The beauty of textile-free living

Part One: In search of Plaja Bella

Not long after I mentioned to Eden that I didn't bring my swimsuit to the beach we realized that a lack of clothing wasn't going to be an issue. Eden's only remark was, "it's never the people you want to see naked." I have to disagree. I was fascinated by the whole scene. 

Our original plan was to hike along the coast until we reached Plaja Bella, which our Austrian dorm-mates recommended, but instead we ate lunch at a Cuban restaurant (but didn't order Cuban food because the menu was very long and we were mislead by the title on the last page that said "menu del dia.") Our waiter, Juan Carlos (from Cuba), was the friendliest waiter we've had yet. Eden was speaking her perfect Spanish and I was putting in my best effort but he really wanted to practice English, so we had a 70% English conversation.

From the "menu del dia" pg of our not-Cuban menu. Here they explain what tofu is and how it's made.

After lunch we sat on the beach for a while with all the clothing-liberated people (mostly tourists, we think) and got a little sun-burnt. We made our touristy plans very late in the day, around 5, which turned out to be a good thing lighting-wise.

Part Two: These boots were made for walking

I read in LP (lonely planet... don't I sound like a travel snob?) about taking a cable car to Castle Montjuic, a political prison dating from the late 17th century. The departure point for the cable cars was located conveniently on the beach we had spent the last few hours on, so we hopped in line to get a ticket and were in the air about 45 minutes later.


They dropped us off outside of a posh hotel called hotel Miramar with pretty gardens so we made our way to the main road to look for some semblance of signage.

Well, again, our guide book and maps were not entirely forthcoming about directions. We were halfway up the mountain when we saw cable cars going up the rest of the way (which was not an insignificant distance). The signs to Castle Montjuic were sparse but at least they were somewhere to be found for the really determined tourist (which we were.) This was around 6:30 in the evening and it was perfect lighting to see the browning leaves on the sycamores and hickories. A really perfect fall day. Again, we saw beautiful glimpses of the city all the way up. 

We crossed a drawbridge and followed the crowd to the battlements - with canons and everything - and looked down on a huge panorama of industrial Barcelona. It was like another city entirely. There were huge platforms with truck trailers stacked on top of each other like patchwork quilts and the Star Wars drone-looking things hanging their noses over moats and canals and much more for miles out into the Mediterranean.

The other side of the castle was more awe-inspiring. You could see all of Barcelona (minus the industrial city) sitting like tan and pink  mosaic bricks at the base of the surrounding mountains (Pyrenees?); bricks the same color of the fort wall we sat behind. It was hard to imagine finding our way back to any specific point in the mold. No picture could do the view justice.

A young Asian man was siting cross-legged on the wall with earbuds in, facing away from some young people with partially-shaved heads who were taking pictures with a sign saying "refugees welcome." Appropriately, "exodus" by bob marley was playing from speakers in the open-air cafe near the line I was waiting in for the "water closet" (international lingo for bathroom apparently.) 

The best part of the day came when we walked back down to the cable car departure point and realized we had to find other means of making our way back down the mountain, for the office closed at 7 (oops). Slightly dejected, Eden suggested we go sit by a wall and in so doing we saw some stairs over the ledge that looked like they led down to the city. They were covered in vines and looked unused and potentially part of the original fortress. We passed one or two joggers on the way down and took some pictures of the beautiful ivy crawling up the walls then walked right into downtown Barcelona. Took a small break then out for dinner and sangria because Eden said I couldn't leave Barcelona without having sangria (and yes, they did come in pints, which I couldn't finish.)