Advertisement
Published: April 28th 2017
Edit Blog Post
Well this is going to be a short entry. Quick version - we got to barcelona, we got sick, we stayed in bed a lot and we left, The slightly longer version was this - it was sunny and warm when we arrived- our airbnb (our only "shared" accomodation in Europe - we stayed with a lady called Mercedes, who is kind and caring and welcomed us like family, with kisses and hugs. She has a gorgeous big hairy golden lab called Stevie (Wonder), and lives on the 3rd floor on Placa Reial - one of the main squares off Las Ramblas. 3rd floor means about 5th floor in reality cos you dont get to the first floor until you are over the restaurants so the lug was 106 steps -so the large bottle of water given to us was very welcome! Mercedes gave me maps and information about barcelona as the wind whipped up and it got very suddenly cold, and I started to get a really sore throat. We are shown to our little room which has a tiny shower and toilet and find that there are 3 guest rooms in this apartment. We knew not to eat "on
the square" so we found (bizarrely enough) an Irish Pub, which served tapas, had an Indian guy behind the bar, and was playing Midnight Oil. I amused 2 British guys who were hanging out in the pub when I asked the barmen if they did Pink Lemonades ...they didnt. After dinner we headed back to our room and collapsed, Evie now starting to feel scratchy. We awoke the next morning in a world of CACK, We literally did nothing all day. I read or slept, Evie youtubed mostly. It was raining and 14 degrees outside so I didnt feel quite so bad - honestly was so sore and achey I couldn't move much anyway. We had to eat eventually - Mercedes having provided breakfast but by 6pm we were hungry, so we headed in the direction our host recommended as being local and reasonable prices. We had some seriously good patatas bravas, croquettes, and paella. The next morning I was feeling a little better but by now Evie who has half a day behind me, was in the sore and heavy stage - so another day of nothing awauted. I braved the rain to have a wander - got a
coffee and some lunch to take back, looked in some shops and climbed the stairs again. We ventured out for dinner, attempted to go up La Rambla, but the crowds were freaking Evie out so we found a local place, had a quick dinner and headed up as soon as possible. Barcelona is going to have to be seen another time.The next morning we had to be up early to make our bus, so we farewelled Mercedes and Stevie at 7am, got a cab to the bus station and spent the day on a bus to Marseille. We were boarded and had our passports inspected by police. Thankfully both the weather and our health had improved so by the time we disembarked it was sunny at quite warm. WE found our new apartment, 8th floor - with a lift! and in a gorgeous 1 bedroom flat with fabulous views over the harbour and port and decorated with serious style. I went to get our transport and day passes as do some shopping, and decided to eat in/cook for the first time in weeks instead of go out - so we had pate and Camembert with biscuits, then a pre-prepared cassoulet,
with salad and bread, finishing with chocolate mousse. Greatly hoping we experience more of marseille than we did of Barcelona!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.117s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0894s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb