Sunday 25 May 2014

Barcelona, Spain, Day 14



Day 14, May 25, 2014

Yesterday’s blog was extensively modified with pictures and text added from start to finish. I was just too tired last night and realized this morning that some important elements were missed. 

I slept as well as I could in another new bed, but Jill not so well. One interesting thing about Europe is that they have adopted the French custom of not using a top sheet, just a duvet. We found this to be the case in all three countries.

No stores were open when we arrived in Barcelona, so for breakfast we had fried pancetta and cheese, thank you Ivo and Danica, on a buttered toasted bun we saved from our dinner on the plane. We love unstructured exploring and that’s what we did. We walked down La Rambla to the sea port where we had a snack of calamari and a half bottle of beer. 
Jill on La Rambla

La Rambla

Hey Bruce, this is where the lions are

At the sea port
Top of the Columbus Monument
 

The bridge to the sea port which raises to let ships through
Jill asked me to point to Canada
A zoom shot from the port

We found a small store and picked up a half dozen eggs, a bottle of Cataluyan Muscat wine, two Estrella Spanish beers and a large sparkling water for a little under 10 Euros. Then we went for lunch on La Rambla where we shared seafood paella with two half-litres of beer. You can’t beat lunch for 22.90 euros in a city that is supposed to be expensive. The paella was delicious. 

We took our groceries home and I had a nap before we headed back out to find Gaudi’s Guell Palace.   

Folks were lined up to get in but we snapped some pictures from outside.  

Zoomed to the top of the palace

The front of the Guell Palace

His use of metal was almost disturbing
Antoni Gaudi must have been on some mind-altering drugs based on what we saw. We continued exploring and found ourselves in the Gothic Quarter. Fantastic!!!   

















Not just the architecture but the products for sale in the stores blew us away. 
Prize winning ham





Wood Carvings of rock stars

If I had money to spare, I would have spent a ton. The S.E. Catedral Basilica was amazing. 





The alter of Our Lady of Roses took 12 years to create from 1617-1629, and is a painted wood carving
 


Catedral Basilica entrance
The outer walls
 
We heard some wonderful music that echoed through the narrow alleyways.  


We headed home and on our way bought a pizza to go and settled in while I worked on my blog. Tomorrow we are shopping at the Boqueria Market for fresh fish, wild boar, and so much more.  I can't wait. We are in for a culinary extravaganza.

2 comments:

  1. You should become the Canadian embasaador of which way is Canada and where the lions are.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pam says she went tapas-hopping on La Rambla when she was in Barcelona. Her seafood paella looked just the same. What makes it so yellow? Saffron?

    ReplyDelete

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