10/11/2015: La Playa

Very lazy day. Late breakfast at Little Ramblas. Walked to the beach.  Tried to cab it but streets were clogged. It is Sunday and everyone is out on the street with the touristas. Made it to the beach without difficulty.  It s a beautiful beach.  There are chairs and umbrellas for rent.  We were unsure as photos seem to indicate everyone on a towel in full sun. The beach was not real busy. Apparently, in the summer, every inch is taken.  And it is a huge beach. Very nice and wide promenade with public facilities. Many restaurants and shops a large shopping mall behind one area. Another further from where we were. We sat for an hour and decided to come back tomorrow. We will be better prepared. Took a rickshaw back to the Ramblas. Young man from England was our driver.

Went back to Little Ramblas. We were very happy to to find it was quiet and relatively uncrowded (the main streets were packed).  We were eating pizza and I commented on the graffiti we have encountered. I said it must indicate something happening in the underbelly of the city. About 10 minutes later a fight broke out on one of the plaza streets. It was serious. It appeared to be either a gang thing or racial (Latino/Arabic) or religious. It calmed down once and then reflared. At that point, all the restaurant servers (many restaurants on the plaza), including a woman, apparently had enough. They came out, in force. The fight stopped quickly. We speculated that it would carry over to tonight or some other day day.

We had plenty of pizza left. We decided to eat in tonight. There is much going on politically. Catalonia recently had local elections. It was basically a referendum on independence from Spain. The separatists won handily and have an outright majority in the Catalonian government. Spain, historically, was not a true country. They remain a group of independent providences (or some other term).  Franco tried to solidify nationality forcibly but did not succeed. Now the Catalonians want to be independent of Spain. The Basques do as well. So there seems to be dome political tension in the air. It may be escalating other tensions. With a public holiday tomorrow, we are going to lay low on the beach. Plus, we are getting tired!