December 4 Sunday - Up at 3:00 AM for a 3:30 transfer to the Tel Aviv airport UGH! The drive to the airport takes about 40 min and getting through security and check-in went well and only took another 50 min. No fooling around here, they tell you why they are searching and questioning you “want to know if someone gave you something to take on board that could be a bomb to blow up a plane”. No question about it, certainly felt very safe getting on a plane leaving here. Their system is efficient, well organized, and very thorough. Our flight to Barcelona on Spanair was 4 1/2 hours long. We figured it must have been one of those discount airlines as they were even charging for water....and the seats were very close together thus hardly any leg room. Not one we’ll likely use again.
Getting through immigration into Europe is a breeze once again. Once we locate M’s international mobile phone we call the apartment manager who is to meet us at the flat we’ve rented for our stay in Barcelona. We’ve off in a taxi to find the flat, he knows where he is going. It takes us about 20 min to arrive. We’re pleased with the place - it has everything we need to make our stay comfy.
Once we’ve checked in and dropped our bags we head off around the corner and find a great place for lunch with a deli next door, so we buy a few things for dinner tonight. Next we find a convenience store just up the street that’s open (as it’s Sunday and most stores are closed) and get the rest for dinner and some fruit for breakfast. We head back to the apartment and enjoy the rest of the day just chilling out, reading, and sitting around. Having been on tours for the last month, we don’t want to spend time on a set schedule this week.
December 5 - Monday - Up when we want and get some breakfast in us. This week J will use the time to finish up any work due next week so when we go home, he can start his school break. M and T decide to go out for a cap and check out the neighborhood. We are pleased with the location of the apartment - a safe neighborhood with all kinds of shops we had fallen in love with while staying in Italy. Oh yeah we say to each other - this is going to be a great week. We love the European cities of little shops along the streets serving all kinds of stuff. There’s a coffee shop next door to our building, so with our extremely limited Spanish, order our coffees. We kind of use a mix of Italian, Spanish, and English, but are able to successfully get what we want.
Our tour around the neighborhood (a couple of blocks) located a couple of grocery stores that we go to stock up on groceries for part of the week. It would appear that shops around here also close for siesta in the afternoon.
The remainder of the day is spent organizing lists for things to get done before and during our time at home. With a good bottle of wine and a home cooked meal, we enjoy our evening at the apt. and watch a movie.
December 6 - Tuesday - J’s working on more assignments this am while we go for our morning cap and walk around the neighborhood to see what other shops are around. Found a bread shop, pastry and coffee shop, butcher and deli with funky stuff. Oh, the place is a gastronomic feast and the windows are beckoning to us... Another day of kicking back . During our afternoon exploratory walk, found a metro stop, checked out the map and located our address compared to the sights we wanted to check out. We aren’t too far from some of the places and we can enjoy walking around to find them.
December 7 - Wednesday - With our morning cap trip completed and J finishing up on a couple of assignments, laundry done and hung, it’s time to go out for a walk to locate the Sagrada Familia Basilica, one of the iconic buildings designed by Gaudi. Having read that Barcelona is home to and known for his architecture, T was interested in checking it out. As well, J had seen pictures of this building. Armed with a map and a route more or less picked out we are off.
Walking along the streets its a treat to loot at the wonderful architecture and many apartments with wrought iron balconies. There’s are many narrow one way streets with little shops and eateries. Then we came across beautiful wide boulevards with trees and lots of space for pedestrians, bikes and vehicles to co-exist. All three of us enjoyed the walk to the church.
As we got close to the site, we came across a Christmas market with a number of small booths selling decorations as well as live Christmas trees. The trees were much smaller than what we normally would see at home on a lot, however, since so many people around here live in apartments, it makes sense. We stopped and bought a Christmas ornament to add to our collection we’ve been accumulating on the trip. It’ll be neat to add them to the tree when we get home.
This Basilica was designed and construction began in the early 1900’s and is still a work in progress. Through donations and admission fees, the continued construction is financed. We decided to pay the additional fee to take the lift up one of the towers for a bird’s eye view of Barcelona. We had to wait an hour for this, but it was so worth it. We spent time outside of the entrance reading displays and understanding the complexity of the design - what is completed and what is yet to be. At the moment there are 2 facades completed, the Passion and the Nativity. We entered at the Passion entrance. The detail on the outside of the church is striking, with various stages of the Passion depicted in sculpture-form.
Once we entered the Basilica, we were blown away at the sight. Gaudi’s vision of the interior as a forest is beautifully depicted in the complexity of the pillars and ceiling. The stain glass that is completed was aglow with the sunrays - amazing!! This Basilica is so different from the many we have been in throughout our travels. It was a pleasure to just sit and admire.
Our trip up one of the towers took us up to about 200 meters. Throughout the tower, every turn we took produced a different view of the city below. Once back down, we exited the church through the Nativity entrance. The exterior facade is very complex with intricate sculptures of Jesus’ birth. Can’t imagine how long it took to do these. It was a feast for the eyes.
The walked back a slightly different route, but had no trouble getting back just before it was dark. We enjoyed a nice dinner, movie and popcorn then off to bed.
December 8 - Thursday - Usual morning routine and this afternoon T decided we should go out exploring another area of Barcelona: Park Guell one of the many urban parks in the city. We again walked along one way streets, we figure helps keep traffic flowing in the older parts of the city. Through our walks along the way we have noticed many one way roads, things seem to be very well organized in this city. We have also been really impressed with how clean it is here. We often see workers with their “wicked witch brooms” sweeping the sidewalks and streets. The walk took us about 40 min. and managed to find our way to a steep street with escalators giving respite to the uphill climber to the entrance of the park. Judging from watching people huff and puff their way up the streets, we happened to find an easier way to get close to the park entrance. Pretty neat idea concerning the escalators - likely 3 blocks were this way with another 2 blocks of steep sidewalk.
