056 Spain: Barcelona

Spain: Barcelona
a place that just grew and grew on us and by the time we left we were in love with. There were 120 photos for me to chose from and we were only there two days!

We started by catching the hop-on-hop-off bus. On the sign it said the bus arrives at 9:14 and much to our surprise it really did. We were the only ones on the bus at this hour but by the end of the day they were packed.

We got prime position at the front but as the heat of the day wore on we moved to the back where there was a bit of shade.

This was as close as Frank got to the stadium. It was too early in the season to get to a game and the tours did not coincide with our itinerary. Hopefully he will get to a game in Madrid.

There is a magnificent mixture of architecture. This space has water and light shows at night.

                     There is so much Jambon - even more than in France. This is in a restaurant so you can get an idea of how much ham and garlic they serve

Barcelona has everything. The beach was magnificent

and then there is Gaudi. The guy was something else. When I've seen his architecture before I had found it weird but when you stand in front of it you can see it is still practical and I finally saw the beauty in it.

 

 

 

The Basilica is truly awesome. It is just over 100 years old with possibly another two hundred years before it is finished. As we were queuing for tickets I heard the guy in front of me talking and thought I recognised the voice; it was someone I worked with in 1996 at IBM.

Gaudi must have been in seventh heaven. How many people get to design a Basilica?
Great to know that the skills to build such a thing are still with us.

Inside is just as special as the outside. The use of light is extraordinary. I think at one stage I realised my mouth was open in wonder :)

The photo does not do the light justice. There were colour themes in the glass. With the bright sun outside you were really bathed in light.

The food at the Mercat was overwhelming. There was lots of prepared foods and drinks. I think we need some of this on Vic market. We could not work out what some of the Tapas was but it all looked and tasted great.

 Pudding :)
Strawberries dipped in chocolate on a stick

This one is for Meg. :)

The view from the Barcelona Olympic pool diving board

 and finally the docks. The largest on the Mediterranean (according to the guide) and handles the largest number of Cruise ships in Europe. The Queen Victoria Cunard was in (not shown)

There was lots more but I think this is long enough. As said, we fell in love with Barcelona.