Episode 810: Montjuïc & Parc Güell

Went to a couple of places today that I didn't visit when I was last here. Montjuïc was okay, although for the views the castle afforded, the 9€ return ticket for the funicular felt like a rip-off, given that it seems you can access the castle on foot anyway. (Sort of like how paying to ride the elevator up the Eiffel Tower versus paying less to walk up, I guess?) Got some nice photographs though. Yong Long got pickpocketed on the metro, so we then learnt that Barcelona has a police office dedicated to handling pickpocketing cases, situated next to Catalunya station. How very convenient, right? They even have stacks of photocopied forms in English, French and German, just waiting for the tourists who can't speak Spanish or Catalan. The existence of this place is both thoughtful and appalling. We wandered around Parc Güell after that, which is a nice place, but like so many tourist attractions in Europe, flooded with people, which ironically always bothers me just a little, even though I'm as much a tourist as these other people. We walked for so long in fact that when we tried to get lunch, the kitchens of restaurants had closed for the siesta. Wound up having desserts instead in La Nena. It's a lovely, family-friendly place, and the games on the shelves reminded me a little of Settlers Cafe back in Singapore. We did make it back to the restaurant we'd planned on having paella at, but this was obviously more than a couple of hours later, kitchens generally reopening only at 8 pm. The guy who seated us remembered us, though probably because as Orientals we stick out a lot. It was decent paella, in case you were wondering. Would've been better if it was a tad drier, but it was pretty cheap, so can't complain too much!