Friday - Full Day of Exploring Barcelona

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No time for anything on our whistle stop visit to Barcelona apart from enjoy and get as much out of time here as possible.

Today we planned to get the Hop On- Hop Off bus at 9am. We were up at 7:30 after a good nights sleep in a very comfortable bed! Ben even managed to get going quickly too without any cajoling to get out of bed and dressed. He was up and out on the Terrace on the lounger while I got ready then he got his self dressed while I organised the bag and directions and booking the bus.

We went for breakfast to a little cafe on the way to the bus stop, not far from the hotel and the map was consulted for directions. The area we are in, L’Eixample, has big wide streets , reminding me where we stayed in Valencia actually. Stunning architecture and lovely calm weather and today was to get to 19 so I even wore the dress.

We got the bus and were going in the Blue Route at first and hopping off for the Parc Guell, walk up the hill to it and wander through the paths. It was notable for the views over the city, the unmistakable Gaudi in the massive tiled Bench which rippled round the edge of Placa de la Matura, the 84 columns with a ceiling of colourful mosaic tiles. The three viaducts set into the hillside and the musician that was busking on one of the hills. I felt that it wasn’t signposted enough in the paths to know where we were heading. It was good though. We headed out down the hill back to the bus stop to pick up the bus again.

Next was the stop to take us to the highest point of Barcelona at the Tibidado Park taking the funicular to the top to get there. The views opened up as we got higher and getting off at the top was spectacular seeing the city and the sea and seeing the Sagrada Familia pushing up higher than its surroundings. The view was amazing.

There was a big wheel, old fashioned carousel, a plane suspended on a crane that swung round over the sheer drop. There was also a church that looked like a Disney castle with Jesus on the top. The park opened in 1908 and also has a museum. It’s was quite strange seeing all this stuff at the top of the mountain!

We walked up hill to get to the funicular but got the bus back down the hill to pick up the hop on bus. Although we felt sure we had the right one when it started going in the opppsite direction of where we wanted to go I asked three 20 year old ladies if we were heading to our stop and they confirmed yeah it was so that was helpful. If you need to ask anything choose a young person!

We decided to say on the blue route right till we would pick up the red route. We had been on the go since early so it was fine to just sit on the bus now till the Placa Catalunya , through quite a lot of areas of interest but we were starving and needed to eat, it was 4:30 and we hadn’t eaten till we were at a bakery around 12 o’clock and ice cream up at Tibadado! We went to a place in our neighbourhood but popped into a bakery on the way and ate croissants. The bakeries here are epic with many variations on croissants and so hard to resist…..

Nice meal, short walk back to our hotel. Up on the rooftop just above our room for a lovely sunset and some selfie fun.

I had a cuppa in our room and we walked down to Catalunya again and popped in El Corte Ingles and to the rooftop for a juice . Magnificent views from the restaurant on the 7th floor down the the Placa. Lots going on at 8pm - different way of life - still warm. For us anyway!

We wandered home and had a rest before bed around 10 absolutely shattered.

Fab day.