The intrepid explorers woke earlier than planned to extremely loud noises
from the room next door, 6.45am is not a good time with the long drive we have today. We got sorted and left the hotel at 10.30ish. Drove to
Barcelona with one coffee stop to arrive at about 4.30pm. Our room at Hesperia
hotel is too small to swing a sparrow never mind the cat, they will change it
tomorrow.
Again we dumped the luggage and went to explore. I have always wanted to come
to Barcelona to see Gaudi's work particularly, and Gothic architecture in
general - and am not disappointed, the buildings are all so different and
so beautiful, I love this place. We walked for hours, visited the Cathedral
which is breathtaking, the inside is wonderful
too, Gothic at it's best.
We walked through La Ramblas, this is a major tourist attraction composed of
5 streets which all follow on from each other, where there
are lots of shops and bars set in large tree lined avenues with a walk way
through the middle. In the evenings there are buskers, jugglers, artists etc. rather like
Covent Gardens in London, but with less variety in food. We stopped for a beer at
Moka cafe, then perused a
bit more. .Placa de Catalunya is lovely and is where Millet's Palau de Musica
Catalan is situated - a must see as far as I am concerned.
By 9pm we are shattered and ready for dinner then bed. We found
Restaurant Chino and thought that Chinese would make a change. It certainly did, the starters were all deep fried meat and cucumber, no crab claws or sesame toast or
anything remotely Chinese as we know it.. The rice arrived with starters so was cold when we
wanted it with the main course. The
duck was mainly fat, it arrived via a waitress who made up cold pancakes for
us at the table. The sizzling
beef and fish were deep fried too. Can you tell we were not impressed? We ate and
left - by the way the rioja and Vichy Catalan water were
excellent.
