Thursday 9th February 2017

Las Ramblas

 

We have two flights today. The first will take us to Greece’s capital Athens and the second to our destination, Barcelona.

Originally our flight was scheduled to arrive in Barcelona at lunchtime. Unfortunately due to the cancellation of our second flight a few weeks ago and us subsequently having to find an alternative flight with a different airline we will now not be arriving until around 5pm.

Having read the guide books, we realise three full days in the Catalonian capital famed for its many architectural wonders will not be enough. We will see as much as we can and perhaps put it back on our bucket list for a repeat visit.

Our plan is to take a bus from the airport to the Plaça de Catalunya. Our hotel is situated a few minutes’ walk from the square. We intend to wander down the city’s most famous thoroughfare, Las Ramblas after checking in to our hotel.
We took the ‘Aero’ bus to Plaça de Catalunya. This bus runs every 5 minutes (for the majority of the day) and a large part of it is sectioned and shelved for luggage. As we need the last stop, we found it to be a convenient and very easy way to reach the city centre.

The bus travelled through the huge Plaça d’Espanya, where we managed a quick glance at the Palau Nacional which is home to the National Art Museum of Catalonia. The majestic building was beautifully illuminated by the sun which was just setting. On many evenings people gather here to see the art deco fountain in front of the palace come to life with music and colour. The fountain is known as the ‘magic fountain’, its water is coloured and dances in time to classical music, often culminating with an apt rendition of Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe’s ‘Barcelona’. Unfortunately we have learnt that the fountain is closed for annual maintenance during our stay.

We got off the bus in Catalonia Square and immediately spotted some interesting architecture along with a large imposing fountain. This square is at the heart of Barcelona and our hotel is just a few steps away.

After checking in at the 3* Hotel Atlantis, we immediately headed to Las Ramblas just a five minute walk away. This famous boulevard is just over a kilometre long and leads down to the Mediterranean Sea. Its centre is pedestrianised and has flower stalls, tourist and ticket information booths and souvenir stalls. The place is buzzing with people; many of the people like us are tourists. Tented eateries, with inviting glowing gas burners that offer their customers some warmth in this coolish month of February, are dotted between the other businesses. Whichever direction we turned, one of us exclaimed ‘look’ and pointed to a building, a fabulous facade, an unusual roof or some other architectural achievement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We passed a shop with a sculpture of a dragon, its walls decorated with umbrellas and fans. This building was once the home of a shop selling only umbrellas. It is now a bank.

We walked the full length of Las Ramblas; at the bottom of the popular boulevard is a statue of Christopher Columbus on a 60 metre tall column.

We continued the short way to Port Vell, the city’s marina, then turned round and headed back down Las Ramblas, wandering down some of the side streets in search of an eatery for dinner.

We finally decided on a busy place named ‘iTapas’, which offered an ‘all you can eat’ buffet for just 11.95 euro. We thought it would be an excellent opportunity to try the Spanish way of eating.

Seated on tall bar stools at a small square wooden table we took it in turns to go to the buffet and choose a selection of the small dishes for us both to sample. We tried meatballs with squid, vegetable spaghetti, paella, tiny pieces of baguette topped with blue cheese and sultanas (yuk!), and bright orange chorizo paste piled high (yummy).

There were also chicken wings served with rice, tiny chunks of the delicious Iberico ham, chickpea salad, pies and tiny burgers in tiny buns.
This delicious variety of tapas was accompanied by an equally delicious bottle of Rioja.

Feeling full and happy to be in Barcelona, we headed back to our hotel.

 

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