Day 2 – Thursday 5 May 2016 – Dubai to Barcelona
We had showered before the 6am wake-up call and in the hotel airport shuttle at 6:20. We walked through the airport in the reverse direction to 24 hours earlier, and had enough time (and local money) for scrambled eggs for breakfast and a fine cup of strong coffee. We did not tempt fate with the passports and presented the right passports this time.
Our journey continued in the same seats as yesterday, albeit in a different A380 Airbus. The trip to Heathrow was uneventful.
We had three hours at Heathrow then onto a British Airways flight to Barcelona. For some reason Shirley and I had seats either side of the aisle. However again the trip was uneventful, but the 60 minute wait for the transfer was a pain. The driver made up for the wait by having an informative drive to our hotel on La Rambla, one of Barcelona’s popular streets.
We checked in and went for a stroll to get some dinner. We ended up with a Spanish style chicken wrap washed down with my first beer of the trip. It was so good I had my second beer of the trip.
Sleep came easy as we fell into bed just before midnight.
Day 3 – Friday 6 May 2016 – Barcelona
I was up around 7am and went looking for something for breakfast in our room. I stocked up on cereal, milk and fruit. By 8:30 we had departed on our first full day in Barcelona.
Ten minutes later it nearly came to an end as I wondered why the sky was directly in front on me and I was on my back. It so happened that my new more-costly-than-normal walking shoes have a zero friction coefficient when they walk on a wet metal grid. My feet had come from under me and down I went. A couple of worried Spanish heads appeared in my vision, before helping me back into a vertical alignment. The only harm was a ripped map and a severe dent in my pride.
After a 30 second check by nurse Shirley we continued on our 3 km walk to La Sagrada Familia, which is a basilica conceived by a religious group, and principally designed by the famous Antoni Gaudi (pronounced by the Spanish as “gow-dee”) after the aforementioned group could not agree on the direction to take.
La Sagrada Familia
The first stone was laid on St George’s Day in 1882 and it is still unfinished. It was granted basilica status around six years ago and could be completed in 10 years.
La Sagrada Familia
La Sagrada Familia is simply an amazing church. Some of the Gaudi concepts are mind boggling. It should be on your itinerary if you are able to get to Barcelona. It is worth seeing just for the stain glass windows.
Stain Glass Windows of La Sagrada Familia
Guide Shirley found a street walk and off we set, after a caffeine fix. We visited a number of popular places including the de Santa Maria del Mar (Barcelona’s finest Gothic church), the Chocolate Museum (no purchases), the remnants of a Roman wall, the Barcelona Cathedral (where we lit a candle), the Arc De Triomf, a number of lovely squares and lots of other things along the way.
Arc De Triomf
Inside of Barcelona Cathedral
We stopped at a shop that seemed to sell ham and lunch items. We soon found out that they have three types of roll, roll with cheapest ham, roll with better ham and roll with best ham. We opted for the middle one and it was delicious.
Another couple examples of Gaudi architecture were discovered by the guide as we wended our way back to the hotel, visiting a great food market along the way. We stopped at our local supermarket to buy coffee and water and reappeared with coffee, water, beer, coke and muffins.
Our hotel room was a welcome sight as we collapsed into chairs at 4:15.
After a 3 hour rest (for Shirley – I updated the blog) we did what the Spanish do and ventured out for traditional Spanish tapas and paella, washed down with a fine Spanish Tempranillo. It was a great way to end a great day. Shirley is now trying to watch her favourite detective shows with the voices in Spanish. Too hard for me.
Day 4 – Saturday 7 May 2016 – Barcelona
I started the day with a different pair of shoes – hopefully less slippery in the wet. We took the Metro (underground train) to the rural-train station and headed north. About an hour later we arrived at Monistrol. We changed on to our third train for the trip – a “rack train” that can travel up the steep slope to our destination – Monserrat.
The Main Buildings of Monserrat
The Monserrat monastery was first mentioned in scriptures around the year 888. It was founded by the Benedictine monks – who (apart from religious credits) were responsible for producing the liqueur Benedictine.
Monserrat sits near the top of a rocky mountain that (for lovers of Aussie locations) brings memories of the Grampians in Victoria and the Bungle Bungles in Western Australia. As we arrived it was around 8 degrees Celsius and light rain was falling.
Monserrat from the funicular
Monserrat is known for the “black Madonna”, its basilica and the world renowned boys choir. Although the weather was unpleasant it was well worth the trip.
Entrance to Monserrat Basilica
We rode the forth type of train – a funicular – to the (near) top of the mountain where I was able to turn a five Euro umbrella into a five Euro piece of rubbish. The view more than made up for the loss of an umbrella.
By the time we arrived back at our hotel the sun had appeared. It was time for some rest and recovery.
Dinner time saw us being introduced to the world of tapas dining – sort of having multiple small entrees. The hardest part was picking which tapas was on your preferred list. Shirley and I each picked our preferred tastes which resulted in some wonderful tasty food. My favourite was the mussels. I have a few good friends who would have enjoyed the same.
Day 5 – Sunday 8 May 2016 – Barcelona
Our start to Mother’s Day was subdued as we were a long way from home. However, a hidden (by me) card and gift by our daughters started the day. Various forms of electronic greetings continued the theme.
Our guide (Shirley) had decided that the Hop-On / Hop-Off bus was the order of the day – see the sights without wearing out our shoes.
The weather was miserable as we boarded the bus with rain coats and umbrella, as testified by the following photo.
Intrepid Travellers in Wet & Cold Barcelona
We bypassed an old bull ring that is now a museum, then took a photo of the refurbished hospital, before we arrived at the bus stop for Park Guell.
Refurbished Bull Ring
Refurbished Hospital
Park Guell is another remarkable achievement by Gaudi. It is not every person’s preferred form of architecture, but it is definitely an amazing place. It has a chequered history, due mainly to the sponsor’s (Gaull) untimely death. However, Gaudi has provided the world with something with world heritage status. Please let the following photos give you an idea of what we saw.
Park Guell
Park Guell
Park Guell
When back on the bus we witnessed other examples of work by Gaudi – who is probably Barcelona’s favourite son.
A change of theme saw us visit another pre-loved bull ring – this one being converted into a shopping centre. This brought back memories for your scribe who attended a bull fight in 1974.
Former Bull Ring, Now a Shopping Centre
However, many of us have changed our tune towards animals and now we concentrate of things caffeine and sweet as shown in the following photo. The pastry is a “chocolate palmeras”. The conversion from bull fight arena to shopping centre has been very effective.
Our bus also passed the MCG-like Barcelona football stadium which is probably (nearly) more loved in Barcelona than the MGC is in Melbourne. There was a time when Barcelona had 170,000 members. We did not get very close as Barcelona was playing a game against Espanyol – and they won 5-0.
It was a long day, as we had left home at 8:45 am and arrived home at 6:50 pm. As the rain had stopped by about 2pm we were nearly dry, except for our umbrellas.
We dined again in our local street which is about one km of restaurants. It was good.
I tried a local pizza and Shirley had another paella. The local red, a cab sauv & merlot blend, was excellent.
Post Updated 6pm Wednesday 11 May 2016
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