5th December Saturday
An early start today as the flight was at 6.50am. So after barely 2 hours sleep, I woke up at 3am, followed by Bhavni, getting out the door at 4am. It was a clear run to Luton, where we parked in the mid term parking and immediately got on the bus to the terminal, meaning we were quite early (80 minutes until the gate was even announced). So we sat and got a coffee whilst Bhavni got on with the work she had to do on the laptop. Soon enough we were boarding for our flight – which was good (We were told our bags would have to go in the hold but due to me not reading our boarding pass we got the bags stored at the front).
Arriving in Barcelona we got out of security quickly and got a map from the tourist info, before heading to the train station and getting a train to Passeig de Gràcia (T10 ticket). The station was around a 15 minute walk to the hotel – H10 Art Hotel. Our room at this time (10.30am) was not ready yet so we sat in the lounge and Bhavni carried on with her work. I think the guys felt sorry for us as very soon they gave us a room, however the room given was a really basic inner room, so we went down and soon enough (after showing the booking and saying we would never go for the basic room), we were given a correct room. We stayed in the room until around 1.30, which was the time required for Bhavni to finish the work, me to check it and then submit it.
We got freshened up and then headed out, taking a walk to La Sagrada Familia. We decided to just join the line instead of pre book. Well as we approached, La Sagrada Familia suddenly came into view and Bhavni said “what is that ?” – surprise! Well we got into line and got our ticket for 3.45, so we had enough time to get a pancake, before going in (at 3.30). It is a cool space with the interesting faces on the sides with the completely different styles. Inside, its a massive space, they had put in the stained glass since I was in last, so the light was nice, with the palm columns. Bhavni was impressed by the structure. We had got the audio guide, but I was disappointed with them as the order we had to go was reverse the original order, so it kept referring to items we had not seen yet.
After leaving, we walked down towards Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, stopping on the way at a cafe, for coffee/drinks and bread with olive oil and tomato. We got a good view of La Sagrada Familia whilst walking. The hospital is a UNESCO site, and was a nice looking building (where a colleague of Bhavni’s worked for a while). After looking around we walked round the hospital, up hill then towards Park Guell, which was amusing as Bhavni kept on saying “are we carrying on” and we did – just to see around the next corner. By the time we arrived it was getting quite dark, so after abandoning taking photos, we walked down towards Garcia neighborhood.
We spent a bit of time (mostly window) shopping in the neighborhood. Getting hungry we went into “the pasta factory”, where we had some really nice pasta for dinner all for under 25 euros. We then made our way back to the hotel (quite a long walk) and crashed early.
6th December Sunday
We woke up at 8am today, getting downstairs for our buffet breakfast. Lots of tea, fruit and bread (along with a few hash browns just for me). We managed to leave by 10.15, walking down Les Ramblas to Plaça Reial. We were early, so after registering and getting our little stickers with “runner bean tours”, we explored for around 15 minutes.
At 11am we got back and were introduced to our guide, Catherine originally from Ireland.
The walk was in the old town or Gothic quarter over the next 2.5 hours. The tour took us first to Plaça del Pi and the Bascilla there, before going to the old Jewish Quater with the stories of the persecution there. We found that it was really busy, it turns out that we had picked a bank holiday weekend till Tuesday for our trip. So it was a struggle getting to Plaça Sant Jaume, which was busy with the “christmas” markets as such (though they believe in a log with a smiley face over the holiday). We then went to the cathedral of Barcelona and into the Cathedral cloister, which was open to the public today due to the holiday. We then went to the quiet Plaça Sant Felip Neri, then saw parts of the old Roman City, before heading to Plaça del Rei and finally to Santa María del Mar (the peoples church).
After the walk we asked about where to go for food and were advised of a place for now and one for dinner. We walked past the massive line to the Picasso museum, and decided it was not worth the wait. The place recommended was a tapas bar, where the service was a bit lack luster. We had three tapas; nacho’s, fried peppers and tomato bread.
We had a walk around the little shops, and through the Parc de la Ciutadella, seeing the Arc de Triomf before getting to the Palau de la Música Catalana for around 5.30. We got in and had to stay in the crush for a bit, before we could go into the hall and to our seats. It was really full (unlike when I had booked), but our seats were not bad at all.
When Carmen started – I realized it was not Spanish, but French, not that it helped understand much more. Its amazing how much of the music you recognize. During the break we went down and got a coffee/sparkling water, before going back in. Bhavni had a wee little siesta.
Finishing we exited and went looking for the restaurant that we had been recommended – well we went round the place and it did not exist, but instead there was another pure vegetarian restaurant close by called Teresa Carles (so probably the same place). It was a 25 minute wait for the table. The food was not bad, but not that amazing either – Bhavnis “pizza” was a little burnt.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel and did a bit of reading into Montserrat.
