Barcelona Oct 14-17 Last Leg of Our Spanish Odyssey

Not an auspicious beginning to Barcelona. The train trip was characterized by a very loud southeast Asian family. We haven't figured out if they felt so important everyone in our car and the cars next to us needed to hear what they and the people talking on the phone to them had to say or they had no concept that they were ruining the trip for everyone in the train car. In any case we left the train quite frazzled. Then as we started up the escalator a lady in front of us with very heavy luggage fell backwards. Blair scrambled to help her and Sharon was yelling for someone to turn off the escalator as she kept tumbling backwards. In the end she was okay, one man was bleeding as he scraped his elbows, not sure if he was related to her. Then we promptly headed out the wrong door and went over a km in the wrong direction. Once we got to the B&B it was great, in a good location, and very comfy.

Heading to the B&B we are in the big city now.

One of the 2 huge fountains in the central plaza.

We went for a walkabout to get our bearings, ended up down at the waterfront only to find that one of the biggest boat shows in Europe was beginning the next day. Guess where we were going in the morning?!

Chris Columbus overlooking the harbour at the end of The Rambla.

Port Vell.

We'll look at this, a boat show!

We walked back through the maze that is the Gothic area of Barcelona, no they are not all dresses in black, with white face paint and black makeup :) It is actually the beautiful old section of Barcelona. With all the wonderful cafés and restaurants, we ended getting a donair as they actually make them with lamb here. Yummy!

Petite Palau of the Arts, example of beautiful architecture.

Sculpture work on the outside.

The ornate column below.

The next morning it was down to the cafe for breakfast as even though we were staying at a B&B the breakfast is 6 € extra so we decided the cafe would serve us best as you can get espresso and fresh squeezed orange juice from the cafe.

Sharon entering the boat show.

Then it was off to the boat show. It was so nice all outdoors, much the same as our shows only exhibitors from all over the world. Some deals that we may look at later. There was one exhibitor that really surprised us as we didn't know they existed!? See pictures below.

What a surprise, the fact that Sharon was born in Winnipeg was totally lost on the Spanish salesgirl.

Logo for the company.

The boats afloat were mostly by appointment only, unlike our shows where everyone is welcome, so Sharon was somewhat disappointed as she always wanted to go on board an Oyster. But she was not to be disappointed as we were invited on board an Oyster 82 that is 2 years old and up for sale (it is named the Raven, you can see it online if interested). The skipper who is British and very friendly gave us a tour. Gorgeous! They are only asking 3.3 million € Blair thinks we could get it for less.

Small boats to mega-yachts.

The Raven.

After the boat show we strolled along the beach and through Barcelonetta, the area right by the beach, seems many residents resent the heavy tourist trade, go figure.

Strolling the beach, Barcelona.

 

Sculpture glistening in front of Casino Barcelona, on the beach.

The evening brought another walk through Gothi and a great tapas dinner and planning for the next day.

Had great intentions of seeing some museums, some Gaudi architecture and back to the Boqueria Mercat (market) to pick up some treats to bring back. Well we bought a 10 trip pass for the metro and headed up to the Sagrada Family Basilica (Gaudi) and that was a zoo with an over 2 hour wait for tickets not to mention how long it would take to get in after that, yikes! Note to self if in Barcelona get a Barcelona Card on Day One, get in free and go to the front of the line!

Sagrada Family Basilica, it's a zoo!

Still building and the admission costs go to pay for the building.

 

We also headed over to the Gaudi apartment block, 20€ each to get in, not worth it!

Gaudi apartments.

Balconies.

Ground floor the shops are like in caves.

So then headed to the Fundacion Joan Miro, huge museum devoted mostly to his work which was really good.

View from gardens on Montjuic.

Miro sculpture overlooking Barcelona.

Roof of Miro, pictures only allowed outside.

 

The Miro is at the top of the Muntaya de Montjuic, so we found a great path down and headed over to the market and then the Barcelona Cathedral thinking we would go to the cathedral and then go to attached museum that has a big section on Gaudi who was a staunch Catholic that lived like a hermit we have learned. Well we were able to see the magnificent cathedral but the museum was closing as we arrived. In Spain you have to constantly check for times as you NEVER know when things will be open! Fine, so we thought okay we will head to the Picasso Museum and we knew that was open, but when we arrived there, their senior rate was for over 65 not just retired :) and the cost was going to be 28€ or $42 CAD too much just to see his early work, so we picked up some cold beer and olive oil potatoe chips from the grocery and headed to the B&B to decide how we would spend our last night.

Just down the way from the Miro is the Olympic pool, do you remember those amazing photos of divers over the city?

Another shot of Barcelona on our way down the mountain.

You could get down quickly if you took the tram, but Sharon said "No way"

Barcelona has some amazing architecture and sights but WAY (and we mean WAY!) too many tourists, we have decided a nice place to visit but definitely not want to live here.

So tomorrow morning we head back to Toronto excited to see our girls, ready to go full blast on our boat but really feeling blessed with a trip filled with amazing sights, weather, experiences and a new outlook on life.

It is always now.

 

 

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