It has been around twenty years since we last visited Barcelona and I had forgotten how much I love this place. I love the wide boulevards, the hidden laneways with interesting little shops, the tapas bars and the secret restaurants that only the locals know about. Our friends knew just such a place.
This place is so popular that you have to be there at least twenty minutes before the doors open because there are no reservations taken and it is a first in first served. You are seated on stools along a bar that seats around twenty. As more people enter they stand up against the wall behind you and wait until you finish and then they take your seat. It could be intimidating but our seats were in a corner where no-one could stand. There is no menu. You are simply asked if you have a big, medium or small appetite and if you like fish, beef, or both. The rest is up to the chef's. The food is to die for with eight courses from appetisers to mains to dessert. Good, honest, no frills Spanish food cooked so well.
This morning we woke quite late and had a very light continental breakfast to get us through our day. It was all about Sagrada Familia today, the magnificent Gaudi designed Cathedral that we would be touring at around midday. After breakfast we headed straight towards the marina that looked so inviting from our hotel. We walked past some million (billion?) dollar yachts all lined up on one side of the marina and the other side was jam packed with the smaller boats, that probably still cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars. A beautifully designed "shopping mall" was nearby and as we walked around it, I was fascinated with the design of the "ceiling" that reflected the restaurants below.
The morning seemed to slip by very fast and in no time at all it was time to meet our Uber for the drive to Sagrada Familia and to check in for our midday tour. Everything went to plan and our guide meet us and took us across the street to the entrance of the Cathedral. There were so many people. It was the wrong time to visit the Cathedral but beggars can't be choosers and we were lucky to get any tickets at all with our late purchase.
It took us almost half an hour just to get through security before we were finally facing the front of this magnificent building that towers 182 metres above us. On every available space, Gaudi has characterised scenes from the bible and you could walk around the outside of the cathedral a hundred times and you would still see something that you missed the previous time. There is the birth of Jesus with Joseph, Mary and the archangels. Then on another tower there is a scene of Herrod killing all male children under the age of two. It just goes on and on. This is still a work in progress and although they say it is going to be finished next year, I have to wonder whether it will ever be completed.
And just when you wonder if you could ever see anything better, you step inside. Words just cannot describe the interior nor can photographs. Gaudi's use of light is simply wonderful and it was not until I got home and started editing my photographs that I could see just how much of a genius Antoni Gaudi was. The lighting, to the naked eye is not nearly as startling as it is in a photograph. The immense soaring columns look almost like a forest of trees. Simply beautiful.
Our tour was around an hour and a half and it was not long enough. Our friends did a slightly different tour this morning at 9am. They were the first through the doors and their tickets allowed them to go via elevator to the top of one of the towers. However, the elevator was only one way. The had to walk down hundreds of stairs to return to the bottom!
After our tour we made the decision to walk back to our hotel. It is around 5km but an easy downhill walk. Around the half way mark we found a restaurant to stop at for lunch. We ordered Paella but I have to say it was a disappointment after the one we had in Sevilla. There was no crunchy base that the Spanish call "socarrat" that is formed when the rice sticks to the bottom of the pan. However, the restaurant itself was very charming.
It was good to be able to walk off our Paella as we continued our journey back to our hotel. We walked past a street entertainer, Barcelona's "Arc de Triomf", the old town (note the bicycles hanging off the balcony in one of the photographs) and lots of unique stores. I stopped at a shop that sold hand-made Espadrilles. I couldn't resist buying a pair that I know I will wear to death. 
We didn't arrive back to the Serras Hotel until 3.30. I just need to say here how fantastic this hotel is. Not only is the accomodation five star but the staff here bend over backwards to help you in anyway they can. An example. We were waiting outside the hotel for our Uber to arrive this morning, and after about five minutes one of the staff came out to see if we were okay. They thought we were trying to hail a cab…..
Tomorrow we start the long haul back to Australia. Our first leg is Barcelona to Singapore - 14 hours - and then an overnight in Singapore before commencing the 5 hour flight to Cairns on Sunday. I'm glad our travel agent has broken it down for us and I'm looking forward to a little last minute retail therapy in Singapore. Mind you our suitcases are packed tight so it can't be too much…...
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