I often liken cruise travel to tapas — you get a lot of small plates of different places as part of one meal. Sometimes the dishes are new and exciting. At other times, they’re a favorite dish that you return to again and again. Without a doubt, Barcelona is familiar comfort food for our traveling soul.
To make the most of our day, we hightailed it off the ship as soon as possible and grabbed a taxi for Park Guell. Given the excellent weather, we thought it a good day to see Gaudi’s fanciful park for the first time (it’s one of the few major sights in Barcelona we’ve missed on prior visits). It did not disappoint any of us.
We then hoped in a taxi to La Sagrada Familia, which Mom had never seen. While I showed Mom the church, Libby and Emerson played in the park across the street.
From there we walked: into and through the Eixample to view the Modernista architecture and upscale shopping, down into the Barri Gotic for more Modernista architecture and a visit to Barcelona’s cathedral, over to Las Ramblas for some shopping and lunch (tapas!) at La Boqueria market, further down Las Ramblas to the waterfront, into the docklands, over a bridge, and back to our ship about an hour before “all aboard.”
Here’s a view from atop Barcelona’s cathedral:
Aside from Parc Guell, most of this was familiar to us. But, we had a great day — like visiting an old and cherished friend.
While we were out galavanting on foot, Libby’s parents took the ho-ho bus around town for a motorized tour. They’d been to Spain before but not to Barcelona. So, this gave them a good overview of the city.
In the evening, we all met up for dinner at Jasmine Garden.