Summer in Spain - Barcelona.

Smile, you are in Spain - said the promos. And smile we did...and much more. It was a week of glorious sunshine, action packed cities, beautiful beaches, long hours on the road and the blissful joy of spending time with friends who matter the most. We covered a lot of cities in the 9 days that we spent in Spain. This blog is about that wonderful city... the most non- Spanish of all Spanish cities... Barcelona We drove into Barcelona from Bilbao. For those who are aware of Spain’s geography, this would raise an eyebrow or two. Bilbao is located in the North coast on the Bay of Biscay, while Barca is on the opposite end on the Mediterranean. We had a car, the roads were good and in a small matter of 6 hours we reached the outskirts of Barcelona. As with every other city we had a slight struggle in finding the right entry points into the city and ended up on a different route compared to what we had in our Viamichelin.com printouts. But as luck would have it, the wrong route took us right to the doorsteps of the hostel we had booked.

Soon, it was time to hit the city voted many a time as the Best city in the World. We decided to first check out one of the famed beaches of Barca – The Barceloneta. Because this seemed to be one of the most popular and also our hostel for the next 2 days was located right on the Barceloneta. The promenade leading to the beach was lined with restaurants and shops and there was no dearth of tourists and locals along the stretch. The beach in itself was a slight disappointment; it looked too small, too crowded and dirty. As Sid said, it looked like Mumbai’s Juhu beach. Maybe we had come at the wrong time, it was late evening and the place represented the leftovers of a long sunny day. We ended day one with a typical Spanish seafood meal. Paella was the order of the day and the ones among us who really love seafood had an enjoyable experience.

Day 2 in Barcelona was tourism day. It was the day to check out all the to tourist hot spots. We started our day at Las Ramblas, considered the most famous street in Barcelona. The Ramblas is a wide tree lined avenue for the pedestrians and which is dotted with shops and street performers. Also you have lots of restaurants, markets and hostels on either side. After spending some time walking up and down the Ramblas we decided to hop onto one of the hop on- hop off buses and check out the city. While reading about Barca, we had come across quite a lot about Gaudi, a famed architect whose name it seemed was linked to all the important places to visit in Barca. The most famous of his works is the Sagrada Familia, a church that is 100 years and more in the making and still unfinished. This was one of Gaudi’s grandest projects which hit a roadblock after his death in the 20s and since then the construction has been going on at a snails pace. The facade is an imposing structure with many large towers stretching into the sky and also a few giant cranes working around them. It was a bizarre sight. One has heard of pre historic sites, modern high rises and various other pieces of architecture as tourist spots. First time I saw an under construction site being photographed round the clock. We decided against going inside the Sagrada familia, not just because one of us thought that the insides would be full of cement and bricks. Next stop was another of Gaudi s creations. The Parc Guell. The Parc is located atop a hill and it was originally part of a plan to build a self containing city on the city s outskirts. But the plan flopped and Gaudi converted it to the Parc and filled it with his typical architectural elements. The terrace atop the central building at the Parc gives a good view of the city and the blue sea at a distance.

After the Parc Guell we traveled towards the Nou camp - the home of FC Barcelona. Since we had already visited the Santiago Bernabeu, we skipped the Nou camp. We reached the Montjuic area, in which is located the various venues of the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. This also is located on a hill called Mt.Montjuic. We passed by the Olympic stadium, the Palau Nacional and coming down the hill touched the Christopher Columbus monument. We took a full trip on the bus and got back to the Placa Cataluña. After a few games of Dumb Charades in the square and some play acting from Hindi movies and more walking around Ramblas it was time for dinner and head back to the hostel but not yet time to call it a day. We played more dumb charades by the beach and followed it by walks around the Barceloneta till 4 am.

Next day we split up. The ones who could swim headed out to the sea, while people like me who can’t wade in the water went out to check more of the city. Two of us headed out towards Mount Montjuic. It seemed not too far away on the map and we didn’t mind a short walk. But what we didn’t know was that the sun will beat down with such ferocity and that the hill was not that small after all. After a back breaking climb, huffing and puffing we reached the Military Museum. From there to the top of the hill we took the cable car. The view from atop the Mount was brilliant. The vast city stretched out in front of us. A maze of buildings on one side and the bluest of blue Mediterranean on the other side. We walked further down and reached the Olympic complex. Entry was free and we could go in and catch a glimpse of the setting for the 92 games. I searched out and managed to see the Cauldron into which the Archer Antonio Rebollo most famously fired an arrow to light the Olympic flame. There is also a museum, the media centre, the aquatic complex and many other buildings nearby. We descended on the other side of the hill into the Palau Nacional. We had walked for almost 3 hours and needless to say we were tired.

