Barcelona to Porto – Harry Potter

Barcelona will be our spring board or base camp over the next few weeks. A day here, Porto for five days, three days in Barcelona then 10 days in Switzerland, 4 days in Barcelona again then home to Australia.

Camping – Rain

5:30am we heard the first drops of rain on the tent roof. It had been dry and beautifully sunny for for the four days previous and today was the day to pack up the tent. Talk about turning on the supercharger; beds were rolled up, sleeping bags squashed and compressed, all the stuff and things found and stored for a hasty escape. Needless to say, the mission was completed in record time. Tonight, we stay in a room, with a shower and our own toilet. It may be old, in a dodgy part of town, with a cranky doorman, but it is close to the train station for the next stage that begins tomorrow. For tomorrow we travel across the entirety of Spain, into Portugal towards Porto.

Gaudi

Before I get ahead of myself, Barcelona beckons. A day of walking within one area and one focus. Gaudi was an architect who has had a somewhat city enabling, tourist drawing, artistically inspiring influence over the world. His works draw the crowds universally and within a plethora of cultural identities.

Known for the organic nature of his works, he didn’t worry too much about technical drawings. Much of his design and planning work being completed as sculptures.

Barcelona Streets

Streetscapes and mood of the city evolves throughout the day. You need to experience the entire day and sleep sometime later… or as the song goes, “sleep when you are dead”. Locals off to work, gangs of street sweepers, kids going to school, shops firmly shut until 10am exposing the graffiti embellished roller doors.

Travel Day

I hadn’t actually travelled from one end of a country to the other before. Across dry arid desert, cultivated farmland, hills that looked like sandcastles, cliff-faced barren areas, an all embracing spectacle. Just do it. Yes I should have taken the camera out more often. I was enjoying the moment.

Porto Train Station

Who would have thought a train station could be interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I love airports and train stations, they open up a magnitude of possibilities. Portugal people love tiles, they really LOVE tiles. Many of the buildings are clad with tiles outside on the walls. This station has images of life throughout the ages, transport development through Roman, colonial through to the Industrial Revolution era. It’s really cool.

Market Day.

Just like Rusty’s Market in Cairns, but with a Glass of Port or wine in your hand. Actually quite a bit different to Rusty’s. The range of produce was amazing. I had a seafood binge, with prawns, mussels, oysters with both caviar and sea urchin. The milk shakes tasters were unexpectedly alcoholic, pasta sauce and cheese mixed within an actual cheese wheel and other bountiful culinary delights everywhere.

Boat Trip

Two hours walk up the meandering river, toward the marina, albeit on the opposite side of the river. Our plan included taking the ferry across the expansive river once we were at the extreme end of the journey and directly adjacent to the marina. “Oh no sir, that ferry hasn’t run since Covid. Perhaps in the summer time it will restart.” Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it is on Google maps, Apple maps and the freshly printed tourist map we were given.

We shouted ourselves a trip up and down the river in a sailing boat. Now it looks seriously like we wouldn’t actually make it to the Marina in time :-(. No taxi ranks to be seen, three changes of busses would get us there, but we don’t know where the busses are or where to change. We can’t use UBER as you need a phone number…… Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. After a quick stress I see the glimmer, our knight in shining armor, I flag down a taxi with much arm waving and jumping around. It did a hand brake turn in front of three lanes of traffic and away we went on our journey.

The walk back and Sunset

Walking back home, taking in the city, the decaying buildings, the renovations, the poor areas transforming into exclusive waterfront apartments. It is a beautiful city. Some areas are still frequented by fishing families, using traditional techniques. Its nice to see the blending of old and new, tourism and original workings.

Harry Potter

JK Rowling, author of Harry Potter, spent many years in Porto. A few of the buildings/cafes/bookshops are where she wrote the beginnings of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone. Walking around the city, you can see buildings that would have been inspiration for the novel within.

Hard afternoon.

Wondering home, we scaled a hill with most locals and others. Finding a comfortable patch of grass, purchasing a drink from the many hawkers, it was time to chill out, listen to the cover band rocking out ‘Chilli Peppers’ and watch the sun decline towards sunset bliss. This was a nice moment. Homeward bound, finishing with port, olives, wonderfully cured ham, bread, sheep and goat cheese. What will happen tomorrow?