Adios, Adéu, and Goodbye to Barcelona

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We are getting ready to leave Catalonia so it was something of a novelty to travel into Barcelona three times in less than a fortnight!

The first time was to see a group of friends who were visiting from Wales. We were members of the "South Wales Travelbugs" at their formation ten years ago but shortly afterwards we left to go travelling. We still keep in touch and meet up whenever we can. We went to visit Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia which we had seen from the outside many times. Inside it is amazing with colours not normally seen inside a church. The use of stained glass is wonderful and it's certainly a quirky cathedral in many, many ways. We paid extra to go in a lift up the Nativity Tower. At the top you get fantastic views all the way back to Mataró - well, more or less. You do get a bit dizzy walking back down the never ending spiral staircase though. After the visit we all went for lunch together. There were 16 of us and the restaurant did a great job of looking after us. Free flowing wine at lunchtime is rarely a good idea though!! After lunch we took a couple of our friends on a walk through the Ciutadella Park where lots of people were enjoying the October sunshine. From there we made our way to the old market at El Born where they were able to see the remains of the city dating back to 1714 and try some local Moritz beer in the bar. It was great to see everyone again.

The next time was just a few days later to see Kylie Minogue in concert. Despite it being far from a sell-out, it was an excellent show although it should probably come with a parental guidance rating of some sort!!

Finally we returned to Barcelona to take the metro out to a northern suburb and see the Parc Horta Labyrinth. It's quite easy to get there as the Green line takes you to Mundet station and then it's just a short walk past the velodrome. The lower park was full of schoolkids but they were too busy eating their packed lunches to cause much trouble. The upper part normally requires you to pay an entry fee but for some reason it was free on the day we went. In the grounds of the old palace you can wander through tropical gardens but the highlight is the hedge maze. It's not very big and it's not really possible to get lost in there which I suppose is a good thing. It was just a bit of fun and made for a very pleasant day out.

No doubt we will be back in Barcelona one day, but for now, it was adios to the regional capital.

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Comments

[Kristina]

So?
And where to next? Are you leaving Spain?

[rrruss]

Staying in Spain
Moving down to Alicante.