Catalan protests

We planned a trip to a suburb of Barcelona to go to a flea market in Sabadell. While walking to the bus stop, we noticed that the police had blocked off the main road, and there was a large group a couple blocks to the south making lots of noise (all wearing yellow shirts). As we walked, we saw groups of people with Catalan flags, yellow shirts, or yellow ribbons all heading that way. The bus never came because the road was blocked, so we had to walk to the metro station several blocks away.

When we got to the plaza above the station, there were vendors taking donations to free Catalan political prisoners, and hundreds of people were heading towards the large group at the edge of town. Apparently there was a *huge* political protest in support of some Catalans who have been arrested as part of the movement to split Catalonia from Spain. The estimates were that there were 300,000 to 500,000 in attendance. It would have been interesting to see it, but it felt a bit like Havana in Godfather II (although everyone we saw was peaceful).

We did give a small donation to the cause. This is just a small number of the people we saw heading to the other plaza.

When we arrived in Sabadell, the station was empty as were the streets.

I’ll toss in what is now kind of a funny story. We bought 5-day passes for the Barcelona metro, and used them to board the train to the flea market in Sabadell. When we arrived in Sabadell, we had to validate our tickets to exit the station, but they were rejected. There were vending machines available to add money to existing fares, but they wouldn’t accept our tickets either. Apparently our passes only worked within the zone containing downtown Barcelona. It seemed that our only option was going to be to pay 50€ each to buy a new ticket!  Luckily the guy manning the exit felt sorry for us and let us through anyway.

Flea Market in Sabadell

After a bit of a walk form the station, we arrived at the flea market in Sabadell: Pixie Market. In addition to the second-hand market, it was supposed to include music, dancing, workshops, hip-hop, DJs, food trucks, a circus, and some other surprises. We saw everything except the surprises. The market itself was a bit underwhelming considering the ordeal getting there.

When we first arrived, we walked into a plaza with about a hundred people in the cowboy boots and hats line dancing to country music. It was surreal… (I have a video but I’m having trouble uploading it from here; in fact, I didn’t take any other photos of the flea market).

After strolling through the booths at the flea market, we were both getting hot, hungry, and thirsty. The only real option for lunch at the food trucks was grilled chicken. Although grilled chicken and beer didn’t sound like a terrible option, we wanted to get out of the sun. In the way back to the train station we found a nice little restaurant serving authentic Catalan dishes: Lujo Iberico.

I had a really good dish of salted cod with white beans and peppers, and Tracey had an omelette (with potatoes I think). It was also interesting watching the locals get and eat their food. They would get plate after plate–the tapas, but this place served large portions–until I didn’t think they could eat any more, then their main dishes would arrive. I had heard that they eat their main meals at lunch, but this was a whole lot of food.

One thing I’ve seen at lots of the restaurants in the area are the hams hanging everywhere. It’s pretty tasty too.

Back to Barcelona

After the trip to the flea market in Sabadell, we took the train back into Barcelona. This time we bought tickets (2,50€ each) for the ride back into town. Our stop took us near the Arc de Triomf which was quite impressive.

By this point it was getting close to our normal dinner time, so we stopped for some tapas and sangria at a nearby restaurant: Elsa Y Fred. Although we only got a bite to eat, it was good enough that we would go back if in the area over lunch time (they are also supposed to have a good weekend brunch).

All in all, with the protesters, the train ticket mix-up, the flea market in Sabadell, and a couple really nice meals, it was a pretty full day.