Advertisement
Published: August 19th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Got to get that Freddie Mercury song out of my head!! I have wanted to go to
Barcelona for so long, ever since I had a ticket booked, but my companion changed their mind, and at that point I wasn't prepared to go on my own, although I would now! So, first full day of the trip, and I'm already heading out on an excursion (this is unusal for cooks/housekeepers on team!), and I'm very excited. Kate and I work hard to ensure that we have everything we need to have done re: cooking so that we can both go, as most of the guests are also on the excursion.
So, off we set, first stop
Parc Guell, just one of Barcelona's areas made famous by Antonio Gaudi's designs. Particularly well known from the tourist guides are the Gaudi dragon guarding the entrace, and the mosaic terrace which gives a great view over the city of Barcelona. The weather was holding well for us too, so we enjoyed strolling around the bottom area, then decided to try and make it to the cross up the hill which had been recommended to us - everyone said we wouldn't make it, but we
did, in time for 60 seconds of photo taking, then racing back down the hill, and yes, we were the last on the coach, but we were dead on time! We then moved onto the
Sagrada Familia, the church which began construction in 1882, and is still ongoing. The coach was only able to stop for 20 minutes round here, so it was a few external shops, and I even found time to go into the souvenier shops and find a couple of postcards and the sew-on badges which I am collecting. All of us on the coach on time, and yes, I was the last again...
Third stop was Barcelona's famous
La Rambla (despite the fact that I've been so keen to go to Barcelona, it's mostly to see the Gaudi's, I didn't know about La Rambla), dropped off at Playa de Catalunya. I joined 'the girls', who soon headed for Zara. After about half-hour in here, it was clear that shopping was the plan of the day, and I wanted to see La Rambla, so I headed off by myself, sure I would run into someone from the campsite soon... not until about 3/4 of the way down in
fact, but there was plenty to see. La Rambla is infamous for its living statues - some are better than others, but give them some money, and you'll soon see some things! Don't miss the
Mercat de la Boqueria - have a wander round and see what's on offer before buying a lovely juice, or, as I did. a Dulce de Lece ice cream! I carried on wandering down, and finally saw Simon participating in some balloon games, so got a chance to catch up with a few people, but they also seemed to want to shop, and I was attracted by the sound of steel drums (I'd given up on the Michael Jackson impersonator as he wouldn't do anything until he had enough money, and people didn't know whether he was worth giving money to, so after 5 minutes that was quite boring!)... and off I went and stood watching the
Steelhammers for quite some time - and yes, I did buy their CD (try reading the English translation of the group online - apparently the two blondes at the front are "the babes"). You can
see some of what they've done by what people have placed on You Tube - as
you can see quite modern music, and a charasmatic group! This
video appears to have been taken the day I was there, unless the old man in the background is there every time they play in this spot, and they always play that solo... who knows I might be in the background, but with those crowds and the shaky camera movement!
By this point I was looking for a tourist-friendly toilet, and thought I found one at the base of the
statue of Christopher Columbus at the other end of La Rambla. Looking closer, I realised that it was the entrance to getting to the top of the column, and it was only a couple of Euros (and yes, I think there was a toilet in there too!), so up I went in the lift, and there are some pretty amazing views from the top (once you can see through the open windows, as the glass is rather scratched & dirty). Didn't spend all that long at the top as it was a shuffle round the circle (although you could go round as many times as you wanted), then back into the lift down (I've since seen mention of steps, but didn't
notice any!), and out onto the Harbour Front for a while before coming back to the statue to meet the rest of the group as we headed off for the next point, which was the
Olympic Stadium. Only 15 minutes there before the gates were shut, but time for a few photos in the beautiful sunset, although the stadium itself is covered in scaffolding/materials and does not look great at the moment. Final stop was the
Magic Fountains of Montjuic - again we were on the hunt for a toilet by this point, and found one which was manned, and was cleaned between each user - the dilemma was how much of a tip to leave! We then found a grassy bank and watched two shows - enjoyable but I wish I'd gone to a different vantage point to see the second show just for interest! Safe coach journey back and crashing into bed!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.064s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0246s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb