Port Vell, Barcelona

We are still in Barcelona as today we are being joined by three of Luke’s friends who are joining us for the next four days. Last night we went out for supper to celebrate the exam results – we had a wonderful meal, (the fish is very good here) and toasted with white sangria which I had never had before and to which I could get quite accustomed! (I think it is champagne based?)

This morning we went shopping to stock up on provisions and luckily we found a little supermarket that was open as it is Assumption Day here and most of the shops are closed. We did a load of washing in the laundry facilities at the marina and tidied up the boat….and we looked wistfully across the marina at the super yachts in envy who had crew doing all this for them! We had lunch at a beach hut styled restaurant that played very cool music and served wonderful salads and burgers. (Cool music as in the Rolling Stones and a reggae version of Papa was a Rolling Stone) Then we hired electric scooters and bicycles and cycled the length of the beach front. As it is a holiday here today the beach was full of people and there was a good vibe. The beach front area is wonderful, it must rate as one of the best in any city, a very long paved promenade with cycle routes with people cycling, roller blading and walking. In fact Barcelona was recently voted the world's top beach city by National Geographic. We were last in Barcelona ten years ago and that was just after I had done a course on Gaudi’s architecture so we saw every bit of his architecure in the city. We did not visit the beach, so it is good to see another side of the city.

We plan to leave early tomorrow morning to go south along the coast to the port of Sitges. I am hoping that the winds will be in my favour (meaning coming from behind the boat) so that it is not too choppy and I don’t get seasick again. (Just in case I have bought Stugeron as recommended by Hillary’sView.)

This is a view of Port Vell with the city just behind it, and the boat in the foreground is the one we are on.