Sunday January 18, 2026 Barcelona Spain

It’s been just a little over 24 hours since we left for the airport yesterday.  Our two flights were uneventful which is a word I love to hear when discussing flights,  

It’s raining here in Barcelona and it’s coming down consistently with temperatures around 55 degrees.  

We arrived at the Barcelona airport and were in a tremendous line to clear immigration. I don’t recall a line 3 years ago.  It took close to an hour in line before finally heading to baggage.  That was the easy part.   It was on the carousel waiting for us.  

I hired a car service and that took some effort and using WhatsApp to bring him back to get us.  They wait an hour and we were just at that mark.  

The good news was checking into our hotel at about 10 am and the hotel staff getting us into our room immediately rather than storing our bags and having to find someplace to go until a room was ready.  

I had a ticket with timed entrance at Park Guell at 1 pm.  Given our lack of sleep, we both crashed and got about an hour’s sleep.

The hotel called me a taxi and I went to Park Guell to see for myself what Gaudi designed in this park.  Wayne wasn’t interested and stayed at the hotel so I went alone.   Lots of walking and lots of levels with steps galore!  It’s approximately 42 acres and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The rain did NOT hold off so I wandered in the rain but it was worth it after seeing so many pictures of his work. 

If the weather had been better I would have stayed longer but I got to see all of his mosaic benches and walls and the two houses that look like gingerbread houses. 

The park sits up very high in the hills of Barcelona so it looks down in the city skyline.

His serpentine mosaic benches

The park overlooks Barcelona 

Looks like a gingerbread house to me

All of this tunnel that looks like trees, is actually rock

Some of Gaudi’s buildings in Park Guell

More tree like rock sculpture tunnels 

I found a taxi back to the hotel where Wayne was waiting for me in the lobby.  Our hotel is on the famous pedestrian walkway, Las Rambla. He had taken a short walk down Las Rambla, while I was away.  If you go to Barcelona, you take a walk on Las Rambla.   Three years ago when we were here the weather was much nicer and we ate outside.  Today with cool weather and rain we ate inside.   When in Barcelona, one eats paella!  Lots of rice made with saffron and some seafood. Today it was shrimp, mussels and squid.  The Sangria wasn’t too bad either.

Paella and Sangria, the right way to start a trip to Spain.

It’s early but we’re back in our room after our early dinner trying to stay awake so that ww don’t fall asleep too soon and awake at 2 am.  

Tomorrow we have breakfast at the hotel and eventually take a taxi to the ship.  We have entry to our stateroom at 11 am and sail out of port at 6 pm.  Onward!