Sagrada Familia

After breakfast, we took the Metro to the old city, and toured the cathedral and the old Roman city. We walked over the the Ramblas, and walked down to the waterfront. We started at a section of street performers.

Ramblas street performer

Ramblas street performer

The next section had artists showing their work and offering to do portraits. We went down to the waterfront, then to the Drassanes Maritime Museum. Outside they had a wooden submarine.

Submarine at Maritime Museum

The building had amazing stone arches with bays that would hold a full size ship.

Drassanes Maritime Museum

After the museum we walked across a cool pedestrian bridge to a shopping center.

View from top of Columbus Monument of harbor

We were planning to take the cable car to Montjuic, but read in our guide book that it closed for lunch in 15 minutes and we were at least a half hour away. So we had lunch at a waterfront cafe. While eating we read that there was a tram that went up to Montjuic. So we decided to take it instead. Big mistake. It went up through a tunnel, and at the top, the view was hidden by a bunch of restaurants.

So back down the tram, and on to Parc Guell. The guide maps are less than helpful in figuring out which metro stop is closest to an attraction. We guessed, and found ourselves at the closest one, but it was still a 600m walk. We can do this! Unfortunately, after 2 blocks we were directed left and up steep hill. It was so steep that it had steps on the sidewalk, and several sections had escalators. We pressed on, and found ourselves at the back entrance. Nice view, but not what we were looking for. So we walked around and down to the main entrance. The Gaudi designed courtyard and buildings made it worth the walk.

Parc Guell

Parc Guell entrance

Parc Guell

We walked another 1200m to the other Metro stop. This was longer, but easier, since it was just a slight downhill slope.

written by  DRKester on October 1, 2007 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain 2007
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Casa Mila

Attic room inside Casa Mila

Rooftop of Casa Mila

Interior courtyard of Casa Mila

Rooftop of Casa Mila

We also toured one of the apartments, which was decorated with period furniture.

We took the Metro to the Museum of Contemporary Art, but unfortunately it was closed on Tuesdays. Back on the Metro to the Picasso Museum. Interesting display of his work, but no pictures were allowed.

Street by Picasso Museum

We walked towards the waterfront and had a great lunch along the way. We walked some more to the Columbus statue at the base of Las Ramblas. We took a very small elevator to the top, where the was a very small observation platform.

Tiny elevator to top of Columbus monument

We had to get a picture at the botton on one of the lions.

Columbus Monument

Columbus Monument

Our observation of Barcelona: Worth a trip for the amazing and unusual architecture. But expect to walk a lot, since the Metro doesn't stop anywhere near the stuff you'll want to see.

Consulate door

written by  DRKester on October 2, 2007 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain 2007
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Running with the bulls

Garbage and recycling in Plaza Del Castillo

Multi-colored houses

We decided to take a drive in the mountains towards France. We stopped in St Jean Pied-de-Port and walked around the walled town.

Gate at St Jean Pied-de-Port

View of river from restaurant in St Jean Pied-de-Port

Helen and Jason in St Jean Pied-de-Port

Afterwards we walked around some more, and Rick checked out a pig store.

Sausage and Pork shop

Back into Spain, we stopped at a viewpoint on top of a hill.

Back into Spain

We start our trip home tomorrow with a flight from Vitoria to London Stansted.

written by  DRKester on October 5, 2007 from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France
from the travel blog: Spain 2007
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Leaving Spain

RyanJet is definitely a bare-bones airline. The seats are one step up from a city bus, in that they were separate seats. They didn't recline or have tray tables. Food is offered for sale during the flight, along with lottery tickets and duty free goods. Still, we managed to get exit row seats, so we had leg room. Good value for one British pence each plus taxes.

Our MaxJet flight on Sunday was delayed, but the food and booze in their lounge kept us happy. After an 11 hour flight to Las Vegas, we had a 5-hour drive home.

We really appreciate the hospitality from Jason and Helen. Not only did they house and feed us, they helped us plan our trip. Jason helped us find a train to Barcelona, and booked a rental car for our drive. He also told us about Maxjet and RyanAir. Helen's command of Spanish became very useful when we were trying to translate menus, or deal with local businesses. And she lent us her camera when ours died. We really can't thank them enough.

written by  DRKester on October 7, 2007 from Vitoria, Spain
from the travel blog: Spain 2007
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...