In my opinion a trip begins already weeks in advance through
planning, packing, scouting places to visit, budgeting, reading tips and of
course daydreaming. My summer’s trip this year was a week-long visit to the
beautiful and versatile Barcelona in Spain. As always, I began my trip early.
This time, however, I had a nice twist to my normal vacation-fantasizing
routine: I read a book set in the city.
This was a very fresh and genuine way to discover the
destination. It helped me form a certain picture of both the history and the
present state of the city giving me a more personal look into the otherwise
tourist-filled BCN.
The introduction for my stay was not the only good that came
out of reading the book before the trip. At the very end of The Shadow of the Wind a map
along with short descriptions of the places from the book is found. While
walking around in the Gothic quartier, shopping on the Ramblas and visiting the
Picasso museum I would squeeze in a location or two from the book. Also, while
touring around the city and checking out the sights, I recognized places
mentioned in the book such as La Sagrada Familia, Montjüic and Tibidabo. This
was a very nice experience and a cool activity! I warmly recommend similar ways
of exploring new places and will definitely try to incorporate it into my own
journeys from here on!
 |
| This map totally gave me thrills; Just try to imagine me walking around smiling like an idiot hugging the book. |
 |
| 8 on the map. The Picasso Museum is on the street nowadays. |
 |
| 2 on the map. No real bookshop here but it was still clearly named for me. |
 |
| 11 on the map. Els 4 Gats is a really fancy restaurant-café -unfortunately I didn't get to dine here because our packing hadn't known to consider the dress code :P |
Seeing the city and the familiar places from the book
altered my picture of the city. I had thought it to be more town like and
hadn’t realized the presence of the beach at all. Being there in July I also
had much trouble feeling the cold that was often present in Daniel’s story :D
This was a unique and interesting experience and I ended up falling deeply in
love with Barcelona.
 |
| The narrow alleys were a perfect match for the ambiance that I got from the book. |
 |
| 9 on the map. The Barcelona Cathedral. |
I had received the recommendation and book from Laura as she
had just recently visited Barcelona and read the book only afterwards (as you
can recall from her earlier post here). The read was a very welcome one. I
loved Carlos Zafón Ruiz´s text and the story seems intricately built and was
therefore so easy to follow. Even if you haven't been to Barcelona and aren't planning on visiting anytime soon, I do recommend reading the book.
-Anna
Posts
0 kommenttia