Page 61 of Trabern Travel Blog Posts


Europe » Spain » Catalonia June 21st 2009

Oh dear, I am in trouble today. After being a bit grumpy for the last day or so Bernie has finally revealed that he really, REALLY wanted to go to Port Aventura while we were here. I didn’t realize it was on our ‘must do’ list, more something that we might do. I thought that we came to Spain to enjoy the sun and have a really relaxing time just lazing about, but Bernie thought that if there is an adventure park handy that we should visit that too. I must say, though, that I had been a bit shocked to discover that it was going to cost about €40 (each) when we looked at the brochure when we first arrived last week. When I said that we could go today, Bernie decided that it wasn’t ... read more

Europe » Spain » Catalonia June 20th 2009

Pretty much more of the same today! We read by the pool this morning and then went up to our room for a light lunch before returning to the pool for a bit more lazing about!! About 4.00pm we finally hauled ourselves off the sunbeds and went for walk along the sea front. We walked past all of the tacky tourist shops and bars on the way out and returned along the beach. It was quite blowy down on the beach this afternoon with a bit of sand whipping about. Not nice for laying on the beach, but at the water’s edge it wasn’t too bad at all as we paddled back towards our hotel. ... read more

Europe » Spain » Catalonia June 19th 2009

Oh dear, it was a bit overcast and drizzly this morning so we took the bus into Tarragona to check out the shopping centre. We had decided earlier in the week that if we had a bad weather day that we could have a look at the shops. Unfortunately it is not a very big shopping centre - more Endeavour Hills than Chadstone - so it didn’t fill in quite as much time as we would have liked?! And we certainly weren’t tempted to buy anything with the price of most things about the same or slightly more expensive than at home. While we were at the shops we had a bit of a look for some more books to read. We have read all of our books and nearly all of Kath and Albert’s books!! ... read more

Europe » Spain » Catalonia June 18th 2009

After two big days of sightseeing we had another lazy day today. This morning we read our books down beside the pool. We went around to the No. 1 pool which is much nicer and very quiet. There are three accommodation blocks here at the Estival Park and each block has its own pool area. All guests are allowed to use any of the pools so we have been over to Block 1’s pool a couple of times. Mind you, I was reading my book when a bird flew over and dropped a bomb! Somehow it managed to drop it right between my legs and only the sunbed was soiled rather than me!! I still had to do a bit of poo removal though - it’s lucky I am used to picking up doggie do otherwise ... read more
Playing with the waterproof camera!

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona June 17th 2009

We had an early start this morning as Bernie wanted to go back to La Sagrada Familia (yes, again!) to photograph the Nativity Façade in the early morning light before the tour busses arrived. Yet another tip that he picked up in our guide to Barcelona! We were there and back to the hotel within an hour. Even at this early hour of the day there are trains running about every three to four minutes so it is really quick and easy to travel around the city. After showering we packed our overnight bag, settled our bill and arranged storage for our bag and the tripod until later in the day. We then headed back to the station at Passeig de Gracia so that we could have some breakfast as we headed down to the Placa ... read more
Morning at the Passion Facade
The geese at the Catedral
Catedral interior

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona June 16th 2009

Well, we didn’t fall asleep on the train trip up to Barcelona this morning … and that would be because we had to stand all the way. Sort of like catching the train from Warragul to Melbourne and not being able to get a seat!! I was footsore before we even arrived in Barcelona for our day of sightseeing! From the RENFE station at Passeig de Gracia we switched to the Metro to catch a train to the hotel we booked in the Barri Gotic district. We found Line 4 (yellow) without any trouble and two stops saw us coming out of the Metro just metres from our hotel. Even better they could check us in straight away even though it was only about 10.30am. We took our small overnight bag up to the room and ... read more
Parc Guell
Parc Guell, Barcelona
Balcony, La Pedrera

Europe » Spain » Catalonia June 15th 2009

Bernie finally spoke to someone at the Commonwealth Bank this morning who could shed some light on why both our credit cards were refused when we tried to use them in Barcelona yesterday afternoon. For some reason it took three phone calls before someone could admit to us that the Commonwealth Bank’s computers were down for a day and a half playing havoc with customer’s credit card transactions the world over!! At least they haven’t cancelled or suspended our cards on us and, fortunately, we had enough Euros on us to pay cash. Otherwise it was another lazy day today! This morning we lazed by the pool again with our books. At lunch time we decided to venture back to the Tapas Bar where we ate last Monday. During the week we have managed to translate ... read more

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona June 14th 2009

Well, we just managed to fit in a trip to Barcelona during our first week in Spain! We were up early this morning and hit the dining room right on opening time at 8.00am so that we could grab a pastry and a piece of fruit to eat on our way to the bus stop. We caught the local bus into Tarragona and then walked from the bus station to the train station to catch the train into Barcelona. Even though the train line runs beside the sea for most of the trip we both snoozed on an off for most of the journey! Not the best thing from a security point of view, but then most of the other passengers seemed pretty drowsy too! We arrived in Barcelona at about 10.15am and walked down Passeig ... read more
La Sagrada Familia
La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
Castell Montjuic, Barcelona

Europe » Spain » Catalonia June 13th 2009

What a lazy day today!! This morning we read by the pool and this afternoon we went for a dip in the Mediterranean Sea before showering and changing for dinner. Goodness it is hard work being on holidays!... read more

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona » Monistrol de Montserrat June 12th 2009

We had to get going about an hour earlier this morning to make sure that we were at the bus stop in time to purchase our tour to Montserrat. We arrived at the bus stop at about 9.10am and the bus selling the tickets for tours to Montserrat and Barcelona arrived at about 9.20am. After we bought our tickets there was a considerable amount of radioing and telephoning as the Plana staff worked out how many people they had going on tours today. Eventually there were three busses for Montserrat, but it was an absolute shemozzle getting everyone boarded. The staff were just calling out Montserrat, Montserrat and everyone was milling about between the three busses. It was only when we ended up almost boarding the Russian bus that it became obvious that there was a ... read more
The Basilica, Montserrat
Stained glass window
The Black Madonna




Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.008s; cc: 6; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0398s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb