Awake at 4 am

It is 1 hour since I woke up at 3 am and rather than lie abed wide awake I decided to write about Tuesday - our first day in Barcelona. It was a fabulous day! After arriving at about 8 AM at the airport, we took a quick nap at the Hotel Murmuri and then set out on a city tour on the great open-top bus. We got a good general overview of the city, from the seaport to the cosmopolitan downtown area, and from the modernistic architecture of the city to the medieval Gothic Quarter. The highlights included the Catedral de Barcelona, a Catalan cathedral begun in 1298, but completed in the 14th and 15th centuries, and the Barri Gotic or the Gothic Quarter, home of the remnants of the ancient Jewish Quarter, El Call.








After many turns and twists and missed steps, we finally stumbled upon the remnant of the ancient synagogue.









The synagogue is from medieval times and is now a museum - tiny, cramped, and below ground. You can see a few stones and part of the eastern wall of the synagogue, but there is little else left. Any artifacts, like the Torah scroll above, have been donated. This scroll was found in a flea market in Fez. Yet, the feeling of having found this ancient link to our past was overwhelming. We had a short lecture from the docent, who was fluent in English and Hebrew. We then found an ancient Hebrew inscription on a stone wall a few feet from the synagogue - the only other lasting remnant of the Jews who were either killed, forced to convert, or driven out of Spain in 1492. It was moving, sad, and somehow exhilarating to make this connection.









We walked miles and miles back to the hotel taking in the architecture and the people. I was so tired when we got back, I considered skipping dinner and going to sleep, bit hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was now 8 PM. We had a fabulous dinner right in the hotel, spending time talking to the waiter, who had attended two years of high school in Stowe, Vermont (a story for another day) and the Host, who was willing to adapt any meal to meet our dietary needs. Finished an entire bottle of great red wine and crashed. A truly great first day!