We all arrived at breakfast this morning ready to go by 8am
sharp. The group enjoyed a beautiful
continental breakfast. Pastries, cheese,
cold meat, cereal and coffee. It was
just what everyone needed after getting a good night’s sleep.
We were energised and ready to go for our big day in
Barcelona.
We headed over to the Hop On Hop Off bus station outside
Gaudi’s Famous Sagrada Familia Basilica.
That joint is huge but I will share more about it tomorrow after our
tour inside it. Nevertheless you can see
a pic of us walking through the park towards it here.
Anyway we jumped on the bus and started to do a lap of this
amazing city. I have not taken a real
lot of photos today but below you can see our ragtag group atop the big red
beast.
I think it was a ‘photo off’ between Will and Tiff today.
On our rounds we visited the famous Barcelona Cathedral,
grand gothic masterpiece begun in the 13th century and completed
about 600 years later. This was the
first time a lot of our group had been inside such a place. They are of course overwhelming inside,
massive columns, ornate statues and chapels, candles burning and so on. Some of our kids decided to take a moment and
sit quietly and pray in that sublime space too which was really nice. Luckily we had bought some scarves earlier
that day while looking around Park Guell, as some of the girls had to use them
like sarongs to be allowed in due to the length of their shorts and tops. A very conservative place indeed it had the
fun police at the door barring entrance to any ladies they deemed too scantily
clad.
We have managed to pick up a tag-along friend on this tour
as well. He is a cheeky little Spaniard
by the name of Jimmy. You can see him
here sitting reckelessly atop the fence at the front of the cathedral, note the
fun police at the door.
Jimmy joined us at the gothic quarter of town yesterday and
was naked at the time. He has since
procured a Barcelona T-Shirt and a groovy green sombrero. I suspect you will see a bit more of Jimmy on
our travels, if you look closely at the bus tour image above you might see him
there too. I think he may have a crush
on Tiff, he seems to hang around her a lot.
He is planning to walk the Camino with us as well which will be
nice. Always good to have a local on
tour with you!
Of course being on tour in a foreign clime is always a good
opportunity to up your wardrobe repertoire.
Harry has added a very chic pair of classic black sunnies to his today.
Our tour took us past the Barcelona Marina and along the
beach front. I loved the rows of little
alleyways leading down towards the beach that we passed. Each telling a different story, each as
quaint as the last.
We spent some time walking along the beautiful beach front
as well, both the girls and boys were slightly surprised by the casual attitude
many European ladies have to swimwear, or lack of it. Not everything we saw was particularly
appealing but certainly there was some cultural education taking place. I have no photos to share on that score
obviously.
The day finished with an evening meal, our group went to a
few different places tonight for dinner.
Harry and I had pizza along with some of the others across the road from
the Sagrada Familia, it was pretty cool eating and people watching in such an
amazing place.
So, a big day done and dusted in Barcelona, tomorrow our
Sagrada Familia Tour and a look into Park Guell, Gaudi’s other famous landmark
in this wonderful city.
Buen Camino Pegrinos!
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