Day 23 - In Barcelona

We had a late wake- up this morning at about 8.pp am… I had breakfast down in the restaurant whilst Robyn had coffee in the room.

The breakfast was ok being a buffet style of fruit juice and cereal followed by an omelette.

After breakfast we walked to the Basilica designed by Gaudi which was about 2 kms from our hotel. Unfortunately it was raining but still quite warm at about 25 degrees. The walk was along the wide boulevards of Barcelona with shoped and cafes everywhere.

We arrived at the Basilica and the crowds were large. We were hoping to do a tour but the queues were long and it seemed that the tours did not go into the church….

To me the basilica is fairly ugly but its size is very impressive. The building project has been going for 150 yeas and still has another year or 2 to go. Makes the blow out in construction work in Melbourne seem small by comparison. The other surprise to me was the fact that there is no real plazas around the church in the way you see others in Europe… it seems rather hemmed in… True there is a small park at either end of the church but they don’t form a natural amphitheater for the building…

After this we walked down further boulevards to the area near the zoo and the train station near the port area. Once again there were people everywhere and the shops seemed busy.

We enjoyed a lunch of cheese and biscuits and bread with a tomato paste all washed down with a glass of wine!!!

After lunch we made our way back to the hotel after walking about 10 kms for the day….

The day of walking was so interesting as we passed by a couple of local markets in the areas we visited… they all had a variety of stalls for meat, fruits, vegetables, fish , flowers, deli’s etc. Seems the locals in the area do their shopping and enjoy a glass of wine or a coffee ahead of enjoying the day! European life has its own special occasions!

When we arrived back at the hotel it was time for a rest ahead of venturing out for dinner… we were recommended a place near the hotel which had excellent tapas food. We sampled a few tapas dishes to enjoy our last night in Barcelona.

It was a lovely day despite the cooler weather and rain in the morning… tomorrow we are off to Madrid by train where the weather is quite warm!

Here is a picture of the Gaudi Basilica of de la Sagrada Familia….