I arrived in Barcelona to a cool, breezy, rainy evening. The meeting – Impact of Environmental Changes on Infectious Diseases – begins tonight in Sitges. I will give a presentation about the manifold habitat effects on the prevalence and diversity of avian malaria.

But in the meantime, I get to explore Barcelona and Sitges, both super cool cities. It was rather peculiar for me to be in a big metropolitan city after Vilnius. First of all, I like that Lithuania now uses Euros. I didn’t have to change any money, and I brought a lot of Lithuanian Euro coins with me, to expose the Spanish to the coins of the newest Eurozone member. But on the other hand, it makes it very apparent how expensive things are in Western Europe compared to Lithuania. I had a connection in Brussels, and a bowl of tomato soup with some pommes frites cost 12 Euros. I have never had any meal that was that expensive in Vilnius. So now the disparity between the countries is much more obvious.

Barcelona is full of tourists, which is something that Vilnius and Stockholm lack, especially in mid-March. La Rambla is overrun by people from all over the world, and I didn’t bother to wait in the extremely long line to enter La Segrada Familia cathedral. The Picasso museum was full at opening hour. But the Museum of Contemporary Art was not: perhaps because there are not many paintings, but rather conceptual works based on the written word. It was interesting but very cerebral.  The architecture of the city is stunning, and in my mind, with the sea and city, it is one of the more beautiful cities I have visited.

There are lots of fruits and vegetables in Barcelona and I had my favorite kiwi juice at the market La Boqueria. Continuing with my vegan restaurant reviews: I had lunch at Veggie Garden, a small place run by some Nepalese near the modern art museum. All very tasty.

Sitges is a very easy 40 minutes by train from Barcelona. This is a seaside resort, full of restaurants and with famous beaches. Again, there were lots of tourists on the streets, and this is low season. Unfortunately it is too cold to lie on the beach. There are a lot of surfers out and it reminds me of a Mediterranean Santa Cruz.  My whirlwind sabbatical continues here; science with international flair.