August 16th : Barcelona, Spain
The magnificent capital of old Catalonia welcomes us with 40°C weather, welcome to Spain!
The Equinox is here until 11pm tonight, so we should get to see quite a fair amount.
It is currently 9pm and we are officially dead tired. We easily walked more today than at any other time thus far this trip.
We started with an early-ish breakfast at Blu at 9am, before disembarking around 10-10:30am. We walked into the city from the dock (about 25 mins) to arrive at the Christopher Columbus statue/roundabout.
We walked up Las Ramblas through the major tourist areas to eventually visit the Gothic quarter and some of the original city walls.
After viewing an antique coin market and the city’s Cathedral, we walked to the ‘Arc de Triumph’ (Spanish edition) which was hard to photograph with the rising sun. We contemplated walking to our next destination: the Familiar Segrada, but wisely caught the Metro instead.
Walking out of the Metro, we Gaudi’s church to be just as striking as some of the pictures we’d seen. Ironically, it isn’t until you get quite far away when you can appreciate the real size and height of the structure.
We paid the admission fee and entered. The inside is basically under renovation, so there isn’t a great deal to see. The queue for the only working elevator was at an astonishing 90 minutes, so we skipped it.
The museum underneath is informative, but also in Spanish. We took photos, but mainly just wandered through. We hadn’t opted for the audio guide, so after two walkthroughs we left. Really, the impressive work (at the moment) is mostly on the outside (IMHO).
Our next stop was a roundabout at the end of a long boulevard, leading to an odd oval shaped building. It turned out just to be a major traffic hub, so we set off in another direction.
We returned to Las Ramblas by Metro, but found the main theatre hall closed until August 30. That plan foiled, we walked to the harbour. After taking some more photos, we jumped back on the Metro and went to the old Barcelona 1992 Olympics site.
We climbed to the Catalonia Museum and to the main Olympic buildings behind and around it. We then took a cable car to the top of the mountain, to a castle. The view was impressive, and we could easily see a full 360’ around the city.
About this time – 6pm – we decided to start heading back to the dock.
We managed to find our way down the mountain and headed back to the Equinox. We went back on deck at around 7pm before heading poolside for some well deserved R & R.
After some swimming and Persian Garden (steam room) we changed and ate a quick meal at at the OceanView Cafe before retiring to the stateroom.
I’m not sure if we will venture out again tonight.
This is likely to be the last entry before Italy. I do not know how often I will be able to post to the blog from here on out.
Tomorrow we are at sea and the following day we dock at 4am. Wish us luck.. and please leave a comment..
Hi kids,
We are in KL airport awaiting a flight to Istanbul at midnight. We have had a good time with KL being not tooo hot and humid. I went to the 41st floor of the Petronas Towers to the skybridge and other than that there is not a lot to see in KL.
The Central market was good too and ahve bought 40 silk scarves and now have to carry them!
Dad got some nice presents and a life membership of NZQIS. Dad was blown away by that . The Japs gave him a warrior kimono and shoes, Sri Lanka a lovely ebony elephat covered in silver and semi precious stones. It is a bit sad to not be seeing some people again,
Sounds like you aere having a beaut time. Must go Take care Love Mum
Hey guys,
Sounds like you are having a pretty awesome time. I sent you some email just now which has a bit more info. Good luck in Constantinople, hope it’s not too hot for you!
Always.. R & T