Blogs from Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe

NOVEMBER 3, 2019 All good things must come to an end. It was finally time to say “goodbye Barcelona”. Goodbye to everything Gaudi, the Barri Gotic, Sobremeso (sit and relax, order some Pipas (sunflower seeds) with a nice glass of Rioja and watch the world go by). Farewell to my favorite Boquerones (White Anchovies cured in OVO & vinegar), and the amazing Crema Catalonia. Muchas Gracias! It was wonderful to walk in the footsteps of Fermin and Daniel (from The Shadow of the Wind) in the historic areas, including the wonderful Cathedral of the Sea, and to revisit this city, now transformed from its smokey and dirty caterpillar stage into the beautiful butterfly it is today, competing with Paris for Europe’s best city. Port Vell, with its harbor full of yachts and tourists, has become a ... read more

OCTOBER 29, 2019 Our Gate 1 tour was over and we needed to check out of our the NH Collection Constanza hotel to get to our new digs by 9am. Before we left for our trip to Spain, I had made reservations for us to stay in a charming 3 bedroom apartment through Bcngotic on 6 Carrer de l’Argenteria, Ciutat Vella (Old City) in historic Barri Gotic. We had a quick breakfast at our hotel, said our goodbyes to Vera and our new friends then grabbed a cab to the other side of the city to check into our apartment. We quickly got our key, settled our bags, then ran to make our 11am tour of the Palau de la Musica (about 10 a minute walk from our apartment). We were panting but grateful we had ... read more

BARCELONA, Oct 27, 2019 We turned our clocks back one hour (Franco decided to change the time one hour forward) and we left Valencia at 8:30AM. I feel more rested, thank you Franco. Vera told us that after the civil war most people had to have two jobs in order to put food on the table. It was not easy to both eat and get to work. As a result, the time change gave them more time to eat later, yet, Vera told us, most people in Spain don’t know about the time difference in Catalonia. She said some of the locals want to change back to Spanish time but others think it culturally unique and special. As we knew from our travels before that Spain has a law that makes it mandatory that drivers of ... read more

One of the hardest times in my life you found me. Emotional and vulnerable you gently, slowly and tenderly got to know me. You never pushed too hard or made me feel like I wasn’t being enough. I knew that even if all we had was those few weeks, you had come into my life for a reason. It’s been more than a few weeks now we are easily slipping into a few months, we are effortlessly making plans for the future and when I look at you, like really look at you, I can feel myself falling in love. One of the things I have to do is let go of the others, to finally release the pain. I have to consciously make sure that I am not allowing them to effect us, that I ... read more

10/7/18 - Final day in Barcelona, unfortunately the rain prevented us from going back to La Segrada Familia were we attempting to stand in line to be among the first 500 lucky people to get inside and hear Sunday Mass at 11 am. Sunday is a slow and lazy day in Barcelona. People tend to sleep in late. The streets were quiet, taxis and uber were hard to find. Finally, after a half an hour of wait we were able to get a taxi and headed to the port and boarded our cruise ship. Symphony of the Sea, a big awesome ship. We were excited to get on board, once inside, it felt like you were in another city. This ship is magnificent, we felt like, okay, if we want to get lost this is the ... read more