Barcelona, Spain

Part Three of a Very Long Day (Two Days, Actually!)

          It was a beautiful ride through the countryside of Spain on that early Sunday morning as the train quickly made its way from Madrid to Barcelona.  I was wide awake with anticipation despite having gone without sleep for two days by this time.  As you can imagine, I was desperately in need of the proverbial ‘shower, shave and shhh…shelter’, so when the train pulled into Barcelona around 11 AM I decided to take no chances and booked a room through the Tourism Office right at the train station.  Having heard that available hotel rooms were often difficult to find without reservations in this city and that bargain rooms were virtually nonexistent, I was pleasantly surprised when they were able to book me in a very adequate hotel right on La Rambla, the main pedestrian avenue in central Barcelona.  For the equivalent of $63.00 I got a nice room with private bath at the Hotel Fornos, including breakfast.

La Rambla

          Reenergized after a few hours rest, I headed out to explore the city of Barcelona.  All I had to do was walk out the front door of my hotel and I was on La Rambla (Las Ramblas).  Without worrying about cars, visitors can stroll this tree-line boulevard, watching the street performers, or window shopping or just cooling off with an ice cream cone.  Going in the direction of the waterfront I passed the Monument a Colom, commemorating Christopher Columbus, and emerged onto an open square with a beautiful view to the west of the Castell de Montjuic (Hill of the Jews), a fortress overlooking the city.

Down by the Waterfront

          It was a short walk to the harbor area on the Mediterranean Sea where tourists can visit the museum, an aquarium, a modernistic shopping center and the Olympic Village built for the 1992 Summer Olympics.  As an inveterate ‘people watcher’, I found myself milling around this area for several hours enjoying the sights as I mingled with the crowds.  I had as much fun as all the kids watching everyone feed the schools of fish from the footbridge going across the port.

Wrapped in Scaffolding

            On every trip there will be a few disappointments…important sights missed for one reason or another.  Sometimes you just don’t have time to see everything or the venue may be closed at the time of your visit.  In Barcelona it was the spires of the famous gothic Barcelona Cathedral (La Seu) wrapped in scaffolding.  Looking on the positive side, however, it is good to know that landmarks such as this are being maintained and preserved for posterity.  For the rest of my day in Barcelona, I walked the narrow streets of the old neighborhoods, including Barri Gotic, La Ribera, and El Raval.  After a relaxing dinner I returned to my hotel and hit the sack early.  It had been a very long two days, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world!

Barcelona, Spain