crypt can safely be unsealed.  The bones from the previous relative are then shoved aside to make room for the next member!  A family pays for this space for a period of 40 years.  After that time, you have to pay a yearly rent or you are OUT!

     It was a strangely beautiful place - it stretched for miles and was built into the side of the hills of Montjuic.  Sonja had us stop to take a picture of this particular gravesite - I didn't feel comfortable but she explained that these "tacky" plots are the tombs of wealthy gypsy families and this one in particular was especially tacky.

     But the best one of all was this grave marker we found:

     Sonja explained to us that it was the grave of a very wealthy man who had nothing but greedy nephews who sat and waited for him to die so they could inherit his money.  This is the translation (according to Sonja) as to what he left on his marker . . .

"My last dying wish . . . F**k You!" Gotta love the irony of it all!  Those Spaniards have a sense of humour!

     Our day ended with a lovely, late dinner at Casa Calvet, another home designed by Gaudi.  We had a fabulous meal and some spectacular Spanish wine.  So good, in fact, that I proceeded to play "Yankee Doodle" by blowing across the wine bottle.  The guests at the next table were not amused but hey, I felt extra happy to be in Spain and what the heck, it was our last night and I had finally had my NUMBER FOUR!