The dance card was full for our last day in Barcelona before the overnight ferry ride to Mallorca. We had a ride planned for the afternoon, but first I wanted to see Park Güell, another creation of Antoni Gaudi. After breakfast and packing up we hopped on a bus over to a nearby stop and walked up the hill to the park.
Park Güell is filled with Gaudi's whimsical designs, soothing green spaces, and tourists. Lots and lots of tourists. We spent some time taking in the scene in the lower section.
Gaudi's creations take me back to the zany world of Dr. Suess.
In an effort to escape the crowds, we climbed up toward the monument area on an endless maze of stairs and ramps. The walk didn't lead to any compelling monuments, although admittedly our search was not exhaustive and we weren't following any sort of guide.
The Cat in the Hat's little blue-haired buddies Thing 1 and Thing 2 could be hiding out in there.
The day was heating up and we were eager to get back on the bikes, so after wandering the upper section for awhile we bailed. There was one side path through the woods on the way back down that was very pretty, and deserted.
Didn't think to get a picture of the woodsy path but we did manage a selfie.
Back at the hotel the hands spun around the clock as we changed, checked our bags, rescued the bikes from the garage, filled water bottles, applied sunscreen, loaded up, and other assorted tasks. Then Barry discovered that the used brake he acquired back in Carcassonne for his rear wheel was rubbing. It was bad enough that he had to disengage it to ride. This would not do on the hills around Barcelona.
Barry futzed with the brake outside the hotel for awhile, then decided to look for a repair shop. By now it was after 1:00 and many of the shops would be closing soon for the afternoon. Siesta time already? We found ProCycling Faricle open just a mile away, where the owner Javi examined the problem. The verdict - "Esta roto." It's broken. Yup, that was Barry's assessment too.
Javi didn't have the right size replacement unfortunately so we moved on to the next open shop. It was 2 miles away according to Google, but farther for us with our inexperience navigating the city streets on bikes. My hopes for an afternoon ride began to dim as we circled the blocks and executed evasive maneuvers with cars, bikes and pedestrians.
At Mestre Ciclista, Alejandro put the bike up on the rack right away to have a look and agreed the brake was broken. He did have a used one that looked like it would fit but was too busy to install it that day. Fortunately that's not a problem.
Alejandro concurs with the diagnosis. Esta muy roto.
At Placa del Sol nearby we picked up some delicious Sandwichitos from Jimmy's place. The square had plenty of space in the shade where Barry set up shop to swap out the brake, and the food restored our spirits. At a quarter to three we finally got going on our ride.
Barry found a 14 mile loop ride up into the hills around the city and we plunged back into the maze of city streets to get to the route. After a couple of miles the traffic cleared and we started up the switchbacks. It felt really good to push the pedals around again and we had wonderful vistas of the city and the sea beyond.
Clouds gathered, dispersed, gathered again and sprinkled a little but luckily there wasn't any serious rain. Barry's brake was getting the job done, but was so close to the crank that it clicked on every revolution. It wasn't interfering with the ride so he just tried to ignore it and deal with it later.
Good bike lanes and quieter roads once we got past the B-20 highway
At the top the signs told us we were at the peak of Mount Tibidabo, the tallest hill in the Serra de Collserolo range. We had wonderful vistas from there in every direction, and a full view of the front of the church.
The ride back down was joyous; in fact the whole ride up and down was wonderful. Barry picked a great one. Back in the city the we got better at finding the bike paths and swung by the hotel to pick up our bags. Then we continued down to the waterfront to find our boat. It was a fun sightseeing ride through a part of the city we hadn't seen yet.
The bus lane is a great place to ride if there's no bike lane. You just have keep an eye in the rear view mirror and get out of the way when a bus comes up from behind.
Here's a grand icon that we hadn't seen on our walks around the city: the Arco de Triunfo de Barcelona. Standing 30 meters tale and 50 meters wide, it was built to be the gateway to the 1888 Universal Exhibition - a world fair.
Homenantje de Natacio - an Homage to Swimming, a work of Alfredo Lanz on the waterfront. I read that the figures represent diving, water polo, racing and synchronized swimming. Gonna need more study to see all that.
We located the dock for the Balearia Ferry to Mallorca and checked in with two hours to spare before boarding, plenty of time for dinner by the harbor. A bonus: I checked on our tickets the next week from Mallorca back to the mainland in Valencia. When I booked them in September I was only able to get one roll-on bike space; the other bike would have to be bagged. The clerk tapped a few keys and printed out our boarding passes for that trip with roll-on spaces for both bikes. Score! We headed over to the Placa de Pau Vila by the Aquarium to celebrate a successful day.
Great dinner at Sweet Terrazza, with surfing and yacht racing films on the big screen for entertainment
The boat was our lodging for the night, departing at 10:15 and arriving in Palma de Mallorca at 6 in the morning. We hoped the "Sirena" Barcoloungers would be better for sleeping than the airplane seats on the flight a month ago.
