Pirate booty

Spent the morning taking care of some bookings that I didn't get to before leaving. Eden waited patiently, checking her email in the meantime. After bfast we went in search of the mystical platja Bella that our Austrian dorm mates recommended, but had more mishaps with the map and so settled for the original nude beach. I actually got in the water (if you're reading this Eileen, don't act too surprised). The water was turquoise and pretty much perfect in every way. Eden was highly amused (maybe more than she should have been?) by a toddler whose parents put it in a onesie that read "pirate booty" on the butt. The jokes about hoisting the booty up, his mother capturing the booty (and the booty almost getting away) were endless. Literally. Eden didn't stop making jokes until we left. She even took pictures but the pirate was sitting on his booty at that point so Eden and I will be the only ones laughing at them. 

Stopped by the hostel so that Eden could change shorts then took the metro to Los Jardins del laberint d'horta, a recommended get-away from the city.

About 7 stops later on the metro and we were blinking in the failing sunlight. 

One reason Eden agreed to this excursion was that LP said the gardens were only a five minute walk from the metro stop (which she figured should only mean half an hour of getting lost for us.) Well, much to our surprise, it only took five minutes to reach the gardens from the metro.

A house at the front of the park was owned by a Marques named Antoni Desvalls in the late 1700s, during the romantic era. It had a fake cemetery, artificial lake, waterfalls, neoclassical statues and a maze, of course, built from juniper trees.

The first part of the park was a mix of perfect hedges shaped into designs lining the walkways and trees and wild brush on the sides growing over the walls. I was impressed that he kept most of the forest that originally came with the area. 

I loved the actual maze at the center of the park, watched over by Greek statues. The sense of vaguely wandering without a specific destination or desire to come to an endpoint as fast as one can resonated with me. I feel like I would travel all my life just to wander somewhat purposefully through strange and beautiful settings.The other people in the maze were doing photoshoots or chasing each other around. Perfectly in line with the intended mood of the gardens, I'm sure.

I loved the maze so much I made Eden turn around when we found the exit by accident. She said ok, but if it comes to cannibalism I will eat you like a South American soccer player. 

Fortunately and unfortunately the gardens closed at 8 (and we arrived at around 6:30); otherwise I would have spent all night there. In which case I would have come home with large chunks bitten off.

We passed by a "petite labyrinth" on our way out. In the back was another stone arch with mythical beast heads yawning water over a bunch of moss which salivated into a pool. Eden took videos because the sound was so pretty.

At one lookout that we stumbled upon in trying to find our way out we saw the sunset and a full moon rising over Barcelona. Ya'll know a cell phone ain't gonna capture that but like the dorky tourist I am I tried. No justice in cell phone photos, of course. 

At 7:50 when we were still trying to find our way out we noticed that no one else seemed in a particular hurry to leave. Still, we left on time. 

Took metro back and got caught up in a souvenir price war on La Rambla en route to our hostel. Eden bought a jersey for her boyfriend at one shop, then the men at the next shop we stopped in to buy stamps at asked her how much she paid for it. When she told them 50 euro they said she should demand her money back because it was an older jersey and other shops (like theirs) were selling this season's jerseys for 25-30€. So we returned to the original shop an told them what the other store said and they then told us that this other store wasn't selling the official jersey and that's why it was so cheap. Eden  ended up keeping her original purchase and told me later that she mainly just wanted to practice her Spanish and that was the point of engaging in this price war. I felt good that I understood most of what was being said. 

The restaurant we ate dinner at was actually pretty stylish.

Taken at the first souvenir shop that may or may not have ripped Eden off. This may only be a novelty for me.