We woke up to a beautiful day in Barcelona.
The iconic Basilica Sagria Familia (Holy Family), designed by Antoni Gaudi - begun in 1883 and still unfinished - is the multi-spired building:
The final and tallest spire was just completed in February, in time for the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s birth.
We have a walking tour of the historic Las Ramblas neighborhood and the exterior of the Sagria Familia this afternoon. It’s a perfect day for a walking tour, warm with a gentle cool breeze.
The bus ride to Sagria Familia went through the “new” district, which was built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has wide streets and corners cut at angles to allow plenty of natural light.
Apartments are designed by numerous architects (including Gaudi - his are obvious, but I wasn’t able to get a clear photo of one)- this was where the wealthy wanted to live.
The #1 site in Barcelona is the Basilica Sagria Familia. It’s unique, which is to say (in this philistine’s opinion), it looks like the guy who designed Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland took a huge hit on a hash pipe and just went crazy.
The scenes of Jesus’s passion and crucifixion are meaningful -
Until you spot the Star Wars storm troopers in the midst -
It’s definitely something…
As has become our habit, we turned off our headsets and set out on our own shortly after arriving at the basilica. The tour guide was okay, but she had a voice like fingernails down a chalkboard.
Across the street from the basilica we spotted McDonalds, Ben & Jerry’s, and (you can’t quite see it behind the umbrellas) Five Guys right in a row.
And further down the block were Burger King, Taco Bell and KFC - traditional Spanish cuisine?
Again, we stopped by an outdoor cafe for a couple of Coke Zero’s - this time the tab was only €5. At first I thought it was for just one of the drinks, but the server said it was for both. The restroom facilities weren’t nearly as nice as at the expensive spots, but they weren’t the worst we’d ever experienced. It was more or less a single room with a female and a male stall - I met a nice young man from Poland as I was washing my hands.
We met the guide and bus at the designated spot and continued on to the neighborhood known as Las Ramblas, which, from what we could tell, is a shopping area with traditional food markets and other assorted shops. By then the wind had come up and we were both getting cold.
Rather than shopping, we decided to take our tour guide’s suggestion and take the shuttle back to the ship. Her directions were to go down the street to the statue of Christopher Columbus, then follow the direction he’s pointing.
Considering these directions vague at best, I asked for specific directions to the bus stop. She said to just walk toward the waterfront and we couldn’t miss it.
You’ve got to be kidding.
The waterfront area is vast. We saw an assortment of buses going by, but no clear bus stop. We walked for block after block along the waterfront, finally turning back and heading toward a row of taxis.
We ended up taking a cab back - it was too far to walk, and the chilly wind off the water had really picked up. Typical for a Barcelona cab driver, he over charged us - we’d been warned that many of them are ethically challenged. The meter said €7.40, and he confirmed that was the fare, but when he held the credit card reader for me to tap my card, he held it so that I couldn’t see the screen. He wasn’t going to give me the printed receipt, but I asked for it. Then I discovered that he’d actually charged €12.
While we were walking around the waterfront, we did see the hotel where John stayed when he was here on one of his motorcycle adventures.
We did get back to the ship, and we had one more excellent dinner at the specialty Italian restaurant on board.
Then it was time to pack our bags and get ready to disembark tomorrow morning.
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