There were numerous highlights of our stay in Barcelona. It's a great city to wander the narrow, pedestrian dominated roads/alleys. I particularly like when the streets open into a little square and street musicians are playing. When the sun is shining, it's a great atmosphere. Las Ramblas is THE big shopping boulevard. It's about a mile long and stretching inland from the beach. It's jammed with people! It's fun for people watching, but I prefer to avoid it. Lily and I had a lovely time shopping for Annette's birthday by strolling the back alleys. Although I did end up getting her a painting from an artist stall on Las Ramblas.
The other great thing about wandering the streets is coming across the amazing architecture. We saw many Gaudi buildings and some from other artists which were also amazing. Gaudi's work is definitely amazing and one of a kind.
The beach was another favorite spot of ours. Barcelona has long stretches of beach starting downtown and heading NE for I don't know how far. The water is the perfect temperature - just a little cold at first, but comfortable once you get in. When it's sunny, it's hard to find a free spot of sand to lay, but in the water it's not actually that crowded. Apparently, most folks just enjoy lounging in the sun. The beach vendors are pretty incessant, walking by every 30 seconds selling water, soda, hard drinks, coconut, hena tattoos, massages, somosas. After a while, I just tuned them out and they became part of the background noise. Paddle-ball was very popular on the beach and is something I will look into when we get to Antibes.
Sam and I also really enjoyed going to the FC Barcelona museum. Besides learning about the long and glorious history of the club, it also provided some additional background of the Catalunya region. The FCB club really stresses this regional link. This is a definite must see stop for any futball fan.
The weather was mostly terrific - probably low 80's with fairly high humidity. It's especially pleasant when you're near the water getting a slightly cool sea breeze. And, it's especially pleasant in the early evening which is when we strolled along the waterfront promenade to and from Annette's birthday dinner. We actually had to settle for tapas since dinner is not served until later, which is just as well since they couldn't get us a dinner seat until 10:30! We never did totally adapt to the Spanish schedule. The one exception to the nice weather was the early part of Annette's birthday, when it rained quite hard for a few hours, and quite hard at times.
It may be, as Annette said, that we needed a small town break after Paris, but we had lost motivation for museum hopping in Barcelona and didn't visit any. Nevertheless, we had a great stay. Now, on to Figueres where we will visit the Dali museum.
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