Back On That Bus

Barcelona

Castell dels Tres Dragons in Parc de la Ciutadella - a view from our hotel room

Sadly, Barcelona was “out” of our revised float plan.  However, GS had pre-booked flights home via this wonderful Spanish city (rather than Madrid), so it seemed a shame to miss seeing it.  Somehow, after our boat storage/cleaning efforts and before the long haul home, we managed to finish up with a treat  - a few days “relaxing” in downtown Barcelona.  

Tempting vistas everywhere

And interesting tiling options too!

Given previous transport difficulties (getting to Malta springs to mind), moving from the Algarve to Spain was a dream.  From Barcelona’s International Terminals and every 15 minutes, Aerobuses move passengers and piles of luggage quickly into the city.  This is just one of many easy transport options - impressive!  It took us 30 mins to Plaza Catalunya, city hub central and only a short stroll to most tourist sights.  From here we walked to our hotel stopping only a few times to orient ourselves in the narrow streets of Barri Gotic.  Now, if anything sends tingles up your travel bug, it’s walking late at night on a damp evening through the old quarter of Barcelona.  We couldn’t wait to get out and explore. 
 

Narrow streets of the old town

The big red tour bus, one of our favourite (and no walking) reconnaissance options, went right by our hotel, so it was easy to spend our first day getting some measure of the city.  This little jaunt took us over 5½ hours (on the two routes) around the city, up into the hills and along tempting beaches and of course, threw up many options for further investigation.  Needless to say, Barcelona is Gaudi country and GS who is rather a fan, had already booked a (skip-the-line) tour taking in visits to his architectural wonders.  A shrine we decided not to visit was the Barcelona Football Club.  Visitors flock here apparently – it’s one of Barcelona’s top attractions, regularly drawing record crowds.  We left it to the cashed-up devoted.  Further on and more in our line of sport (yes, yes, it’s a moot point), we caught sight of Christopher Columbus standing sentinel over a vast port complex, including cruise ship docks and huge modern marina, reminding us of an experience we had had to bypass.  Mind you, in hindsight, it might really have taken some effort to leave…

Port Vell with a view back to the Columbus Column & the start of La Rambla

We finished the day with a stroll down La Rambla with a gazillion others (there were 4 large cruise ships in) even in late September then made our way back to the hotel through the labyrinthine old quarter, picking up a pizza on the way.  Night-life and tapas is very tempting, but we had smashed the “overdoing it” barrier and needed rest and a glass of very pleasant & rather quaffable Spanish wine.

Sadly, I couldn't fit these chairs in my suitcase....