We saw some local performers - expressing their views via music.
We manage to find our way back to our apt in about 30 min. through many neighborhoods lined with apt/condo buildings as well as little mom and pop shops.
December 9 - Friday - Usually morning routine complete with workout and school work complete, and we’re off to lunch at this great cafe just down the street where we’ve been picking up delicious quiche for some breakfasts as well as the last couple of mornings our caps while sitting outside on the terrace enjoying the sun. Gotta love the fact it’s Dec. and we’re sitting in light coats enjoying the place.
After lunch we’re off to walk along the Passeig de Gracia, check out some more modernist buildings designed by Gaudi. We admired “La Pedrera” (the Quarry) and Casa Batlló which both were busy with tourists checking out these funky masterpieces. Even J remarked “No doubt in my mind, that’s a Gaudi”. Each of his designs depict a story. The use of different textures and materials for the exterior add to the complexity.
We enjoyed the walk and being in the hussle and bustle of the shopping districts of Barcelona. The boulevards are wide with lots of space to walk and enjoy. All three of us enjoy architecture and atmosphere.
We decided to go out for dinner tonight, so we walk back down to Piazza Gracia area and find a restaurant open . We had a great waiter who helped us to make great choices for a wonderful meal out. We finish our dinner around 9:30 and head back to the apt. a 15 min walk.
December 10 - Saturday - While J worked on some work, we went for our morning cap. We thoroughly enjoyed making our way through the neighborhood shops, to pick up groceries for the next few nights. We’re pretty sure that most stores will be closed Sunday. We haven’t been here long enough to figure out when/why some shops are not open. This week we’ve tried to get to a couple of shops only to find them closed while others around them are still open for business. Again we were off to explore another area not too far from where we are staying.
December 11 - Sunday - J completes more assignments while T and M go out for a walk around the neighborhood and stop for a cap. We decide to go for another walk this afternoon to get some exercise and enjoy Barcelona. We head via a different direction to the main area Piazza Gracia and find a small tapas bar to enjoy a fabulous lunch.
We decided to try the meal of the day, with local cuisine and were not at all disappointed in the cuisine - delicious. We so enjoy walking around this part of the city, where there’s high density housing and likely most people walk or take the metro places. December 12 - Monday - Our last day in Barcelona, and we’re going to do some exploring further afield. J has a science test to complete and then we’re off. We plan to take the metro to Catalunya station and then walk through the Rambo District toward the waterfront. The metro station is right outside of where we’ve been enjoying our morning caps on the outside terrace for most of the week. It’s two blocks from the apt. We had spent some time studying the map, so we knew which metro to take.
The metro station is well laid out and a local decides to help us out for buying tickets. This makes things faster, although we ‘d have figured it out. We locate our line and within 2 min. we are on the train. About 10 min later, we are at the station. We walk up to street level and cross to walk along the pedestrian boulevard through the Rambo District. The area is busy with people and we walk along enjoying the sights. It only takes us about 15 min. to walk to a large monument of important people in Barcelona’s history. This is right across from a wonderful promenade along the waterfront. A bunch of the area was revitalized for the Barcelona 1992 summer Olympics and they did a fabulous job. We were near a marina, and not far from here are some of Barcelona’s wonderful beaches.
It’s a warm sunny day, about 17 C and we’re walking in shirt sleeves. We’re relishing this, since we know it won’t be this warm back home. We have been so lucky with the weather. Everywhere else in Spain, there’s been rain, and we’ve been having sunshine. We enjoyed the walk and then stopped at a cafe for J to have a bite to eat and we had refreshments. Once fortified we were off to continue our exploration of the city. The streets are narrower in this part of the city, we could definitely see its the older area. We wandered the streets back in the general direction of the metro station. We came upon another Christmas market in front of the Cathedral.
Of course this church had a wonderful facade, we decided against paying an entrance fee to go inside. Instead we happened along another pedestrian only street lined with shops and busy with locals. We soon reached a familiar street that led
It took us no time at all to get our tickets and find our train platform, it was pretty easy. Once back at the apt. we prepared dinner as well as prepped our suitcases for tomorrow morning’s departure.
December 12 - Tuesday - Up at 7:30, breakfast of delicious quiche from the Deli down the block - Yum! Every thing is packed and our taxi is coming at 9:15 to take us to the airport. Our flight to London leaves at 11:30. Taxi’s on time and traffic moved quite smoothly, so we are at the airport by 9:50. Check - in is a breeze. The airport is well organized. We decided to have our morning cap at the airport. We are all looking forward to going home.
We had a 2.5 hr lay-over in London. As we went through the security section for connections we find out we are being up-graded. Cool we think, as we have basic tickets. After a decent lunch we board to find out we are in business class. Oh Yeah!! Right on!! J is thrilled to finally get to experience BC as often he has voiced a desire to be able to travel in this class, but T is too cheap to pay the difference in cost. So, we thoroughly enjoy the 8 hour flight home.
We arrive on time, however, do need to wait about 20 min. on the tarmac as there is a plane at the gate where we were supposed to park. We see there is little to no snow on the ground and the temperature is 2 C - alright. When we finally park, we are through customs, fairly quickly and our good friend Paula is there to great us and take us home. It’s good to see her. The drive home is short and J is thrilled to be back at home and gives his cousin a big hug and pats the living room floor. It’s good to be home for the month.
