It’s a fair old distance from Gibralter to Barcelona. I seem to remember the captain saying it was 420 nautical miles – but that might have been from Cádiz. Or it might have been the distance from Casablanca to Cádiz! Anyway we had a whole day and a half motoring ahead. Plenty of time to catch up on the blog! But somehow, that never happened. And here we are, two weeks later, frantically packing the caravan and getting “organised” to go – yep – back to Spain! (Just arrived this afternoon in real time!) Still writing this last episode of the cruise saga!
All passengers received a compensatory offer of US$ 1000 off any future cruise. So a good part of the day was spent considering what options were available. However, on reflection, it appears that Regent Seven Seas price their cruises at such a level to make what should have been a “no-brainer” a “brainer”. Glenda really doesn’t enjoy being bounced around on the ocean waves. We prefer river cruises. For a number of reasons including waves and crowds!
Anyway – back to Gibralter! Breakfast was a relaxed affair for a change. No excursion to catch (or, occasionally, to NOT catch)! It was also less busy than usual. A lot of other people not rushing! And, not only that, but a significant number of passengers had abandoned ship to travel to Barcelona by taxi, train, plane or stage coach so they wouldn’t miss their connecting flights to the States. Actually, I don’t think many deserters took coaches – stage or otherwise!
During the cruise we had dined three times on table 10 in Chartreuse, the French-style restaurant. Probably our favourite, although the main restaurant, the Compass Rose, was also excellent. At breakfast, we were approached by Zolan, the maitre-d’ of Chartreuse.
(Would you buy a used car from this guy?)
“Where are you dining tonight?” Words that would come back to haunt us! I guess several of his bookings for the evening were on the stage coach! And his restaurant prided itself on always being full!
So Chartreuse it would be!
But in the meantime we had a few pieces of jigsaw to put in place on deck 6 (there was always a puzzle on the go.) A bit of practice at shuffleboard (harder than it looks) on deck 11. We had a 22 mile walk to do round the top deck 14 times. To be fair, 20 of those miles were provided by the ship blasting along at top speed.
Then, of course, there was afternoon tea to be taken at 4 pm in the Horizon Lounge. To the accompaniment of the resident classical guitarist. Scones, cream and jam, plus a full range of sandwiches and pastries. I think by this stage in the cruise we limited ourselves to a coffee éclair. One between the two of us. Oh, maybe there was a scone involved too!
And so to Chartreuse…
Served as usual by our favourite duo. Angel above (as angels should be) and Mary below: Both from the Philippines.
As we sat down to eat, we we treated to a fabulous show of dolphin skill. For what seemed like ages, five dolphins were surfing down the bow wave immediately outside our window. Five of them – equally spaced. Must have been part of a synchronised swimming team. Clever too – staying effectively stationary while swimming down hill facing the ship and moving sideways at 20 knots! It seemed like they were there for ages, but in reality it was probably for less than 20 seconds start to finish.
And, as we dined on mushroom soup, rack of lamb and crème brulée, the sun set beside us over a beautifully calm Mediterranean Sea. As I said, the calm before the storm!
In the middle of the night, as we slept, the wind got up and started us rocking and rolling again. And this time, as it had been so calm earlier, no sea-sickness tablets had been swallowed! Suffice it to say, that Glenda spent a lot of time in the bathroom that night and the following morning.
We were supposed to vacate the cabin by 11 o’clock, preferably earlier, so the crew could clear out the cabins ready for the 700 slightly angry guests on the next cruise. They’d already had to move into hastily arranged accommodation in Barcelona and they had missed best part of two days cruising. They weren’t going to be starting off happy!
We were given special dispensation to stay in our cabin until we were called to disembark. At this point, we were offered assistance and a wheel chair. Anything to make sure we got off the boat! Of course, both were refused and we staggered off to find ourselves in a 10 mile walkway to the baggage reclaim area.
We soon discovered that Uber doesn’t really work well in Barcelona. (We found out later that he city is Cabify territory!) So we took a taxi to the hotel where one of us collapsed into bed which was, fortunately, very close to the bathroom!
By the middle of the night, I joined Glenda in her sea-sickness, which by then had been reclassified as food poisoning. Thank you Zolan! Or was it the éclair???
The next morning we decided that the only thing we were up for was the hop-on-hop-off bus. So we hopped on – and only hopped off to change from the green route to the red route!
Barcelona is a huge and fabulous city with some magnificent architecture plus some weird and wonderful buildings courtesy of Mr Gaudi. But it is VERY big and VERY busy. Motorbikes and scooters everywhere – partly because parking is hard to find and prohibitively expensive. But bike parking is free and abundant along many streets. This happens to be the view from our balcony.
As is this. That’s Casa Battlo, one of Gaudi’s developments, slightly left of centre. And you can’t get many hotel rooms closer!