7th December Monday
We had decided to go to Montserrat today, which involved an early wake up at 7am, so we could have an early breakfast. We got our stuff together, walked to Diagonal station and caught the green line until Espenia station, where we went to the trains. With the help of a guide we got tickets – upgrading to the return trip with both funicular journeys. The train was meant to leave at 9.36am, but it was delayed leaving with us having to move carriages – but luckily we still managed to get seats.
The train arrived at the cable car station at around 11am, and we had to wait for the second cable car to go up – it was a bit of a squeeze. Well is was quite misty with further peaks harder to see. Hopefully it would clear a bit I thought. Anyway we had a little wonder around, and had a not very helpful conversation with the info staff there. We then joined the main queue to go into the monestry. It took around 30 minutes to go inside – which was not bad as i thought it would be a lot longer – in the mean time the clouds thickened and it started drizzling in earnest (luckily we were sheltered). In side we passed lots of religious artifacts and alcoves, which then culminated in the statue of the Virgin Mary, which pretty much everyone kissed as they went through (the bit that was not encased in glass). We did not, but it was amusing that Bhavni did not notice the view behind down into the main chamber of the church. We then after exiting and going through the candle area, entered the main chamber and sat for a bit, where Bhavni noticed where she had been.
After we went to the funicular’s and caught the one down to have a look around (we did not feel like walking to the black statue). We got a few photos of the very misty scenery, before heading back up (trains were at half summer frequency). We then took the funicular to the top (with the first proper Indian family – that I have seen the whole holiday – talking loudly). As we went up, everything disappeared into the fog, so that at the top we had only 50m or so visibility. We stayed up only enough to get a few shots and look at the exhibits there, before getting the same train down and proceeding to the cable car. It was a good thing we did as there was a queue there due to lunch break. We were just able to get on the next cable car down, and make the train which arrived 5 minutes later, back to Barcelona.
Back in Barcelona, we arrived back at Espenia, where we got out, and as it was late for lunch, we went to the shopping mall right next to it and had pancakes and bagels for lunch. We then walked out past the magic fountain (and the car show that was on) and up the hill (using the many escalators) to the art museum. It had already closed at 3pm, so we walked around into the Olympic park, taking our time and waiting for sunset near the communications tower. As we had plenty of time we walked back to Espenia and to the Arena for some shopping.
We made our way back to the musical fountain for the 7.30 show, or no show… so we waited for the next scheduled one at 8, which did not happen either. Well that was 45 minutes of waiting for no reason. So we got the train back to the hotel and got our selves ready for dinner.
We went to a restaurant called Margerita, which was a couple of blocks away and had some great reviews. It was quite busy, but we got a table and had some nice starters (including a massive ball of cheese – mozzarella), a nice pizza and stuffed ravioli for mains, with a nice half bottle of wine to accompany it. Recommended.
After dinner we went back to the hotel and booked park Guell for tomorrow and then called it a night.
8th December Tuesday
I got up at 7.30 today as we had to pack before having breakfast. After which we checked out, leaving our two bags for collection later. To go to park Guell, the reception suggested we take bus 24 from outside the station, however that turned out to be a mistake as two 24 buses came and refused to stop as they were really full. So in the end we took the train to Lesseps and walked to the park (getting a coffee on the way). Its not that bad getting up the hill as they have escalators to help. We made it there around 11.10am, and went into the park proper.
Gaudis park is quite different with lots of weird flowing shapes and terraces. We started at the top, through the odd walkways with their different columns. After which we spent a bit of time in the show grounds area, which was really busy. There were great views of the city and the sun was out. So after chilling for a bit we went through the gardens (which were not that interesting) then to the entrance stairway and then the columned area underneath.
After avoiding the person doing modeling we proceeded out of the park and above it, where I sat in the sun on a park bench for a bit listening to a busker playing the guitar. We then went down to Lesseps and caught the train to Drassanes, which was the closest station to the sea front on that line. From there we walked over the “Rambles de mar”, a bridge over the docks to the shopping mall there. We had a little look round the shops there before getting a ice cream and looking out over the water. We could see the W hotel from here.
We then walked back over the bridge and had a wonder through the old town near Las Ramblas. As it was lunch time we had it at a falafel place, which was quite good – I got some excellent chips. It was exhausting watching the lady serving as she was doing so many jobs at the same time. We then found our way to a shop which sold aprons (that Bhavni wanted to see from our walking tour), where we got a couple more presents.
We then went back near the hotel and wondered around the shops there, before calling it a day and having a couple of crepes with spiced tea.
Getting back to the hotel, we did a final pack in the lobby (which was a real struggle as there we had bought a decent amount of stuff on top of nearly full bags). We headed out at 6pm to Diagonal then the train to the airport at Passeg de Gracia. At the airport we went through security and all I wanted to do was sit down as I was really feeling unwell with the cold. So much so that when we got on the plane I knocked out for most of the flight (having told Bhavni I was sitting next to the window).
Back in Luton, we got to the car around 10.30 as the buses were a bit slow, meaning we got back home at 11.20 after a stop to get milk.
