Day 4 5 6 7 Millau & Barcelona

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Day 4 – Millau

Our free parking stops at 9am this morning so we have another extremely early start (well by our standards anyway). We are away by half 9, which is actually just as well as it says it takes 8 hours to get to Millau! There was me thinking it would be a casual 3-4 hour drive. The drive is pretty non eventful, just really tiring and by the time we drive into Millau at 7.30pm we are knackered. Millau is a pretty little town in the heart of the mountains but it is quiet as it is outwith the tourist season, so we talk a stroll to find a restaurant that is open. We stumble upon a place and have some duck followed by a crepe with chocolate (you just have to while in France… well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it). We can hardly muster up the energy to have a conversation after so much time sitting couped in the car so we just head up to our wee hotel room and watch a DVD before crashing out. The hotel is actually really nice- we have our own balcony and everything and it’s really quiet.

Day 5 – Barcelona

Another relatively early start for us today so we can arrive in Barcelona at a decent time, but not so early that we need 3 coffees to help us waken up. Our plan is to head over the Milau viaduct (the tallest bridge in the world) on our way to Barcelona. Once again the sat nav isn’t really playing ball (it is 4 years old I guess)- and it keeps trying to take us to the viaduct at the wrong entry, which would take us back up north again. We re-programme it to go via the other entry of the bridge, but for some reason it won’t calculate the journey to actually take us over the bridge. We end up sacking the sat nav and spending an hour going up and down the mountain around Millau trying to find the entrance. Eventually we decide to give in and just head on the motorway towards Barcelona. 5 minutes later the motorway leads us straight onto the viaduct, doh! It’s a really impressive structure and we stop off to take some pictures and I have one of the best crepe wraps filled with beef that I have ever tasted (not that I love my food or anything).

Once we head back on the motorway, we realize we have ended up going over the bridge the wrong way and therefore need to turn round and head back over it again. Only thing is, it’s a toll road meaning we have to pay twice, otherwise the only alternative is to go back down through Millau and up the mountain again, adding another 35 minutes onto our journey… After a bit of persuasion to Greg about time constraints and cost of the petrol it would take anyway etc, we decide to just pay the 6 euros to go back over it again. So we go from not being able to find it, to going over it twice! We finally get on the highway and towards our final stop at Barcelona. When I am playing about with the sat nav, I realize the settings have disabled the toll road option, which is why it wouldn’t calculate our journey to go over the viaduct as it is a toll road, doh!

We arrive into the city at about 6pm and after a few minor wrong turns, we find the hotel. They have parking underneath the hotel which is a major bonus, as the on street parking is pretty much a no go. It’s worse than trying to find a parking space in Shawlands! We still have to pay for it, but at least we know it is secure. The Sunotel Junior is very lovely indeed, it’s my choice for Greg’s birthday and he seems pleased with it. The room is a lot more spacious than the previous hotel and the bathroom is pretty massive. And we also get free wifi which is a bonus and it has a swimming pool on the roof. The metro station is also only a 5 minute walk away. The biggest downside it has is that it is pretty noisy with windows open and there is no air conditioning either. It’s just as well I have my earplugs with me or I would not be a happy bunny.

We decide to have a few beers tonight to celebrate the fact Jot has managed to get us here in one piece and that we have (sorry, GREG has) driven almost 1600 miles to get here. Greg really has been a star driving over here considering he has had to drive on the other side of the road for 6 hours at a time and considering how psycho the drivers on the roads are, especially the motorcyclists. I think he definitely deserves a beer or two! Greg asks to have a look at the rooftop swimming pool so we take a wander up. There are two irish guys already there drinking large bottles of San Miguel which look absolutely amazing so we ask them where they bought it. They offer us their spare bottles, but we end up just buying two of our own and proceeding to drink them in the hotel room while we get ready.

We head out in the local area for some dinner- we were going to go to Las Ramblas, but figure we might as well have a look around our own area first and see what happens… We end up in a Chinese restaurant along the road (very Catalunian lol) which is actually amazing. It’s not like a lot of the rubbery chicken and spring rolls which have been fried within an inch of their lives that you get in some Chinese restaurants back home, it looks all freshly cooked and is extremely tasty. Greg asks the owner about the Barcelona game on Sunday and he says that we can probably get tickets, but they’ll be about 70 euros each! Plus the game starts at 9pm and our ferry leaves at 11pm… Greg is pretty gutted as once again he won’t get to see a la liga game. He cheers up when the bill comes and he sees that beer is only 2.50 here and my large glass of wine is only 2.90. We decide to stay for one more as it is so cheap! The owner recommends we head to another bar just round the corner and gives us a voucher for another free drink each. How can we refuse? So we follow his directions until we find the little bar hidden in the middle of a residential street, not far from the hotel. When we hand over our drinks voucher they tell us we can have anything from the top shelf and so we choose jack daniels assuming we’ll get it as a long drink. But the waitress grabs two shot glasses and pours us two shots. It could be a messy night…

We are the only people in the bar which is strange as it is nearly 10.30pm. We tell the bar owner we are Scottish and the next thing we know he has put Texas on in the background. After a few wines/beers, the place all of a sudden explodes with people everywhere. It’s like a big bus has just dropped them off outside. It stays like that until about half 12, then it empties and we are the only ones left again. We stay for one more which turns out to be one more too many before stumbling back to the hotel. I don’t really remember much more about the night, apart from telling the man at reception that I am “muy borrachos” (very drunk) about twenty times. Oh I hope he isn’t on reception tomorrow night!