We’ll come back to that building later. Various views of grand buildings as seen from our tour of the city …
At the Plaza de Catalonia …
Primark – just like their shop in Torquay … NOT!
That’s the Arc de Triomf. It was designed by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas for the first Spanish World Fair in 1888. It was designed as the main entrance for the fair in Parc Ciutadella beyond the archway..
Castell dels Tres Dragons – The Castle of Three Dragons! It was built between 1887 and 1888 as a Café-Restaurant for the 1888 Universal Exposition of Barcelona.
Barcelona’s answer to London’s Gherkin – the Torre Glories. Thirty three floors to the top at 144 metres.
The next significant landmark goes by the snappy name of “The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família”, otherwise known as Sagrada Família, or simply Antoni Gaudi’s Cathedral. It’s a church under construction – the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world!
A truly ridiculous edifice. Ridiculous, but fabulous! But not an easy building to work on! Construction started on the project in 1882; 142 years ago! Apparently, the “finished” building will have 18 spires of which 13 or 14 have already been constructed. The final height is planned to be 170 m (540 feet!).
A fleeting view of the city from the Jardin del Doctor Pla i Armengol. These gardens are located in the high ground to the NW of the city. First opened in 1930, and, sfter being closed for decades, the park and gardens finally reopened in 2019. A lovely place for a picnic with a view! The Glorious Tower is just visible in the distance.
The twin Venetian towers guard the entrance to the Plaça d’Espanya. This is one of Barcelona’s most important squares, built on the occasion of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
The old bull ring can just be seen on the right side of the square. Now a shopping centre since bull fighting was outlawed in this part of Spain.
There was a fairly statuesque statue in the middle of the Plaça. Apparently, Gaudi.had some influence in its design!
The Venetian Towers lead to the Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, an avenue commonly used to host trade fairs. On this occasion, wedding dresses were being promoted. They were all over the shop. Some being modelled randomly in the street …
… and others were whisked around on an overhead gantry …
The final landmark of interest was Camp Nou the Barcelona Football club stadium.
Opened in 1957, it is now undergoing an extensive renovation. In fact, it looks like there is a whole new stadium being built around and subsuming the original building.
It had been cold all day in Barcelona. Certainly, in relation to everywhere else on this holiday. And after best part of five hours sitting on the open upper deck of the tour bus, we were really ready for a hot cup of tea and an early night.
The next day, after a late and careful breakfast, we walked the short distance to Gaudi’s Battlo House.
A collection of images from within the building showed almost no straight lines or flat surfaces. Quite amazing!
Fancy mirrors …
… fireplaces …
… windows …
… and ceilings!
A view of our Room Mate Anna Hotel (with white screen on the roof-top terrace).
The internal light well. The windows get smaller upwards and the tiles get deeper blue. The idea being to “equalise” the light reaching each floor.
Camouflaged chimney stacks …
… and general gaudi embellishments! What a house. What a nightmare to maintain! But beautiful, in a weird and wonderful way! Time for a cup.of tea and a rest before an excursion on foot to see the world famous Rambla.
Lovely architecture, but as a walk it’s much overrated. It’s full of tourist tat stalls and very crowded. Better to nip into one of the hotels to admire their internal patios:
Or take to the side streets to discover quieter little squares with cafés, fountains and wonderful views.
… and this is the entrance to the Ministerio de Cultura. Just like Torquay Town Hall!
Barcelona’s intercontinental ballistic missile launch pad hidden in the historic centre!
Barcelona Cathedral lurking above the streets of the Gothic Quarter and as viewed from the Placita de La Seu below:
Back at base, we explored the eighth floor of the Room Mate Anna hotel – the roof rerrace with pool and tapas bar:
In the morning, it was time to head to the airport. We got a taxi outside the hotel which was unloading a passenger fresh from the airport. We took the cab straight back and arrived nice and early. First at the departure area … Rather too early …
… for our Squeezy Jet flight to Bristol and our last view of Spain as we cross the snow-capped Pyrenees. And that’s the end of this eventful trip!
We will.be back in Spain in two weeks. Until then “Hasta la Vista!”
When I visited Barcelona with friends from Stanthorpe, we went walking along La Rambla and as you found it very busy. We explored the Gothic Quarter and came across the cathedral. it was a Sunday and there was a local folk dance group there dancing in front of the steps of the cathedral. We were told this is a weekly event. So we spent a lovely time watching the dancers ( not tempted to join in as many onlookers were).
Enjoy your caravanning holiday. Looking forward to all the forthcoming stories from Spain.
We thoroughly enjoyed your blog of the entire trip! We’ve been talking about taking a similar trip but we haven’t taken the plunge yet.
Have a great time on your caravan trip to Spain and we look forward to the stories.
Stay safe!