Day 2 - Saturday April 15, 2023 - Barcelona

 

Our first full day in Barcelona!  

Wayne slept in.  And, when I say slept in, I mean 7:00 am!  I woke up at about 4 am but rolled out at 5 am.   I had about 6 hours and that seemed like enough.  

It was cool (55 F) but sunny when we left the ship this morning.  We had an 8:30 am tour called Iconic Barcelona.  Our tour guide, Maria, was wonderful.  I loved her Catalanian accent.  The natives of Barcelona are Catalans, a distinct type of Spaniard.  

We went by bus through several of the Barcelona neighborhoods, passing the statute of Christopher Columbus and saw their Arc de Triomf, built in 1888 for the World Exposition hosted here and the Antonio Gaudi house, Casa Batllo'.  We also drove past their beach area.  It's a very dry climate here.  She told us Barcelona gets very little rain.  

  Arc de Triomf                      Gaudi's Casa Batllo'        Very interesting street ligh

Once again, with our guide, we visited the outside (only) of La Sagrada Familia stopping to take pictures of the outside from the various frontages.  

I was fascinated by the paving.  I had to take a picture.

She gave us an hour to shop and look around on our own.  We stuck right with her.  The circuitous route she took us on from the bus to the cathedral could not have been backtracked by ourselves.  For an older woman, she put many to shame.  She kept saying she would walk slow.  Wayne, however, begs to disagree.  He's not sure he's going to see his ankles for the next month.

                   Our tour guide Maria         I found it interesting the way the age of the buildings were marked

I love the ironwork on all the balconies

Look at all the motorcycles parked on the corners of most streets.

After the cathedral stop she had the bus driver take us through the Gothic quarter.  I love the ironwork on the balconies of many of the buildings.  

Our last stop was on Columbus Boulevard.  We left her there and walked alone to Las Rambles, a pedestrian, tree-lined street full of outdoor restaurants, flower stands and lots and lots of people.  We had paella for lunch.  A specialty of the area.  It was very good.  Not as much saffron as ours in the US but delicious, still.  It's a rice and seafood dish.  This one had muscles, clams, langostinos and calamari.  Yum!  I had a beer as well.  It was funny to me.  It appears you don't ask for the brand or the name.  You just say you want a beer.  You get what they bring you.  I left Wayne at the table, nursing his beer and his ankles and walked up Las Rambles looking for the flower markets.   

The flower stalls on Las Rambles

Some of the interesting buildings on Law Rambles

I have a weird sense of humor.  Barcelona with a McDonalds and KFC on opposite corners!

I had to use the bathroom at the restaurant.  Beer in, beer out!  Look at the old 'water closet' with the tank above the toilet and the modern handicapped railings!  As for the floor, well, i can find a quilt pattern in anything.  Wouldn't this make a great quilt pattern?

On our way back to the ship we spotted these two people dressed and asking for money.  They're not pretending to be stattues that don't move.  I guess you would say they were more like mimes.  Whatever, they are, they are interesting.

From there, we walked back to the ship.  A total of 4.5 miles (approximately).   All in all, a great day in Barcelona. 

"Onades" (Waves) sculpture by Andreau Alfaro

Tonight we'll eat at The Restaurant and hopefully still be awake at 8 pm to play group Trivia in the Explorer lounge.   We pull out of port here tonight at 5 pm and head for Montpelier (Sete') tomorrow.  There's more seafood - muscles - in my future tomorrow!

Dinner at The Restaurant tonight was a delicious small appetizer of Salmon cakes and the entree was Beef Wellington. Dessert was walnut maple bread pudding.