Saturday in Barcelona

Backblip

Another decent nights sleep after sorting out the temperamental air con just as went to bed. It’s too noisy for me but Ben said it hardly made a noise. Can’t imagine what would happen in the height of summer. The room temp was around 21/22c .

I have been surprised at Ben wakening and getting up early! He’s a teenager that likes to sleep in but has been up and at em here, thankfully. When we went to Lisbon two years ago we were awake at 6:30 but 7:30 is fine here as we are in the centre and in Lisbon we were a metro ride away.

The sunrise was lovely from the Terrace, over the rooftops of L’Eixample. It’s a lovely area.

Had tickets booked for Casa Batllo at 9, a ten minute walk from our hotel. First though we had breakfast sitting outside, yeah, 11 November at 8:30am having coffee, fresh orange for Ben and croissants sitting in the pedestrianised street near the hotel .

It’s hard to explain the facade of the Casa Batllo building, it’s colourful, like nothing that you would ever see in the U.K., maybe anywhere. Typical Gaudi, quite magnificent outer and looked forward to seeing inside. It wasn’t too busy either this early which was nice. We got an audio guide and worked our way through the building. Not a straight line in sight! The main picture is out in the roof space and of course you can’t get a true idea of it from this. I loved the colourful chimneys.

We walked round and came to the end and I forgot about the immersive experience. This was magical. A riot of colours in all shapes from floor to ceiling in the room depicting Gaudi’s shapes and colours. Amazing.

We bought fridge magnets in the gift shop, there was some folks with handfuls of gifts, obviously not got just an underseat bag!

Next up - a walk to the Gothic Quarter. I asked Ben if he fancied a walk to the old town called the Gothic Quarter. He was funny as he thought that this meant that goths would be walking around ! A total contrast to the wide street of L’Eixample, we walked through old narrow street that would suddenly open up into beautiful Placa’s. We passed by the stunning Barcelona Cathedral. Not too many folks taking selfies here…..

We stopped off for more food.- empanadas and coffee, keeping our energy levels up.

That done we decided to have a walk down to the harbour area. Quite a lot of clever people selling their hand made goods from little stalls. We had a good look at all the super yachts moored in the harbour. I looked one up and was owned by a heiress of the Mars company and it was called Starburst after their ‘candy’. Worth 25M and this was by no means the biggest there.

We had a chat what to do next and decided on a boat trip round the bay. It took around 1 hour and we went past a couple of moored cruise ships, the lighthouse and into open water where it got choppier but was fine no seasick. It was enjoyable to see Barcelona from this angle.

Ben was hungry when we got off so got a crepe from a van and ate it under the really tall Columbus monument.

More walking through a beautiful park where lots of Spanish families were having picnics. Ben took a selfie with the geese. There were lots of green parrots screeching in the palm trees. It was still sunny- around 19 today. Perfect sightseeing weather.

We ended up walking back to our hotel via the older part and stopped for a pumpkin spiced latte and home made cookies in a lovely cafe. Had a walk into a Banksy Museum run by some really lovely guys who were themselves graffiti artists.

On the way we passed by a music hall which the outside was unreal in terms of beauty. I looked it up and the inside was equally impressive.

Of course, on our way to the hotel we had to pop into a bakery shop for something to keep us going till our meal. If I lived here my cholesterol would be sky high.

Back up to our room for the sunset from the terrace . Ben loves his outdoor space and his trips up to the pool and seating area on the roof above us (which is closed at the moment).

I freshened up, put some clothes in the bag and we decided where to eat (tapas). It was a bit of a disappointment despite having good reviews. Back to hotel, and we sat in the lounge and used the card they gave us for a free drink each . Upstairs around 9pm, finished packing. Bit of a chat, alarm set for 4:30 then lights out.

23k steps - Another busy but great day with Ben.