“On a bus, your eyes, ears, and pores are absorbing in the variety, the wonder, and the magic of the city. Its a wonderful way to get to know the city.” – George Takai (a.k.a. Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise)

We have made a point of trying to use a wide variety of the transportation available in order to become more familiar with Barcelona while, at the same time, arriving safely at our various destinations.  We have ridden the commuter train (Rodalies), the local metro, the city bus, taxis, and finally, yesterday, the trans-city bus (TMB) from Barcelona to Castelldefels.  There remains only the tram (streetcar), the city tour bus, the cable cars, rental bicycles and the ferry for us to try.  Allita asks about the rental bicycles every time we are hoofing it through the city.  I keep putting that experience off as we are not yet prepared for navigating these streets.  I have observed the flow of traffic and decided that we need more safety equipment than just a simple helmet before we become part of that chaos.  

Yesterday’s trans-city bus ride was completely serendipitous.  We had spent yet another long day of house-hunting.  We have been assiduous in our efforts to locate a suitable dwelling.  Spending hours each night on the computer researching and reviewing potentials.  Sending emails and text messages; using Google translate as needed to assist with effective communication. Traversing the city from one meeting to another.  Negotiating proposals and discussing conditions.  Eventually, we settled on an apartment that satisfies most of our requirements and met with a representative at the rental agency.  After an hour of activity, including a deposit of one month rent to simply apply for the apartment (!), we finally left their office – exhausted but hopeful.  We had not taken three steps away from the building door when Mom pointed out a TMB bus with the header “95 – Castelldefels, Gava, Plages”.  

Plages is the Catalan word for beaches.  An interesting side note at this juncture is that Catalan is the PRIMARY language for this region.  Not Spanish.  So on nearly every sign, label and instruction, including local maps and tourist info, the first words you read are Catalan.  The language is a combination of French and Spanish. So for me, it is easier to understand than Spanish.  However, for Mom and Allita, it is trickier because it is so different from anything we have become accustomed to seeing in Tucson or Cabo San Lucas, where we have received most of our foreign language exposure in recent years.  

Back to the bus.  It was an easy decision to climb aboard the empty bus, after a quick verbal confirmation from the driver that we were in-fact boarding an active bus destined for our hotel city.  We settled into the very back seats suspecting it would be an unusually long ride.  What we didn’t fully recognize until our trip was well underway was what we were going to finally be able to see: the arena, the towers, the art museum, the gothic center of town, the collesium, amazing architecture and statues, the massive park-and-ride lots on the outskirts of Barcelona, miles of farmland with neatly manicured fields, the tiny town of Gava and its crowded beaches, camp grounds, massive shopping malls, luxurious private homes, the north end of Castelldefels including the Olympic park and channel, and a variety of other interesting and new sights.  

The ride home was indeed longer than our normal ride, but the bus deposited us almost directly at our hotel door and we enjoyed some lovely time together discovering new places without having to move from our seats.  George is entirely correct – it was quite pleasant.