Barcelona - Wednesday, September 30th

Barcelona was a pleasant surprise to us! We had no preconceived ideas of how it was going to be. This seemed much more modern than the cities in Italy that we have visited, and the building architecture really kept our attention as we rode the open air, jump on, jump off bus. We had received some suggestions from our friend Alex, who spent several months there last fall while she was going to school. We didn’t have much time, so we took a loop of the city, and jumped off in areas that we found interesting. We even got rained on when we were on the top of the bus - amazing what you will put up with on vacation! About the time I began to question how long I was going to sit in the rain, it stopped! No umbrellas are permitted on the bus - I guess they don’t want them to get hooked as you go in the tunnels and underpasses!

We thought Barcelona was a beautiful city. We were warned about the dangers of pick pockets, but we made it out of this town with no losses! We visited the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in the center of the city, a large, on-going project by Gaudi. The tour takes place inside the church, in amongst the tradesmen working. I kept expecting at least some part of the interior to be finished - like I missed something. The began in 1890. We were told that it won’t be finished for another 30 - 40 years, due to money. I guess in the meantime, they have lots of admissions to collect to finish it.

We finished our visit with lunch at McDonald’s, where things don’t vary much. We then strolled down the Las Ramblas area, which is a many block area with large pedestrian venues running between the streets. These are filled with street vendors, street musicians, actors, and a lot of birds! Yellow parrots live in the trees down the boulevard, but there were so many vendors selling birds, cages, and various other varmints. There was a great covered market area of fruits, vegetables, meat and fish. I guess people must shop daily. The smell sent me for the exit, and would cause me to turn vegetarian if I had to look these fish, chicken, and pigs in the eye each time I had to buy them! Way too up close and personal for me! Beautiful flower markets here.

We strolled back to the ship, and watched the sunset as we sailed out of the harbor. Another good day!