Barcelona Bludging

Wed Thur 8/9th April

So my fabulous sister has looked after us and booked us into a fancy hotel, very close to a lot of the fabulous sights of the ancient city.....but the first thing we have to do is washing! We are both on our last rations of clothing, and as we've mostly been hand washing, we were desperate to clean.

Flash new laundry.  All fully automated,  soap and all.

Second thing is, we are getting a GPS with bike maps for Europe. Madam Google has been demoted. Will has googled a bike shop, and we walked a few kms and found it. OMG....it was the best bike shop EVER! So much stuff. We found Dave, who spoke pretty good English, and was very enthusiastic. We bought a Garmin Edge Touring, and David told us how hilly it is North of Barcelona.....ha ha ha, thanks for that!

Do we need some of this stuff? Surely beer is the same?

Thanks Dave, Will looks super happy with you.

We found some awesome buildings and sights, and had Japanese in Spain...we walked around the city, about 12.5kms, saw the most famous Gaudi building, and even came home for a rest/siesta, and a lovely relaxing bath....thank you again sister Suey. 

The longer you look the more you see. So cool.

So much detail and work. Lovely. 

 Then we walked about 100mtrs down the road to some little bar to have some dinner (and apparently watch the game, Barcelona vs Almeria). A couple of very large home made Sangria's, and it was definitely home time. 

The love their statues.  The Thinking Bull. ....

Good relaxing bath for the muscles and antioxidants for the joints...

                     

The game, Sangria and Paella. ..Perfecto!

We've managed to get in a couple of good bacon and egg breakies, while here, so we should be able to put up with a few more ham, cheese, tomato rolls or cornflakes. So we put our walking shoes on again today, to check out the sights. First stop, was The Cathedral. It really is an amazing sight in the flesh. Inside is quite emotional. It is amazing.

Wow,  is all we could say. Beautiful and amazing. See it!

                    

Really, almost scary, awe inspiring. Loved it.

Impossible to do justice to the inside. Go there! Fricking fantastic. 

Then we headed through the Gothic District, which is just fantastic. Full of little laneways and old buildings filled with tourist and boutique shops. It is a maze, but we stumbled on The Temple of Augustus, 2000 year old Roman columns in the middle of a new building....weird, but cool. 

Loving these old buildings and their quirky features. 

I love when we go the wrong way and find a gem. 2000 yrs old

Phew, we are clocking up some kays, off to the Museum of Picasso. It was tucked away down one of the tight little alleys in the Gothic area, and there were a billion people waiting to get in. Will was super keen for this one, but I am not a huge fan of museums.

All these people. ...better be good!

But finally we got in, and it was really good. A bit of history through his art, and some great art. There was an exhibition of Picasso and Salvador Dali, and I really liked Dali's work a lot. So much detail, and pictures in pictures. Really clever.

Picasso

                    

Dali! Look for pictures in pictures. Better in real life.

Lastly, sister Sue suggested the Port Vell, so we headed that way. But first some sustenance was required. Will loved his little baby squids, and we both had some much needed salad. Oh, and a beer. The port is an amazing place, with Luxury Mega yachts everywhere, and the biggest Aquarium in Europe (we didn't go in there). It was a great walk around the port.

Ugh....heads and all! Get em in ya!

Working our way to Port Vell. 

The swing bridge. Great walk and lovely boats.

Which one Will? So many we can't afford....

So many boats....just waiting for someone to sail them.                   

This one Jen! It's a bloody museum Will...

That was about all our poor senses could handle, time to head home. We rambled up La Rambla, towards home, but there were so many people. We were freaking out. We thought we would duck into the Carrefour market to get some food for tomorrow (back to camping, and time to get smart and stop slacking) but what a nightmare. So many people, none of us Spanish or knowing what anything was...bit of a comedy there, but food was purchased and we choofed on back to the hotel. It's been a great visit in Barclelona, and tomorrow it's the train to Blanes (taking some advice from other cycling bloggers). Ready for another ride, walking is hard...(17.88kms today).