Shamballa Cruising Yacht Club: Bueno Barcelona

The Magic Fountain

Ah, the blue skies, warmer weather and longer days of Spain! We arrived in Barcelona after enduring a 24+ hour bus trip from Victoria station in London. We had a short stopover in Paris, which was just long enough to walk around the block and have a pizza at a fast food cafe run by Algerians. The good thing about the bus was that it did have WiFi. In the middle of the night Bob realised he had put the wrong date on our hotel booking for Barcelona. He emailed them to correct the error and they replied within minutes that they were totally booked. So we frantically searched for another hotel and booked that. We did not relish the thought of arriving after a sleepless night having to door knock to find a hotel while dragging our luggage behind us. Then about one hour later the first hotel emailed us again saying they just got a cancellation and did have a room. This instant communication can be a double edged sword.

Our cheapo bus - very ordinary experience

After dropping our bags off in our tiny room we hit the streets and immediately got into the Spanish custom of sitting at sidewalk cafes, sipping Sangria and nibbling Tapas. We also were introduced to another Barcelona favourite, Vermut (vermouth – red or white) served over ice with a slice of orange.

Paella and Sangria - perfect

I spent the first day in Barcelona wondering why I did not recognize more of the language. My Spanish is pretty rudimentary but I thought I would recognize a few more words than I did until I realized everything was in Catalan. I thought this was a dialect but it is quite a distinct language looking to my non-linguistic eyes like a cross between French and Spanish.

The big pastime in Barcelona every evening is to ramble along Las Ramblas - a lovely boulevard from the sea through the town. The place is packed with people, shops, cafes and buskers, but mainly people just walk up and down the several km pedestrian walkway. We came across a great busking band – sax, bongos, guitar, keyboard that had everyone hopping. Sadly the video I wanted to share of the band was just a bit too big for the blog.

The harbour end of Las Ramblas

The shopping end

At the end of Los Ramblas was a marina which we checked out for future reference. The rates were quite reasonable for a marina in the middle of the city.

Boats entering the marina

The port authority building

As usual we spent hours walking the streets rubbernecking at the buildings, people and sights. The Gaudi architecture is bizarre but quite funky. The Sagrada Familia is the cathedral Gaudi designed and started construction in the 1880’s and it is still being built. It is now considered about 70% completed with an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death. The building is massive and pure quirkiness. It is hard to imagine anyone designing such a modernistic fantasy structure in the 1880's.

The city was filled with quirky and traditional architecture, lovely parks and the odd museum or two. I wanted to go to the Picasso museum but the queues were just too long. I’m hoping to see some of his work at the Prada when we get to Madrid.