Barcelona, Spain: Dessert, Sleep, Music

Since we hit the sight-seeing quite hard the past two days, Anna, Kassie, and I elected to catch up on some much-needed sleep this morning, which worked out well, because nothing in Spain is open before noon on Sunday.  When we finally woke up, we headed out for some breakfast, and then dessert (gelato, of course).

Though the gelato was amazing, we decided we could stand more dessert, so we went to the local churro shop with our couch-surfing host, Max, to sample some of the local treats.  We then finished off our tour of desserts with another round of gelato (I didn't include a picture because I thought it would be excessive).  Up for four hours, dessert three times...I love Spain!

After the desserts, it started to rain, and everything closed, so we took a Sunday afternoon nap.  When we awoke, we headed to Santa Maria del Mar, one of Barcelona's beautiful churches.  Built from 1323-1389 at the height of Spain's maritime dominance (hence the name 'Maria of the Sea'), this medieval church is beautiful in its unity and simplicity: hardly anything has been added since it was finished, and the walls and alcoves remain nearly unadorned.

After the church, we met Max at a local jam bar, Jazzsi.  Max--a cartoonist and video game designer by trade--also happens to be an amazing alto saxophone player, which we were fortunate to witness firsthand tonight.  This bar had bunches of local musicians, some of whom were actually members of famous bands that happen to be from Barcelona, and everyone was just out to make some good music and have a good time.  If you felt like playing, you just walked on up, picked up your instrument, and jumped in, and the resulting compilations were fantastic!

After Jazzsi, Max, who you can see above, took us to another jam session, which was held in a dark room in the back of a bar.  Full of talented musicians (many of whom had come over from Jazzsi), this bar had more of a rock-funk feel to it, but the quality of the music was still stellar.  This side of Barcelona--the non-touristy, musical side--is probably my favorite side thus far!