In the afternoon, having our Spanish friend Pablo as our guide, we headed out of city to the outskirts to a beautiful, clean and vast beach called Gava. It was a picture perfect beach, what I had come to expect basis the photos and videos you see on TV and net about Mediterranean beaches. Blue water, whitish sands, clean and large, colorful umbrellas and people enjoying the sun and sand. The setting was too inviting to be missed out and I kept aside my apprehensions and took a plunge in the Sea. After an hour or so of frolicking in the sea, we relaxed in the beach for a while and then returned to Barcelona. We rounded off the visit to the city with another Spanish dinner. It was 3 well spent days.

Barca has everything... beaches, parks, pubs, tourist spots, vibrant night life, an electric atmosphere, shopping centers, malls, landmarks and what not. No wonder it is called one of the best cities in the world.

Getting back to Tennis.

Dedicated to Novak Djokovic and Radek Stepanek... for bringing Tennis back to me.

I used to be an avid Tennis fan. One of my earliest recollections of sports on TV , apart from the 1987 cricket world cup, is watching Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg battle it out in three back to back finals in Wimbledon in the late eighties. Throughout the 90s i had followed every single Grand slam event with religious passion and discussions in school during lunch recess used to be dedicated to debates ranging from Agassi vs Sampras and Steffi vs Seles.

But over the last many years , I thought that Tennis has started to get boring. I felt that it did not have the intensity and passion , it could not keep me glued on for its entire duration of play. I found it one dimensional. I may not be justified but then i blame what many call the greatest tennis player ever for taking my interest away from the game. Roger Federer the fedex has won 11 grand slam titles in the last 5 years. Reached the last 9 grand slam finals , been world number one since 2004 and by the time he retires he would have every record in the game. His game is a treat to watch no doubt, but then i dont want to watch one way traffic.

In the nineties Pete Sampras also dominated the game like how Federer is doing now. He won Wimbledon 7 times in 8 years and ended with 14 Slams. But the key difference between the Sampras era and the Federer domination has been the players on the other side of the net. Sample the rivals that Sampras had.... Agassi, Becker, Courier, Rafter, Ivanisevic, Chang and dangerous floaters like Cedric Pioline , Todd Martin etc. . And the rivals that Federer has .. Nadal , Roddick , Hewitt, Davydenko, Blake ,Safin.... ! Doesnt really measure up to the previous list does it ?

Most of Sampras's victories in the finals also have been very one sided. But the quality of the other players of that era was such that it dished out so many wonderful Tennis matches in the early and latter stages of a tournament. Rafter and Agassi played three back to back wimbledon Semi Finals. Agassi and Becker had a great rivalry going. The Sampras - Courier Quarter final in 95 Australian Open was the stuff of legends. The Ivanisevic - Rafter 2001 final is the greatest tennis match i have watched. An unknown Petr Korda defeated Sampras in the US open and also won a Grand slam. Compare that to the current state of affairs, Safin always misfires , Hewitt runs and runs but does not go the distance , Roddick i fear will end up a one slam wonder. Nadal the great hope is the King of clay but he has not really challenged Federer anywhere else , maybe except for this years Wimbledon final.

Where is the fun, where is the unpredictability , where is the joy of watching a 5 set no holds barred humdinger of a game ??

And then , I watched this match on TV today. Radek Stepanek ( who ?) vs Novak Djokovic , seeded 3rd ( seed 3 but no grand slam finals yet , leave alone a slam) . A second round match at the US open. An upcoming star of the game against a journey man pro who is doomed to always play the supporting role and make an early exit in the scheme of things. And what a match it turned out to be. A 5 setter with all the twists, turns , drama and intensity that makes the sport such a crowd puller. The beauty of the game is that it doesnt have a fixed schedule of play at the end of which whoever leads or has scored more wins. The match is over only after the last act is enacted, only after the last point is won and till someone wins it , the game is always open. And this was one such match , where none of the players belived they could lose and did not yield an inch. Every set went the distance, every point was played as if their life depended on it. There were thrilling rallies galore, breathtaking passing shots and overhead winners, sweet volleys and rugged baseline plays. Aces, winners, tense tie breaks and crucial errors. There was passion, there was pride , on view were two fighters giving all that they had.

As the 5th set tie break started, the game was almost 4 and a half hours old and the score was 7-6 6-7 7-5 5-7. Nothing to choose between. Both the players were cramping up but none of them threw the towel down. This is one of those matches where you dont have a loser. At the end of the match when the tie breaker was decided , and as the players embraced , one could feel the emotions they were going through and the respect each one has gained in the others view and in the larger audience's mind.

This was Tennis i grew up watching . Maybe i should get back to following the game. It still serves up such magical matches.