Spain 2014

Barcelona

We were very fortunate to have found an apartment that was in the heart of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. The apartment itself was a beautiful old apartment with high ceilings and a terrace overlooking a square. We could walk everywhere and spent our time enjoying the narrow alleyways, beautiful buildings and amazing out of the way restaurants.

 

  

 

As young people we find ourselves trying to negotiate our path, trying to find our way through the maze, mapping where it is that we are going, where it is that we have been. But I am finding as I get ‘older’ more and more I realise it is just about the journey and the rest, well the rest will simply take care of itself.

 

 


Lost in the Alleyways
Often our first choice when we left the apartment was: are we going to head north, south, east or west? After that we typically let fate decide on where our journey would take us. I find it very liberating to be faced with a choice of turning left or right and making the selection simply based on which direction seems more adventurous. On this particular day we stumbled on this square, it was the heat of the day but the square was very cool and protected from the sun. We found a comfortable spot in the corner of the square and watched: watched the people come and go, watched the shadows change their shape, and watched the stories that the stones held.

     

La Nou de Bergueda 

I have my instructions on a scrap piece of paper in my top pocket. Catch the subway and stay on until the fourth station. Walk out of the subway, cross the street, turn left and follow the street for five blocks. At this cross road turn right and walk down to the Centre Cívic Joan Oliver Pere Quart building. Be in front of here at 19:00 to meet Imma. I must admit to an amount of nerves when I am meeting a complete stranger that I will be staying with, but that first warm smile is always enough to put most of the nerves at ease. Any residual nerves / reservations were allayed as we drove deeper into the mountains and our conversation delved deeper into our lives. Imma and JP lived in a tiny village nestled in the mountains. I spent an incredible few days here sharing in their love of the area.

 

 

Berga

After an amazing time with Imma and JP it was time to move on. I had organised to stay with another family but they were not able to meet me until the afternoon and JP had to head back into Barcelona in the morning. Public transport is basically non-existent in this region of Spain (particularly between villages) so JP dropped me in a small village where I would meet Esther in front on the library in the evening. I walked slowly through the village, getting lost a number of times in the alleyways, before I found a small tourist information place. In speaking with them they mentioned that there was an interesting bridge to visit some 5km out of the village, right I had my adventure for the day. With my (poorly) photocopied map and my supplies, freshly baked bread and water, I set off. As roads narrowed and the village gave way to fields and the fields gave way to forest, the song in my heart and the excitement in my stomach grew. To be walking somewhere that only a day ago you had no idea existed and even as you turn each corner on the path it reveals new things, is indeed a special feeling. The bridge itself certainly did not disappoint and I sat on the rocks with the stream bubbling next to me absorbing everything.

Farm Stay

When I was communicating with Esther about staying with her, she sent me this message - We live in a valley, there isn't any village, any store, any street, only some farmhouses here and there, deep in the forest, and a narrow road near the stream; the place is beautiful! I think you will like it. I try not to have expectations when I am travelling but I must confess I did let my mind wander in relation to Esther’s home. Well, simply extraordinary, the calm that I felt in Esther’s home, the setting and not to mention the fact that I was adopted into her family are memories that far surpassed any expectation I may have had. Esther lived in a farmhouse, parts of which were built in the 14th century with a lot being added around 1773 – it was humbling to be living in history. To top the experience off it was mushroom season so each day I would walk out in to the forest and collect a bounty of fresh mushrooms to share with the family. Smelling freshly picked, wild mushrooms is like you are inhaling the essence of the forest itself.
 

Madrid 

 Madrid, a big city after the mountains: I am sure I would have had a level of trepidation had it not been for the fact that I was staying with a friend that I had met a few years earlier while travelling. I was very excited to meet up once again with Araceli and catch up on all that had past. Araceli showed me her city, we hung out at cafes, we strolled around the alleyways, we sat in parks and one of the nights we enjoyed the nightlife and walked home with the sun coming up. But there were also times that I would walk alone, finding the city for myself.

 

 
 

 
 

 

Toledo