Barcelona - Day One

Day One

Date:     30 March 2013

Place:    Barcelona

Weather:  Sunny and High teens

Accommodation:             Hostal Benidorm

 

The Adventure begins!

 



We arrived in Barcelona around midday after twenty-four hours of travelling.  It was long and tiring however Emirates were a fantastic airline with great food and wonderful in-flight entertainment.  We quickly found a taxi and made our way to our Barcelona accommodation.  It was chosen because of its proximity to La Rambla – our hotel fronts this famous boulevard.

After a shower and a freshen up the tired travellers did what every Spaniard and tourist was doing on La Rambla:  strolling.  It seems to be a Saturday afternoon past-time.  Dotted along the traffic free boulevard are souvenir shops, food outlets, touters selling toys and florists.

 

Just off the La Rambla are wonderful food markets - the seafood section.

 



The plane trees are starting to sprout green leaves and we were lucky to arrive to a sun-filled Barcelona with warm temperatures.

La Rambla is a very long street so we had ample opportunity to inspect shops and stalls along the way to Placa Catalunya at the end of the street.  The Placa was abuzz with people sitting in the sun and watching an instrumental band play.

 

Enjoying our strolling....Placa Catalunya.

 



Choosing a different route we branched off La Rambla to find the Cathedral of Barcelona.  It is an imposing and very impressive Gothic  building built in 1298 replacing an earlier Romanesque church.  For an entry fee of 6 euros we wandered the magnificent stone cathedral and were very impressed with the intricately carved central choir place (built in the 1390’s) and surrounding chapels dedicated to saints.  Many of the iconic tempura paintings were painted in the 13 and 14^th centuries.  We walked down some steps under the main altar to see St Elalia’s crypt where an alabaster tomb lies.

 

Bet you can't spot the tourists down the bottom....heaving with people.

 

The magnificent vaulted ceilings of the cathedral.

 



After our wanderings we took the lift up to the top level and were able to see the reconstruction of the towers and overlook Barcelona.

We passed several beautiful and well laid-out squares surrounded by restaurants.  As we neared La Rambla a recommendation from a neighbour prompted us to enjoy a wonderful first evening of tapas with a wonderful rose….this could be our signature wine for the trip!

We strolled back to our hotel popping into shops and loving the patisseries with their Easter traditional cooking.  What a lovely start to our Spanish adventure.

 

 

What can I say....I'll be back!