Barcelona Day 3 July 27, 2013
It's the end of Day 3 and I'm tired. I stayed up late last night working on both blog posts and went to sleep around 4am and was awake by 7am..then fell back to sleep. Breakfast at the hotel this morning very late (after we all woke up late).. Right before the buffet ended at 11am.
We went back to the room to change.. Only for me to fall asleep... Till 3pm..and it's not like they do siestas here..we finally got it together and took our scheduled bus hop on/off tour around the northern and western parts of Barcelona.
I'm so annoyed I can't get my pics up so ill be reporting again later with pics added.. In the meantime enjoy my narrative ..
The tour was fantastic! I took so many great pics that i'll load to my FB and IG pages for now ..hopefully I can get them in the blog soon. If you've never taken a double decker tour and sat up top - I suggest you do. It's a great way to see a city and hop on and off wherever you want. The cost was 24 euros ... There are several lines red , blue , orange and they all run through various parts of the city. I was never of fan of them at home and they seem so corny while you sit and everyone else in the street waives .. Or in the case of them passing in Brooklyn folks just ignore them. Lol But now I can appreciate the tour bus and its function.
Barcelona has both old and new cities and the architecture is simply amazing. I am in love with this city! We saw the Olympic Stadium, the Olympic village there is a World Trade Center here as well, the seafront, various villages such as Gracia, Sants-Montjuic,and the highlight for me was Segrada Familia . For those that don't know, I'm a history buff and this Basilica sits unfinished by Antoni Gaudi. It is the oldest it Spain. It's amazing to see that after a century the work is still being completed and donations are actually how the work progresses on this masterpiece!
We hopped on the red line and switched to blue and the churches, beaches, homes, were simply breathtaking. After ending our tour in Las Ramblas we decided to eat there and found a nice restaurant where I made friends with the local waiter.. Seems Roberto was smitten.. LOL
I finally had my gelato and it was pure heaven. The food in Barcelona is fantastic!
Some things I learned today.."cerrado" doesn't mean close in Catalan. As the story goes, Barcelona is the capital city of Catalunya or Catalonia , and has its own language, customs, culture and history. Hence at some point bestie, my sis and I have said a word or phrase that they look at us and go "huh" ? LOL You live and learn .
Did I mention that water isn't free here? We spent a pretty penny and you would think the water here is like in Mexico in that you can't drink it. Not so - some of the best filtration systems in the world are here in Barcelona yet there is no tap water brought out in restaurants.
Can be talk about the number of ice cubes you get in a drink? The standard number must be 2 'cause that's all we ever get. What's amazing is it takes forever to melt.. Who knows why ....of course it could simply be to lesson the water down effect of your drinks.. Which are oh so strong.. :)
And then there are the napkins, paper towels..We don't see them much. Perhaps it's our hotel..I think then are extremely green here .
I've eaten more great seafood here than ever. A word of caution some of to seafood looks different probably because the waters of the Mediterranean have different species. But I've have clams , mussels, lobster , shrimp, calamari, sardines, and anchovies all in some type of prepared food.
Oh I forgot to mention in search of "el bano" which in one lace was simply "aseos toilettes" we wound up in the department store "El Corte Ingles" which is our version on Macy's. It has many designer brands and was definitely the place for shopping . Too bad the value of the dollar isn't making me want to send money.
To end the night we found a great gelato spot and enjoyed Las Ramblas in the evening before heading back to our hotel.
Tomorrow Day 4 begins the second part of my dream vacation boarding Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas. Not sure about wi-if connectivity on the ship and it's typically not free and service is often spotty. Will try and keep up .. First stop in 2 days is Toulon France where we will embark on the Best of Toulon excursion!
I will miss Barcelona but it's on to new things and I'll be back here in a week!
Here's to hoping you are enjoying my story as much as I am ! Till the next port!
Ciao !
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