Blogs from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe - page 7

I took spring cleaning to another level this year when I decided to pull myself out of my rut by starting to training for a 10K, this was to be the first time in 6 years that I tried to run anywhere. (And even then I ran four times and gave up) I coupled this training with quite an extreme no dairy, sugar, wheat diet and as you can imagine I started to see physical results quite quickly. The mental side was a whole other ball game. I started as many people do with the couch to 5K plan it’s a type of podcast that’s starts you slow 3 minutes walking 60 seconds of running and builds up over 9 weeks. Those first few weeks were some of the hardest of my life. I was battling ... read more

10/6/18 - Our 2nd day in Barcelona, we met up with our guided tour excursion. Our first stop is up the mountain of Montserrat were we visited the site of Our Lady of Montserrat, better known to the locals as the Black Madonna. This place is so beautiful and peaceful with it's natural scenery, you can feel the sacred ambiance of the surrounding. Mass was being celebrated at the Cathedral during our visit and we were lucky enough to have been part of the gathering from start to finish. We spent a good amount of time outside the basilica enjoying the beautiful landscape surrounding the mountain. After a while we head back down the mountain to our next stop the La Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is an expiatory temple, that is to say, a place ... read more

I turned 50 in Barcelona this year. On purpose. Unbeknownst to me, it was the exact same weekend as the annual La Merce festival. So, my already celebratic milestone was now elevated to a carnival. "Happy Birthday tooooooo meeeeee! Any pre-planning we did for our 5 days in Barcelona went straight out the window. Ah, the joys of travel. We were now at "La Mercy" of the millions of residents and tourists that have crowded the downtown core to participate in over 600 events throughout the city, in just one weekend. I had no idea what La Merce was. I had to look it up. In Catalan, the word "Merce" means service, help, a sense of compassion, and loving mercy. Apparently, this festival has been celebrated since the Middle Ages, when the city of Barcelona was ... read more

Whenever any of my friends go to Spain, I try to warn them about pickpockets. It turns out, according to Trip Advisor, that Barcelona is ranked at the top of cities for pickpockets. Madrid comes in fourth. Rounding out the five are Rome, Prague, and Paris. Europe makes up eight of the top ten! Hanoi and Buenos Aires are the only cities outside of Europe on the Pick Ten. Where might you be safest? Trip Advisor says Iceland! Most cities in Japan are safe, with Kyoto the safest. I agree! Less than an hour from many U.S. cities, Montreal is a safe place for travelers, especially the solo traveler. Ireland, just a hop, skip, and jump from eastern cities, is another safe haven for travelers of al kinds. Here at home, the obvious city to avoid ... read more

We finally returned from our most amazing trip late this past Thursday night. We finally got unpacked today and will have several days of laundry ahead of us. But before calling my updates to an end, I must talk about our last two days which were in the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain. Our cruise arrived in the Port of Barcelona early on Tuesday morning and we were taken to our hotel in the middle of the city. While we waited for our room to be ready, we began with a walking tour of the city which included the Rambla, the heart of the city. The architecture in this city is truly amazing and while I had been to Barcelona 20 years ago, I had not noticed (or maybe forgotten) how beautiful it is. At the ... read more