[R] Barcelona

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An early start to a long day! Today our tour group headed off to Barcelona by coach - approximately an 8 hour drive. Not long into the journey the skies turned dark, and the rain started. It was amazing just how much water there was. Not long after it started hailing! It was so loud hitting the roof of the coach, and quite an amazing sight to see in Madrid.

We stopped for morning tea at a small truck stop, and then headed onto Zaragoza for lunch. The rain was still pouring down by this time, so everyone got soaked getting from the coach to the restaurants in the city. Thankfully, the rain let up by the time we left again for Madrid.

With our breaks included, the trip to Barcelona ended up taking about 11 hours, and we were all exhausted and dying to get off the bus by the time we arrived. However, our tour guide had organised a driving tour of the city, so we spent close to another 2 hours driving around the streets of Barcelona in traffic. We stopped and looked at the Sagrada Familia church, which has been in construction since 1882 and is estimated to be finished in 2020. The architect (Antoni Gaudi) was killed in a car accident in 1926 and his original plans etc were lost, so now construction continues based on Gaudi's eccentric style. We eventually made it to our hotel, and after having dinner we had a few drinks then had an early night.

Today we had a whole day free to ourselves, so Brandt and I and a few other people from our tour headed to La Ramblas - the main street of Barcelona with shopping and street performers. We came across a huge food market where you could buy every kind of food you could think of, and some we had never seen before. After getting some really good fruit juices to drink Brandt and I headed off to a late lunch at an authentic Spanish restaurant off the main streets. After enjoying some lasagne and pasta, we headed for a quick bit of shopping along La Ramblas, and then made our way down to the beach via the waterfront. Unfortunately it was starting to get a bit windy by the time we reached the beach, but we sat and enjoyed the view for a while.

Tomorrow is another early start and long driving day - we are off to Avignon by coach - about another 8 hour trip.

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Photos

View of the Crowds on La Ramblas
Foreground crowd is watching a street performance.