Third Time Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain -- February 18, 2015

We had been to Barcelona twice before on two separate cruises, the Carnival Splendor Inaugural Cruise in 2008, and the MSC Splendida in 2012. This will be our third visit to the city and I was ready for something different. We did the HOHO bus on the two previous visits and this time DC will take us on the Metro. We will be going to Parc Guell which we missed both times.

Took this picture on the shuttle as we drove from the port to the drop off point near the World Trade Center. I saw some passengers walking along this bridge to town which seemed quite far away. The shuttle cost $5 euros RT per person but I believe the public bus (T3) that was on the far left side as we walked out from the terminal only cost 2euro one way and 3 euro RT. We didn't know about that until later.

We planned on calling Uber for taxi service but they were not available when DC called them on his phone. We went and looked for the Metro station at the bottom of La Ramblas. We bought one ticket for all of us, inserting the same ticket for each entry, which was allowed as confirmed by the staff at the station. We wanted to go to Parc Guell and we were told to get off at the Vallcarca station. 

We asked a couple of people for directions to Parc Guell and was told to take Baixada de la Gloria to go up the hill because they have escalators in some sections which made the hike a little easier. Except that at the end of the street we made a wrong turn and went up to the city park instead of Parc Guell.

As we were walking up the city park, this was what we saw.

A beautiful day!

We were still trying to look for the exact entrance to Parc Guell and DD went up to the top of the city park to get a better view of the city. We also saw a young man from India who was selling earrings that were displayed on his umbrella. What a smart idea! He could just fold his umbrella and took all his wares with him in just two seconds if needed. He also told us that he was put in jail for a year when he was in Hong Kong because of overstaying and working there illegally. We also had a funny restroom experience here, but I will not go into detail on that.

We eventually found the correct entrance to Parc Guell and got tickets for the 11:30 entry. There were quite a lot of people in line but it seemed that our entrance was much lighter than the main entrance as we looked down from the hill. This park was not as big as I imagined but quite interesting nevertheless. 

The Wave Archway

The mosaic tile benches which was amazingly comfortable.

DC told us that Gaudi designed the benches like this so people could sit and talk to each other easily.

It was hard to get back up once we sat down.

The Hall of Columns

We ended our trip to Parc Guell at the main entrance.

Can't help but think of Hansel and Gretel when I looked at this building.

Everybody wanted a picture with the ceramic lizard.

Sorry ET, didn't get the lizard in.

We then walked back to the Metro station, this time to Lesseps, to catch the train back to La Ramblas. We were running short of time, so we decided to skip La Sagrada Familia this time. All of us have seen that church on our previous trips except ET. 

On our way to the station, we tried some Spanish donuts from a bakery that we passed by and they were very good. (100g for 1.90euro) We were hoping to find some more later on but we didn't see any. Not here and not Valencia.

When we came out from the metro station, we found the La Bouqueria Market just a few steps away.

Instead of eating at just one place, we decided to walk around and munch on whatever looked appealing to us. We tried some fruit juices, fried little fish, fried seafood, and some pies. The guys also went and got some Indian food that looked interesting.

ChC then took us to the Gothic district which is right next to La Ramblas.

This is an old area with many older buildings.

A street performer who did an excellent job playing on his tuba.

And we found the "ham" place that we visited in 2012. They sell several kinds of Iberia ham in paper cones. We tried the little sausages on the left of this picture also, but we all agreed that the ham cubes were better. The taste of the sausages was too strong and complicated while the ham had the right flavor and texture. Delicious treat for 4.50euro per cone!

An old church

A cafe in Placa Reial

Placa Reial

Taking a little break here under the warm sun.

Walking down La Ramblas back to the shuttle stop (that's the jacket I bought in Toulon for 12 euro).

ET with one of the many street performers that acted like still statues.

Didn't get the whole Columbus Column in this picture.

The Columbus Column

By the time we were back on the ship it was too late for the Garden Buffet, so we went to Blue Lagoon for some buffalo wings and wonton noodle soup before an early dinner at 6PM.

Watching the ship leave port at 5PM. See the cabins beyond this one, the balconies were fully covered while ours (11592 and 11594) were only partially covered. Next time we will know not to pick cabins aft of 11592.

Zooming in on La Sagrada Familia

Our first early dinner on this cruise, at 6PM. Seemed like the wait staff were all very busy at this dining time. It took a long time for us to finish dinner that night because of the wait.

And the fact that we changed our dining time tonight kind of threw our room steward off, so our room was not turned down for the night. Most of our group went to the show later on, but we stayed in and had a relaxing evening.