Another Barcelona tour
On the morning of 6th May I left for a weekend in Zaragoza, another fine city where I saw such birds as gull-billed terns and pallid swifts. I then stayed near Tortosa in the far south of Catalunya for 4 great days with Rob and Marg of Ebrotours. I returned to Barcelona on Friday 13th. Perhaps fitting for Friday the 13th, the train broke down twice along the way, the second time close to the nuclear power station on the coast just south of L'Hospitalet d'Infant.
I don't read many novels, but one of my favourites is "The Shadow of the Wind," which is the English translation of a novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. The author was born in Barcelona, although he now lives part of the year in the USA. The book is about Barcelona in the years 1945-1966, and the action happens in many of the places about the city. Before going on holiday I mused on doing a tour of some of the places mentioned in "The Shadow of the Wind." Indeed, that idea was further encouraged earlier in the holiday when I saw the surnames of 3 of the characters in the book. In Figueres I saw a pizza van with the name Palacios on it and close to the Teatre-Museu Dalí is a shop called Monfort, while just along from my hotel in Barcelona was a hotel that is part of the Barceló group. The famous restaurant, Els Quatre Gats, features in the book and I considered going there on the evening of the 13th, but I was put off by the length of the queue standing outside, waiting to dine there. There are so many great places to eat in Barcelona that I just move on to the next if I can't get in the first one that I try.
By now any readers of this thread might be asking themselves what place has the previous paragraph in a bird forum? Well, I decided to record the birds that I saw or heard on my way round. Thus it was that I set off along Carrer de la Canuda to Rambla de Canaletes, up which I walked to Plaça de Catalunya. There I found bus number 58 that was going to Avinguda del Tibidabo, so off I went. Between leaving the hotel and the bus setting off I had seen 5 species of birds - common swifts, feral pigeons, house sparrows, grey heron (flying over as usual) and spotless starlings - and there was a yellow-legged gull just around the corner. Places from the book that the bus passed on the way were the University, Ronda de Sant Antoni and Carrer de Balmes.
The bus dropped me off at Plaça de John F. Kennedy, from which Avinguda del Tibidabo rises steeply. I walked up the hill past some grand houses in whose gardens I heard blackbirds and serin, pausing outside number 32, a significant address in "The Shadow of the Wind." According to a plaque on the gate post and the name picked out on the building, it now houses the offices of companies of consultants; financial, I suppose.
From here I deviated from "The Shadow of the Wind" trail. Both pandachris and Stephen C of BirdForum have recommended visiting Tibidabo, so I continued walking up the hill towards there, although it was already very hot and I took a bus for the last section to Plaça del Doctor Andreu. I walked along a rough track that gradually gained height past a building where people were looking after a vocal throng of abandoned dogs, and then the track went along an open hillside overlooking Avinguda del Tibidabo and the rest of the city, a fine sight, despite the heat. I know that Chris and Stephen recommended more distant parts of Tibidabo, but I decided just to visit the area of pine trees immediately above where I was now. I cut diagonally across the hillside to another track just below the pine wood. This higher track was very popular with dog walkers, joggers and mountain bikers. At a big bend up on the left I turned back on myself and took a narrower track up into the wood, watching out for mountain bikers on the way. Birds seen on Tibidabo before I entered the pines were woodpigeons, monk parakeet, common and alpine swifts, bee-eater, magpies and blackbird, and I also heard robins and a goldfinch and saw a hummingbird hawk moth.
The pine wood was a great place for western bonelli's warblers. I first heard one singing and then saw it, and later saw two that appeared to be in a territorial boundary dispute, fluttering about near each other and singing but not crossing what to me was an invisible line. It was cooler under the dense canopy of the pine trees, so I sat by the edge of a thickly wooded gully and listened out for birds. I saw great, coal and long-tailed tits, and also heard one each of cuckoo, swallow and golden oriole. I had a good view of two squirrels, presumably the local colour variant of the red squirrel, with dark greyish coat and a white patch on the chest. Most frustrating birdwise were some high pitched twittering calls that I guessed were probably firecrests, but I am not particularly familiar with the species, having seen it just a few times, and was certainly unable to see whatever was calling in the dense tree tops.
Giving up on the invisible twitterers, I headed back down a gap in the wooded hillside. There was a kestrel flying up above by an astronomy observatory, from which direction the cuckoo was still calling. Butterflies seen included swallowtail, speckled wood, large white and one of Spain's many species of fritillary. The most numerous bird species on the way down to Plaça del Doctor Andreu was the blackcap, hearing lots singing but seeing just one. I followed an almost overgrown little path next to the Funicular and was pleased to come face to face with a crested tit, my only one this holiday. I heard a nightingale singing in a little park just below the road at Plaça del Doctor Andreu, after which I walked right down Avinguda del Tibidabo, by which I saw 2 goldfinches, to Plaça JFK, and eventually caught a bus back to Plaça de Catalunya from off to the right. New species for the day seen on the bus ride down were jackdaw and common starling.
Carrer de Santa Anna also features in "The Shadow of the Wind," so I decided to walk along there, take a little detour to the Romanesque church, Església de Santa Anna, and then have lunch in Restaurant Santa Anna. I had eaten there on my first 2 visits to Barcelona back in 2001, but not since, spoilt for choice in the city, 'tis true. Satisfied with my lunch, I headed off to the Cathedral and then down a little alley on the right to Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, which also features in the book. There were groups of people who had presumably come to the little square for the same reason as me, as it is not the place to stumble on accidentally. I then crossed La Rambla to have a look in the fine Mercat de la Boqueria, where the market stalls and cafes were all besieged by people, and then went to L'Arc del Teatre, where in is the only really imaginary place in the book. From there I doubled back on myself a bit, crossed Plaça Reial and found the narrow opening that led to Carrer dels Tres Llits and Carrer de la Lleona. The latter is the home of a website by Terry Jones (not the Python), who described what it was like to live in that 2 metre wide street. Jones' website points out that these streets have particularly colourful names, translating into English as "Three Beds" and "Lioness" respectively!
Heading off back to my hotel I passed the northern end of Carrer de Santa Anna, where two musicians were playing didgeridoo and something like a kettle drum; well, it looked like a larger steel version of the Portuguese cataplana. I paused to listen to them but a wagon turned up, a pneumatic drill was unloaded, and when the musicians started another tune the workmen began drilling, so that was that.
In the evening I headed off down to Port Vell. Numbers of yellow-legged gulls there exceeded 100, and I also saw 2 grey herons, monk parakeets, 2 alpine swifts and one last new bird for the day, a little egret. Dark clouds were gathering over the sea as I walked to Barceloneta and then there were rumbles of thunder. I had a meal in my favourite bar, El Vaso de Oro. The food and own-brewed beer were on form, as always, as good a reason as any to put off going back out in the rain. When I eventually set off back to the hotel the rain wasn't falling quite so heavily, but the streets around Església de Santa Maria del Mar and El Xampanyet were a bit damp!
That day I saw or heard 29 species of birds, not bad for a literary tour.