Plucky Survivors See Europe Day 46: Montepellier to Barcelona

I fully admit that I whiffed on Montpelier.  I’m sure it’s a lovely city, but by the time I got to the hotel I was kinda done so after my little bit of exploring and my fantastic meal, I crashed early.

This morning I got up and did some work – I’m WAY behind so you’ll be hearing that a lot over the next few days – and then dodged some raindrops to start the drive to Barcelona.

Southwest France and Spain are beautiful, and the journey was a peaceful one for the most part.  I have had to adjust to different driving patterns again here, though.  In Spain, if you leave more than five inches between you and the car in front of you, someone will insert their car into that gap.  It doesn’t matter if there’s room, they’re going to take it.  Lesson learned.

I got Barcelona around 3pm and checked into the Axel Hotel, one of a series of accommodations that cater to the LGBTQ+ community.  I stayed in one in Berlin and it was lovely, the staff was friendly, and the guests were quiet and pretty much kept to themselves.

This hotel is located in the epicenter of the gayborhood – picture a gay hotel in West Hollywood or The Village staffed by bitchy queens who are impossibly good looking and know it.  How bitchy, you may ask?  When I got to my room, I realized it wasn’t what I booked so I went back downstairs to ask about it I was told in the most dismissive voice possible, “We don’t have one of those rooms available until tomorrow.  I’ll credit you and then you can move tomorrow if you want.”  Thanks Alberto – might’ve been nice to have been told that when you checked me in.

The hotel is much “scene” than I am, especially the rooftop pool and bar where I went to get a drink and get some work done while others were busy trying to look good.

But Barcelona awaited, so I went for a walk through L’Antiga Esquerra de L’Eixample (aka, The Gayborhood), which has wide pedestrian friendly streets…

Then into an area with narrow streets and lots of character…

And finally to La Rambla, the famed street lined with stores and restaurants.  It’s supposed to be quite touristy but lovely, only it isn’t right now as they have the whole thing torn up to redo it.  I’m sure it’ll be nice when it’s done.

I made a stop at the Barcelona Erotic Museum, an extensive facility that traces the roots of sex and peoples’ obsession with it from ancient times to modern ones.  There were displays on the phallic symbols found in the ruins of Pompeii, ancient Egyptian sex toys, intricate machines designed to pleasure, honorariums to Marilyn Monroe, John and Yoko, and Mae West, and a lot more.  If you’re reading this on Facebook, I can’t post too many of the pictures, but they are all on the Plucky Survivors site if you’re interested.

Earlier in the day I had eaten a very unsatisfying lunch in the car so I was quite peckish.  Directly across the street from the Erotic Museum was Merat de la Boqueria, an extensive market with dozens of stalls with both fresh and prepared foods.  I wandered around wanting it all but finally settled on a chicken quesadilla soft taco and a spicy beef enchilada.

They were very good but not enough, so I went on the hunt for a good tapas restaurant but got distracted by a very joyous Hare Krishna procession.  Random.

The dinner spot I chose was Vigo – very authentic with a long list of small plates that the server helpfully translated for me.  I got crusty bread with tomato and garlic; sausages with peppers; meatballs; and “broken eggs” and iberico ham over fries.  The latter was not to my taste, but everything else was excellent and entirely too much food.

After dinner, I got some work done and then went up to the rooftop bar to have a drink and catch the drag show.  Astra Bomb was a one-woman powerhouse who acted as her own DJ, sang live, danced, did somersaults and death drops, did a full burlesque number, and even a surprisingly good magic trick.

Tomorrow I’m going to get out and explore more of Barcelona!