Sitges (Barcelona)

SITGES 14th May 2007 (Monday - Light rain clears to Sunshine with a light breeze 24º)

The Platjadour bungs on a great brekky. Best since St Emilion and we plough in.

A brisk walk to the Sitges Railway Station burns off the second plate of scrambled eggs but doesn’t budge the cake that I finished off at breakfast. Yes, the Spanish eat cake at breakfast - I like the Spanish.

We jump the train to Barcelona today and enjoy a nice ride along the coast with views out across the Costa Dorada and Costa Brava. We alight at Barca de Gracias and emerge into the sunlight.

After walking for a while we start to get an understanding of the size of Barcelona and realise that we would need a week to see the place properly under our own steam. So undaunted we do the Tommy Tourist Thing and we buy a ticket on one of those ‘jump on: jump off’ Double Decker buses that are to be found in all major European Cities these days. Given we only have one day this is a good decision and off we go.

The lap of Barcelona takes nearly 3 hours and stops at or passes most of the Gaudi landmarks, the Barcelona Football Stadium and the Museum of Contemporary Art to name a few. There is a brilliant view of the City from the Museum (see photo).

We look like Mavis and Ted from Coventry as we hunch under Deb’s small brolly - it is a scorcher on the top deck of the bus and we don’t want to look like the rest of the Sitges crowd. Red faced and peeling in two days.

After the tour we have a beer and tapas on La Ramblas and climb onto the roof of the main city Cathedral. This is an approved and paid for activity and not just something illegal that we do when full of beer and tapas.

In the center of the Barri Gòtic (Gothic district), the heart of Barcelona, is the gothic cathedral, known as La Seu. The cathedral is officially named Cathedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulalia, after Barcelona's patron saint Eulalia.

Home on the train in peak hour and it all seems very much like home with shoulder-to-shoulder commuters. We eat a less than memorable meal at our hotel - Sea Bass (that should have been the one that got away) and Veal that that was not unreal.

TV show is in Spanish with French subtitles and so I flick to a French show with Spanish subtitles………...ahh that’s better.

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