Barcelona at Night - the Magic Fountain

We've been working Phoenix business hours during the week, which means we are basically home by 6pm here and don't go to bed sometimes until 2am.  So we have missed out a little on some of the nightlife.  Also - it's true that in Spain people don't even start thinking about eating dinner until 9pm.  We are always the early-birds.  Anyway, since it's a weekend we figured we'd head out and see some of the city sights at night time.  One of the "must-sees" we've read about is the Magic Fountain display in Montjuic park.  We'd seen it by day from our hop-on, hop-off bus tour.  It's a lovely spot; that's the Catalonian National Art Museum behind it.

Unassuming fountain by day...

Boy were we surprised when we came back at night.  First of all we were not alone.  No exaggerating -- there were five thousand other people already waiting patiently to watch the Magic Fountain in action.  Even though we arrived more than an hour early all the seats on the steps in front of the museum were packed, so we decided just to stand at the top step.  In summer, the light and music show only runs in the evenings on Thursday to Sunday so maybe that explains why there were so many people there.  We couldn't quite figure it out.  Maybe the fact that we've been to the Grand Eaux Nocturnes at Versailles and have seen the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas so many times has spoiled us for the "magic" of a fountain running to pop music.  Still, the colors were pretty.  And it was free, so definitely worth the price of admission.

...pastel-colored spectacle by night.

Not wanting to fully waste a rare evening out, we took the metro back to the Gothic Quarter and headed to the Placa Reial, a big square plaza with lots of restaurants and clubs.  The one we went into, L'Ocaña, had an interior that was almost entirely lit by candlelight.  We soon realized that the floors, ceilings, bar, and walls were all wood...the place was basically a tinderbox.  This point was made even more clear when a waitress accidentally knocked over a candle while clearing the table next to us and she scrambled in horror to set it right.  Disaster averted!  It didn't stop us from enjoying a couple of drinks and soaking up the atmosphere.

The Placa Reial at night