Once again we have had a very busy day after a reasonably slow start. The hotel left a neat basket of fruit so we had some for breakfast but still didn't get going until about 11.00am. We were heading for the Plaza Cataluyna, but the map was difficult to read and the streets all go in funny directions!
We meandered around and finally found the Plaza and the Information Centre where we bought a two-day ticket for the Hop on-off Bus which follows three different routes. We had morning tea (cafe and briox) and then boarded the bus for the two hour southern tour. This took us along the Avenue Diagonal, around Sants, up onto Montjuic (which we will return to tomorrow to view the city, go to a couple of museums and Olympic site), past the water edge and harbour before we boarded the beach front tour of about 40 minutes. After that we got off in the Barri Gotic (Gothic area) and went into Starbucks so we could use the toilets. After an iced coffee we wandered up towards the Plaza Cataluyna again stopping for pastries and discovering the Palau de la Musica in some very narrow streets.
We made it back to the Information Centre and boarded the bus for the 2 hour northern tour which took us past Sagrado Familia (Gaudi's famous unfinished church) and then to the northern parts of the city past Tibadabo (the highest point which we will visit on Monday and take the rail to the top), past the university and then to the Barcelona Football Stadium (100,000 capacity) which we will visit again on Monday.
We got dropped off near the Plaza again and since it was beer o'clock had a cold beer. The day was, and still was, very, very hot! We then headed back home to rest before heading out for dinner. The man behind the desk suggested a place for tapas (O'tubo) which was out of this world – salad, garlic prawns, little squids, and local ham on croutons. Outstanding. We have just got back and made very busy plans for tomorrow which will require a much earlier start.
We plan to bus to Monyjuic to the museums and Olympic Stadium, bus to the bottom of Las Ramblas where we will explore the harbour area before walking up Las Ramblas and then busing to Sagrado Familia. Should be a big day with temperatures in the high 30s again.
Thank god the All Blacks won this morning!
2 comments:
yeah! its much better,
Maurie do you have the spam filter on for your comments? I don't think you do (as I haven't had to do a word verification thing) and I think the first comment on this bit is spam...
Post a Comment