Blogs from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe

April 21 Last night I asked the desk for a Tapas Bar close by. Following his directions I came upon the source of last night’s activity. Not a protest, not a political demonstration but rather a religious parade of a sort with drums, Roman candles, little devils and a dragon. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the show so I did too. I never found the place recommended but did find a small restaurant where I settled in with a view of the street with a glass of wine and a bowl of mussels . Might go there again today. One hour to Basilica. Wish it was warmer and the sun was shining but you can’t have is all, all the time. Entered on time and roamed around visiting all the remembered spots. Unfortunately it was overcast ... read more

As we love train travel, we traveled from Valencia to Barcelona and it took only 4 hours at a very reasonable costs of 19 euros ($21) each. After arriving at our apartment, we wandered around the neighborhood in the evening to get our bearings and enjoy the nice temperatures. We had booked a free walking tour through an app called Guru Walk for the first day here. We find these to be an excellent way to get oriented to a new location combined with some great information from the tour guides about local recommendations. You can pick from a variety of topics to find one that fits your interest. The only costs is what you wish to tip them at the end. We were fortunate as our group was a small one and our guide, Shab, ... read more

A much-needed bit of sleeping in is how the day started. I naturally still woke up at 6:30 but refused to actually get up and after getting Jerry to stop snoring I fell back asleep until 8:30 when Jerry’s alarm went off. Then snoozed for an hour. We went down to breakfast before we started getting ready for the day. Jerry tried the eggs benedict, it was ok, but not enough hollandaise and they serve it basically cold except the poached egg. I had jamon, cheese and mushroom omelet, it was pretty good but paper thin almost more like a crepe instead of an omelet. We of course supplemented with the buffet. I ordered a café con leche, but knew I was going to need more than one cup, so also went to the buffet to ... read more

It’s Friday, must be Barcelona. The alarm went off at 6 am, after 30 minutes of snoozing, I was up and, in the shower, (Jerry gets an extra 30 minutes of sleep). Typical morning routine, shower, pack, breakfast, then off for the activities of the day. At the moment, in the room doing this initial blog entry, then it will be down to breakfast and off to the train station. The trip to Barcelona is about 6 ½ hours by TGV, meaning a nap is in our future. Other than getting to Barcelona and then dinner, this is a light day, so the blog post will be short. Tomorrow, the trip begins in earnest, with sightseeing, wonderful food and wine, including biking around Barcelona. For now, it is just time to finish getting ready to leave. ... read more

While other cities have art interwoven throughout them, Barcelona is truly in a class of its own with artistic elements to be found throughout nearly every street you find. This morning started with a lovely local breakfast of mushrooms, avocado, eggs, and chorizo. It was likely the best omelette I have ever had. Then on to getting a small tattoo souvenir before visiting Gaudi’s Park Guell. Originally designed as a housing complex, the park has become a municipal garden and tourist Mecca. The viaducts throughout are visually interesting and you’ll see in my pictures the lovely lizard at the entrance! You could spend a couple hours at the park - definitely get your tickets beforehand. Heading back, I ran into a large farmer‘s market that appeared to only consist of various honeys, teas, and herbs. After ... read more