Spain - Barcelona

Hey guys, hope all is well in your part of the world. Here is the next leg of our journey, Barcelona.

Day 7 (Friday 4th April)

Our first full day in Barca. Got the bus into town. After wondering down La Rambla (the main market avenue in town), we met up

with Pam. We had a look at some sights, including the amazing Gran Teatre Del Liceu. We didn’t stop off for a tour, but the book in the souvenir store gave us a good look anyway! .Then off to the ‘La Boqueria’ market to be amazed by the beautiful food offered. There was everything there! At the back of the market there a very busy Tapas bar, with most of the fresh produce sourced from suppliers in the market. This place was busy! It took us half an hour to get a seat! But we ordered up big, maybe too big! A seafood feast, including large sardines, prawns, clams, jumbo mussels, squid, octopus and other seafood we haven’t seen before! As well as some other bits and pieces, a great feed! But Cam’s tummy was still not happy about that. Off to the loo again :( We wondered through town down to Port Vell, and into the marina over the water to this lovely shopping complex. Some very nice shops in there!

Wondered past some lovely sights, down back alleys and up to another square to kill some time with another drink. Well that would be Cam’s downfall, his guts defo not happy about that one! Some random guy thought it would be cool to climb a palm tree in the middle of square. After making it up about 25-30 feet, he was getting quite a crowd! Eventually the police came and he worked his way down to a decent applause! To kill some time on the way home, we wondered the back streets around Barcelona looking at the unusual shops you may not see anywhere else. Quite a sight and so pretty watching the world going about it’s ways. We stopped off at another market to pick up some lovely local olives meeting a lovely lady at the market stall. It was so lucky we had a local, Pamela to do all the interpreting for us! It made the shopping at these local stores such a delight as we got the best local fare from the best people.

As we as we missed the bus we stopped in for a drink at the bar near our bus stop, Buscafe. A nice place with cheap prices and open late. Off home to bed after the 1 hour bus ride south to Ribes, where we were staying at Pam’s house.

Day 8

Today we were invited to join Pamela’s family in celebrating her grannies birthday.

A seafood lunch feast had been arranged by Pamela. They have a local restaurant that cooked up a seafood paella without the rice? With some lovely starters and lovely wine what a way to spend an afternoon! We were welcomed with open arms by the family. After we had eaten, nanna had come down to our end of the table and started chatting to us in near perfect English, as her former husband was from Scotland so she learned English a long time ago. For 95 she is amazing! We decided that we needed to stretch the legs and head outside for some more of that glorious sunshine. So granny joined us and was even kicking the soccer ball around some! Truly amazing...

We had heard from Pamela that the beach nearby in Sitges is a very beautiful place. So we went for a walk with the young niece in the pram (Gaia, so cute!) and nephew along the beachfront. Stunning! And being a sunny Saturday afternoon everyman and his dog was out lapping up the rays and ocean air. The youngens decided to head back, so we kept walking up to the church a fair walk! Pam called up and said she will be picking us up as the rest of the family arrived for us to cut the cake, talk about spacing it out! So the cake came out and granny was so happy! You should of seen the glint in her eye, moving stuff. After feasting on the lovely cake cooked by one of the relatives, it was then time to say goodbye to most people, and we were on our way soon too, as we had a night on the town planned.

Always in a rush when we are with Pam. We have renamed her Speedy Gonzales! Nat had enough time for a 40 minute kip, before we were out the door again to the bus, next stop, Barcelona for some Saturday night action! The bars don’t start heating up here till well after midnight, not so good for Natalie, as she is a morning person, but has been doing really well lately! After finally meeting up with Mariana and her new love Giovanni, our first bar was a small but cozy affair, with some seats upstairs. We warmed up the night with some mohitos, very tasty!

Then it was time to move on, to what is normally a Greek restaurant that has a wonderful club area downstairs. 8 euros to get in but worth it! A drink included with the entry, the place was heaving with good looking people and barstaff dancing to a mix of 70’s, 80’s, Latin American and more recent songs, with even Amy Winehouse making an appearance on the decks! (not literally) Good dj’s and great music, it was a great place. Unfortunately we had to cut this a little short. If we did not get the next bus at 3am, it was a 4 hour wait for the next bus. So, needless to say we got out of there on time. But not before picking up a cold beer from one of the many guys walking along the streets with cold beers, in their hands selling for 1 euro each. Gotta love that! A long ride home, we were off to bed for some well deserved rest!

Day 9

Today would be our big sightseeing day around this beautiful city. After a sloooooww start, we were fired up with some takeaway double espressos and cream croissants from the local cafe/bakery. Into town around lunchtime, Pam was setting a cracking pace as we flew past the Museum of Contemporary art. The sky gods were shining on us today! There was not a cloud in the sky, so we would be viewing architecture today, rather than hanging inside museums. So off on our whirlwind Gaudi tour of the city. These sights are a fair way apart, but this did not stop us from walking the whole lot! Places we visited were:

Sagrada Familia, stopped off here for a long home made lunch in the park. Very tasty!

Hospital de la Santa Creu

Bull Ring

La Pedrera apartment building

Arc de Triomf

And others...

Went to the bar for a drink before heading home, absolutely stuffed!

Day 10

Very tired after big day yesterday. Pam was off to work, so we took it easy at home with another double espresso and croissant from the cafe up the road. Lunchtime headed into town to catch up with Mariana and Juliana (Marianas friend) to visit Park Guell. The weather wasn’t the best but at least it wasn’t raining! After some very crap KFC and a mix up about the meet up point. Luckily this underground train system has mobile phone reception!

What an amazing park, unfinished but still absolutely amazing, with the most intricate and artistic mosaics you are likely to see. Absolutely amazing! Check out the pictures. Picked up a couple of souvenirs, before heading off to meet up with Pamela and Xantel for a drink, as we were having our final fairwell as this was our last night in town :( Giovanni met up with us also. Although we were a little late, found a place by the water before heading into Gothic quarter. We were recommended by Ciara to go to La Fonda, a lovely restaurant. It looked so fancy from the outside, we were felling a little out of place. The 3 others decided to head off as they were not really hungry, so Pam, Xantel and us had a lovely, lovely dinner with mixed sharing plates and a crisp white at only 8.40 euros per bottle, bargain!

After heading off very satisfied, we met up with Mariana and Juliana for a final drink. We found a pub serving Fosters, as Mariana had an urge for a Snakebite! It was a very dodgy pub, the glasses not clean, and the barmaid was crap, but hey at least they had snakebites! So it was time to bid farewell to the girls and head home on the 1am bus. So good to catch up with the girls again.