More on Barcelona

Okay - for those of you who thought yesterday's post was a bit thin - I was just seeing if you were awake!!

Barcelona deserves two posts at least!

On the Sunday when we went site seeing we started off with the Sagrada Familia which is the fairytale structure that you saw on yesterday's blog. Its the most fantastic Gaudi Temple. There are turrets and niches and gargoyles and wotnot all over the place. In fact it needs a day to itself. It was a bit disappointing as its being cleaned and so part of it was covered in scaffolding and there were also piles of building materials around so it was not at its best. There were also queues of people waiting to get in so we walked all around the outside and then jumped in a cab which took us to Plaza Catalunya at one end of Las Ramblas.

This was the start of a marathon walk - but oh so enjoyable. We walked the length of Las Ramblas - stopping for liquid and solid refreshments along the way (luckily for Derek and unluckily for me it was Sunday so a lot of the shops were closed). However, had I wanted a retail fest there was plenty of that when we reached Port Vell - the recreational port that Las Ramblas ends at. All around the port were street stalls selling quite upmarket "must haves" interspersed with street musicians, most of which were great!

We wandered down to the shopping mall that you have to cross a bridge to reach but that was a modern shopping mall just like the ones we have here (but a good source of public conveniences).

From the Port we followed the path round the sailing boat marina and walked along a wide pedestrian way that had little bars and more street musicians - a pit stop for a G&T and a listen to the music before continuing on our way. we eventually made it to the sea front with beaches, that wonderful piece of modern art that is in yesterdays Blog which was all athletes, and bars upon bars. A slow walk along the front admiring sand scuptures (must be heartbreaking when they get washed away.

We kept walking (sunset now) sometimes the path was on the beach and sometimes we were looking down on the beach and there were bars and cafes set into the walls of the walkway. We trotted down onto the beach for dinner and then up again. walking through the touristy area with loads of smart restaurants and then around the olympic harbour.

After that it got quieter and less touristy until we were literally walking along a sandy track looking down on the beach. It was completely dark by this time and getting later so some of the chiringuitos on the beach were heaving. We stopped every now and again to watch the dancing and listen to the "music". It was one of the best days I have had anywhere. Just great to keeping walking and walking. We thought we could get back to our hotel the way we were going but we weren't certain that the path went the full distance but it did.

Fabulous Day!