I have some serious catching up to do. The last few days have been busy.
On Tuesday, the 13th we docked in Barcelona right
near the foot of La Rambla, the main street. On previous occasions our ship has docked at the port so it
was necessary to take a shuttle bus to La Rambla. We were instead at the World Trade Center, very near the
Columbus monument. Tied up to our
stern was a not too shabby private yacht.
Al googled it and found it’s a mere 462 feet long. That’s nearly as long as the Odyssey.
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| How's that for a little yacht to putter around in? |
We decided not to go ashore too early so that we would have
an opportunity to have a nice lunch at a favorite tapas restaurant. It was overcast and looked like rain
and I took an umbrella along. That
must have been our lucky charm because we had no rain at all, in fact the sun
came out for a little while and it was pleasantly warm. We strolled up La Rambla along with
countless other people, both locals and tourists.
La Rambla is a street like no other that I know of. There’s a wide promenade lined with
trees. Along the way there are
cafés, vendors, mimes, and artists who will do your caricature in 10
minutes. Halfway up we came to one
of my all-time favorite places. The Boqueria Market. Of course we had to wander through it. The place was insane! There were tour groups and school
groups and so many people that in some places you could hardly move. But the
sights and sounds and smells are so worth withstanding the crowd. Because we haven’t been getting enough
to eat, we bought some Spanish almond candies and some luscious chocolates.
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| La Rambla |
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| Some delicious Spanish hams waiting to be sliced |
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| A fish vendor with some octopus. Had I been in the market I would have known how to buy it after our expedition with the chef |
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| Always one of my favorites - the egg vendor with everything from quail eggs to ostrich eggs |
We continued our walk up to the Plaça de Catalunya and sat
for a few moments watching the traffic bought vehicular and pedestrian. Then we walked back down to the Gothic
Quarter, the really old part of the city, where we found our tapas place. We’ve eaten there every time we’ve been
here so it has become tradition.
We sat at a table outside in a little square and had a marvelous lunch
of several tapas ( small plates which allows you to sample several different
things) and a nice Catalan Rosé wine.
It was delightful.
When we finished we walked back down to the ship; we logged
in close to seven miles in the day’s trek. Soon after we boarded, the clouds rolled in for good and the
skies opened up. It absolutely
poured. As I said, the weather
gods were with us today.
Two couples we sailed with on our first Seabourn cruise
boarded in Barcelona. They were
part of our winning trivia team and we had a lot of fun with them. We met for drinks before dinner and
then all went to the main dining room.
It’s always nice to meet old friends again and catch up.
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