Tuesday: Our Day in Barcelona

Well today was our 1st day here in Europe and it was a nice day...but a bit on the tiring side.  We were already kind of beat from the flight and everything.  When I posted earlier this morning we had thought we might take a power nap before heading out...but thought better of it and so we just showered, had some caffeine and set out to see the city-----which involved quite a bit of walking...so I think we're both going to sleep well and early tonight, but hopefully that will help get us back in a normal rhythm for the rest of our trip. 

Anyhow, after getting ourselves cleaned up and settled we decided we wanted to just spend the day casually sight-seeing and spending time in Barcelona.  We were here back 2007 the last time we did a TransAtlantic cruise and on our Barcelona day we did an official excursion that took us to the Barcelona Aquarium (which we enjoyed very much, obviously) and then a quick drive through the city and walking tour of Park Guell....but we were only there for about 30 minutes which was not nearly enough to really enjoy it....so we wanted to do something that would take us back there and decided that a "Hop-on Hop-off" bus tour was our best bet....and luckily one of the local tour companies has a stop right in front of our hotel...so that decision was made.

We got on the bus at about 12:30pm and we were off! The bus tour is nice because it's an open air bus so you can sit upstairs in the sun and see everything as you're driving through the city and there is an audio tour in a variety of languages (including English, obviously) that tells you about the various sights as you go.  (I've posted a pic here of the two of us just after boarding the bus.)  Barcelona is a beautiful city.  It's one of the bigger and more "metropolitan" cities in Spain (I think)---but it has a lot of very "old world charm."  I know, that's very cliche, huh? But it's true.  The architecture is really interesting and amazing (and I'm not even the type of person who usually pays attention to that kind of stuff)...and there's a great blend of super modern and super old/historic.  The main streets look very urban and developed and the side streets still have that very old world European look----like this one:

Here is a collage of some of the buildings and sights we took in from the bus. 

So now I'll talk about the two things we focused most on with our bus tour:  Park Guell and Las Ramblas.

Park Guell (pictured in collage at left) is a very famous park here in Barcelona created by an architect artist from the early 20th century named Gaudi.  Calling it  a "park" is, however, a bit like calling the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (which, ironically, we'll be seeing later in this trip) a "painting."  Park Guell is really so much more than a park....it's a GIANT piece of art....one of the most interesting and beautiful man-made parks I've ever seen----created almost entirely out of a combination of mosaic tile work and intricate, but natural looking, stone masonry.  It is built into a hill and, like I said, we only got to spend about 30 minutes there on our last visit.  Today we spent over 2.5 hours....and boy did we work up a sweat!! The park is built into the side of a mountain and you can climb very high up along paths and handmade stairways and get amazing views of the city like the following:

The second place we stopped and really spent some time was La Rambla.  This is a major street in the city that is also a major shopping/vending area (pictured here)----and it' the most eclectic collection of products you can possibly imagine....from amazing fresh florist booths to little tapas cafes to pet shops (yes, open air pet shops where they sell everything from parakeets to turtles to baby chickens and caged chipmunks!!!) to little souvenir booths selling magazines and magnets and typical street vendor fare.  La Rambla is also known for it's street performers....some are musicians, some are performance artists, some are artists like painters and caricature artists....and some of the most interesting are the people who come in very intricate costumes dressed up like statues or works of art and basically stand still on a podium all day to pose for pictures and collect tips from passers-by.  Here is a pic of one of the more intricate ones we saw today-----this is an actual woman in a very heavy (looking) costume and a lot of face paint to look like a gold/bronze statue.  Impressive!

Just off La Rambla we also stopped in a little food market called "Mercat de la Boqueria".....this market reminded me a bit of the fisherman's wharf in San Francisco or the Reading Market in Philadelphia.  There was TONS of fresh fruit, vegetables, butcher shops, seafood, candy shops, etc.  We didn't really buy any food as we went through, but it was a neat walk-through....especially because it was so far removed from what we're used to with big chain supermarkets.  I was particularly impressed with how beautifully all the products were displayed.  Here are some shots:

So that was our day in Barcelona.  All in all we spent about 6 hours walking and riding around the city just taking in the sights (and sounds and smells), then came back to the hotel early to eat at a little local restaurant across the street and turn in early so we can be up tomorrow for Day 1 of our cruise!!!  "See" you all then......