Day 6 – Barcelona sightseeing

I wake up at about 8am today feeling extremely dehydrated and not the freshest I have felt to say the least. I have no water left so absent mindedly go to the bathroom and proceed to drink two full glasses of tap water in quick succession. It’s only after I have finished them that I start to think about have rank it tastes and I finally come to my senses and realize that you’re not meant to drink the water in Spain! I hastily shove some clothes on and head down to reception to buy a bottle of water instead before crashing out in bed again. We finally manage to drag ourselves out of bed properly at about 11am. I have the biggest wine hangover ever and I am kicking myself I didn’t drink more (bottled) water before going to bed like I usually do. Greg starts to wind me up when I tell him I have drank tap water, telling me I might die from cholera. Thanks Greg.

We get ready and head out to get something to eat to soak up the alcohol and can’t say I am raring with enthusiasm to go sightseeing today but needs must so we get going. The Sagrada Familia is only 3 metro stops away from us which is good and it looks really impressive. Can’t believe it still isn’t finished though- I mean come on guys, stop taking so many tea breaks and siestas! Greg says he can’t bear to stand too close to me as I have wino breath which continues to add to how great I feel. Now I am 30, these hangovers seem to be getting worse 😉

Next we head to Las Ramblas and Placa Catalunya. The weather is roasting today, a hot 27 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. At least we’re sweating all the alcohol out. We stop off at the market place for some fresh fruit and a smoothie. We continue down to the port area and take a walk along the harbor. There is so much culture here and so many great things to see along the way. We must have walked a good 3 miles or so before heading back up to the subway again. Our day of sightseeing isn’t quite over yet though as we head to the Camp Nou stadium so that Greg can get his football fix seeing as he won’t get a chance to go to the match. The stadium is pretty impressive to see, even though they do charge 19 euros to get into it (still cheaper than a match ticket). The museum is really interesting and has information about the Olympics too.

After our mammoth day of sightseeing and walking, we head back to the hotel for a rest. Don’t think it will be a crazy one tonight that’s for sure. We decide to take the car and try one of the little streets off of Las Ramblas for dinner. Can’t believe it when we get outside and it is absolutely pouring with rain. We head up to Montjuic gardins to see if we can get a look at the magic fountain lit up at night. However, we can’t get inside to see it up close as it has all been blocked off for some car show, so we have to make do with looking at it from a distance. When we head back into the car, we stop at some traffic lights and a girl walking across the road decks it in front of all the cars. It’s a classic comedy fall. She gets back up straight away, and after initially feeling sorry for her, I can’t help but laugh as it is pretty funny. Greg is already killing himself laughing. Oh we are probably going to hell. Even at 11pm on a Saturday night it is still near impossible to find a parking space! We end up finding a little parking garage and decide to just park there as at least it is secure even though we have to pay more for it. We find a nice little restaurant and again the meal is impeccable. The only issue we have is when we ask them for the bill and it actually takes them half an hour to bring it to us. We have to ask three times before she finally brings it to us, and then she keeps our change for another ten minutes probably hoping we will just leave it. No chance of that happening! We head back to the hotel and watch some of the eurovision song contest (Greg is gutted blue didn’t win) before bed. Checkout isn’t until 12pm tomorrow so we can have our first proper long lie of the week, yay!

Day 7 – Barcelona final day

Have a blissful long lie today and finally drag ourselves out of bed at about twenty to 12, milking it for as long as we possibly can. Once we checkout we buy some supplies from a supermarket and head up to Montjuic Gardins for a picnic and to have a look around the Olympic stadium. The rain must have cleared the air as there isn’t a cloud in the sky again and it is about 24 degrees. There is a nice breeze though which makes it not too hot to sit in. After our picnic, we do a walk around the Olympic stadium. We take a walk around the back of it and down through the gardens. When I look back I ask Greg “I wonder what that building is?” and Greg looks at me in sheer amazement for a moment before stating “that is the stadium we have just came out of dafty”. Well, it doesn’t look like a stadium from this viewpoint….

My poor wee legs won’t let me walk much further after all the walking we have done in the last two days, so we take the car and head down to the beach for some r and r this afternoon. It certainly puts us in the mood for Ibiza tomorrow! The worst part of it is we keep getting heckled by Chinese women asking us if we want massages. It’s ok until we are asked for the 4th, then 5th then 6th time and Greg mutters under his breath something about the casino.
A fight breaks out behind us on the beach between three guys vs a group of very large Dutch guys. Needless to say the dutch guys get the upper hand while two of the other guys run off while one tries to square go them all (from a distance of course). He goes away only to return 5 minutes later with the police. From what we can make out through the hushed murmours of the crowd, one of the guys tried to steal something from the other or something like that. Anyway, it’s all a bit of a storm in a teacup and we merely bat an eyelid seeing as we are from Glasgow and have witnessed a lot worse!

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