A Busy and Beautiful City

September 17, 2023

And We Slept In!

We were both wide awake at 3 AM. I finished my novel and Keith was reading on his phone. We usually try not to do that, but when I say wide awake I really mean WIDE awake. Then we tried to sleep again after a half hour or so and had great success. When I woke up again and looked at the time it was 10:45 AM. I was sure there was something wrong with my electronics, so nudged the CN. He checked his and they said the same. He was as astonished as I was. We don’t think we have slept in that late in decades. I blame jet lag of course, the room darkening blinds and the fact that the room may be teeny tiny, but it is quiet. Either way we felt great. We rushed down for coffee, grateful we weren’t staring down an 11 AM check out time.

Yesterday was such a wonderful, full day it felt like two. We walked and explored and knocked a few things off the must see list. Here are a few pictures.

The architecture is gorgeous. This building has the privilege of storing our bike boxes. We took the picture so we will be able to find them again.

People performing everywhere. These girls were having so much fun.

At home we have the Moss Street Paint In and the street is a sea of humanity once a year. Las Rambla was just like the paint in yesterday, and evidently everyday. Amazing people watching.

A Marilyn Monroe impersonation. I don’t think Marilyn had a tattoo though.

The market (Mercator de la Boqueria) was absolutely amazing.

We drank a number of cappuccinos and loosely planned our day in the small breakfast room at the hotel. There actually is no breakfast, but the coffee is good and the young woman in reception is incredibly fun and helpful. Perfect English too, because she is from the UK. So with breakfast on our minds we headed out, planning our first stop after to be a hop on hop off bus. We found a wonderful place for breakfast, eating outside in the shade.

Here is mine. It was so good. There were spices, a poached egg and Greek yogurt in there. Not a combination I have seen before and utterly delicious.

We walked through the Arc de Triomf and into the train station immediately adjacent to check the schedule to Blanes. Incidentally we have been completely mispronouncing it. No wonder when I said Blanes, rhyming with planes, people looked confused. It rhymes with ‘plan us’. So now we know. We also got a quick ticket machine tutorial, so will be ready to roll on Tuesday.

Then it was a walk through Parc de la Ciutadella. It was getting very hot and humid. We loved the shade and the greenery. We got sidetracked by a beautiful pedestrian bridge over the water and out to where the mega yachts were.

We hear them everywhere but they are hard to see.

Mirador de Colom, built in 1888 as a tribute to Christopher Columbus.

Christopher himself, pointing to America.

Then we noticed the Maritime Museum. We thought we would have a peek inside the entry to see what we thought. We love boats and maritime museums. Well we liked what we saw. Free on Sundays after 3 PM! So thinking we would do a quick look, away we went. It was absolutely outstanding. We spent a couple of hours in there absorbing the information and displays. We highly recommend.

These models were so detailed. From the bow.

An Optimist! How our boys and children all over the world have started sailing.

A small model of a rowing vessel. If you were on the oars it was a cruel life.

And then this jaw dropping full scale replica. The information about life on the oars was horrifying. They ate, slept, were beaten and whipped on a narrow bench. Average time until death, two years.

Detail on the bow. This was used to ram enemy vessels.

The men on the oars didn’t get to hang out here.

All set in a building that was a show piece in its own right.

Then we went back to La Rambla for a cold beverage and incredible people watching.

The beer was mine, the lemon Fanta Keith’s beverage of choice.

Then more exploration of the alleys and byways in the old town. Our goal was the Cathedral, and a procession went by that was absolutely amazing. At first we thought it was a funeral (complete with drums and a band) so we didn’t take pictures, but then realized it was something else. It is Sunday today, and we were able to establish they were all marching to a mass, but the young priest Keith asked didn’t have any English to speak of, our Spanish is equally non existent, so it will remain a mystery. At least we heard some great music.

The Barcelona Cathedral on the way back to the hotel.

So our hop on hop off bus tour didn’t happen. We may try tomorrow or we may not. We have Park Guell tickets tomorrow at noon. We are saving the Sagrada Familia until we return at the end of October, hoping it may be a little less busy then.

Time for bed. We are setting an alarm tonight, just in case!

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Steve Miller/GrampiesWhat an amazing day! Hey, we are coming through Barcelona in late October on our way from France to Valencia in early November. Maybe a meet up can happen?
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonIt’s an amazing city, alright. We’re looking forward to going back next spring, if that plan comes through for us. And good decision to take the Cercanías to Blanes!
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1 year ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Steve Miller/GrampiesWouldn’t that be fun! Do you think we could find a cinnamon brioche?
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1 year ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Scott AndersonIt really is an amazing city. We plan to take the bikes out today. Lots and lots of bike lanes around us.
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1 year ago

Jacquie GaudetSomeday I’ll get back to Barcelona and I’ve now added the Maritime Museum to my list of places to visit.
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1 year ago

Keith ClassenTo Jacquie GaudetHi Jacquie - yes we would highly recommend it. It wasn’t in the plan but just happened to walk by and thought we should at least poke our nose in to check it out. Happened to be free on Sunday -bonus!
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1 year ago