Day 3 Mediterranean Cruise - Barcelona
7 hour difference from home!
Ruth Ann and my room had a tiny balcony facing La Ramblas and Teresa and Ken's room had a large patio overlooking the market.
We got settled in and then explored. La Ramblas street was torn up in spots and fenced off but didn't look like any workers were out, at least on the weekend. We found out later that the workers were redoing the tiles and uncovered some ancient Roman artifacts, so everything had to be shut down for about 3 months. Then they'll build around them. There were a few little souvenir shops in the middle of the street and we picked up a few magnets and trinkets. Teresa and Ken wanted to walk to La Sagrada Familia cathedral to pick up a requested souvenir for a co-worker. It was a 45 minute walk and Ruth Ann and I were NOT up for it. Plus the Sagrada closed in an hour so it would be a rushed jaunt. So Teresa and Ken took off on their own and so did we. Ruth Ann was dead set on buying a black baseball cap with a subtle Barcelona design on it that didn't blare Barcelona. She did. We found it in a tiny shop on a square run by a young Indian man who was looking forward to visiting or moving to the USA someday but that may have been his salesman tactic to get us to buy from him. Most of the stuff in the shop was made in China. :) But we were game! In the square there was a farmers market of sorts where they sold cheese, by the pound or wheel, honey products, clothing and gifts. So cool!
We walked down the tiny alleys and found little souvenir shops everywhere as well as a couple thrift stores, where looking back now, I really should have bought something there because for all the anticipation of buying cast off clothes in another country, these were the only thrift shops we found and had time to stop in. oh well. We found a tiny book/coffee shop that could easily have been used in Harry Potter movies.
In a big square in front of a church, there were acrobats dancing and jumping on top of each other's shoulders to fun loud music.
A big crowd gathered around. The acrobats were great!
We kept a good hand on our purses in case of pick pockets.
Then we started walking in the direction that we THOUGHT the hotel was at and couldn't quite seem to run into La Ramblas. So Ruth Ann pulled out her phone and we used GPS. We were going in the opposite direction! None of the streets had been straight and those tiny curvy alleyways threw us off.
We got back to the hotel and then walked through the market, which was still open. We were getting hungry but wanted to wait until Teresa and Ken got back to do supper.
The market had fresh fish laying out on ice, sandwiches already made up and sitting out for who knows how long.
Side of meat hanging up, nuts, fruits, everything food-wise you could imagine, they sold it there.
And the running joke of the trip. "Val is stopped by La Policia or La Polizia in every single city."
We bought some waters and then a sample platter of various types of fish like calamari, sardines, etc, breaded and fried. We were totally expecting ourselves to be sick by the next day but we weren't!
Ruth Ann and I sat on a different patio overlooking the market while we ate our treat. The market was SO huge!
Teresa and Ken got back and we started walking around looking for a restaurant to have dinner. La Sagrada's gift shop was only available if you bought a ticket to go into the church itself and they closed in 10 minutes. So they got their steps in anyway!! and her co-worker should probably just buy her souvenir online.
We found Hard Rock Barcelona around the corner and enjoyed a taste of home! Our waiter was from an entirely different country and was super helpful and cheerful.
And it seems that La Ramblas was a party street as it had thousands of people partying into the night.
In the wee hours of the next morning, Ruth Ann and I saw some partier stragglers stumbling down the street right with other people heading to work looking totally sober!
End of day 3!
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