Day 12 - Beaches and Fountains

Sunday was another beach day! Yea!

We stayed in Barcelona this time and it was fabulous!

After the beach we went back to the flat, I think I took a nap and then we went roaming.

We ended up at the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. From 9:00 until 11:00 they do a water and light show set to music every 30 minutes. It was really beautiful. You can see the progression of the sunset in my pictures as we sat through several of the performances.

These are just a few of the people waiting for the show to start. They are sitting on the steps leading up to the National Palace of Montjuic.

This was on the way back to Den's flat. You can see the palace in the distance. Quite an impressive sight...



Days 10 & 11

After the long day at Tarragona, we decided to take it easy the next few days to recouperate.

On Friday ( Day 10) I started my day off with a nice long run along the beach.

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you are feeling) this place was closed or I would have had a great after run cocktail....at 10:30 in the morning.

After my run we went for fish pedicures....



and a nice massage.

Then it was off to Christina's fitting for her wedding dress which is absolutely beautiful. I think she will make a beautiful bride in just a few short months!

Saturday (Day 11) was just as restful....

We saw some ancient Roman columns....

Went for a walk down by the port, searched for Christopher Columbus, and took a ride on a lion...

And there was napping.....lots of wonderful, peaceful napping. :)



Day 9 - Tarragona

Today we got up and caught the train to Tarragon which is about an hour and 20 minute ride south of the city along the coast. We visited this great city last year and if you want to read about it you can here.

Once we got there, we headed straight to the cathedral. When we went last year, it was closed for renovations so we were hoping that it would be open this time. We learned that it would be opening for the first time today at 5:00! Luck was on our side. But since it was only 1:00 we decided to have lunch and then start exploring.

On our way we saw a large crowd of people and police all gathered by a street. It turns out that one of the buildings fell in the night and pretty much blocked the entire road. A while later we ran into a police officer who told us that the man who owned the house had died the day before. No one lived there and it had been vacant for a while so there were no injuries or casualties but the timing sure was weird.

 We decided to eat at one of the restaurants to the left of the yellow taxi cab. It was delicious!

I was excited to go back because I really loved Tarragona last year but I wanted to see something different this time. So I researched and found information about the Puente del Diablo which translates to the Devil's Bridge, which you can still visit and is part of the Francoli aqueduct. They esitmate that this bridge dates back to the time of Augustus.

Den had never seen this before so we went in search of the Devil's Bridge. Most of everything that you would want to see in Tarragona is all close to the sea and within walking distance of each other. This was NOT! It is actually a few miles outside of the city so we walked for a ways and then found the right bus and caught a quick ride out of the city. We were surprised when the bus pulled over on the highway and just let us off! But we were right at the entrance to a beautiful park that they created near the aqueduct. After a short little walk, we were not disappointed by what we saw.

Mom and Den climbed to the top!

Once we decided we had seen enough, we walked back out to the highway to wait for the bus.

Bus stop on the side of the highway.

We got on the bus and rode for about 30 minutes until we made it back to the city. And it was a very lively 30 minutes. At one stop, we got to witness a fight between two of the bus riders. When they were exiting the blond girl said something to the girl in the blue shirt and she said loudly "Say that again to my face!" and just went after her. Here are some of the pics I got of the altercation.

Self Portrait on the bus

By now the cathedral would be opening soon so we hiked back up into the old part of the city and entered the cloisters, which then led us to the cathedral.

Pictures from inside the cloisters

Pictures from inside the cathedral.

At this point we were all pretty tired so we headed back down to the train station and called it a night!
Today is a recovery day, just staying close to the flat. We have a couple of fun activites planned this afternoon. Will post about them later tonight!

 

Day 8 - Mt. Tibidabo

Today we decided to visit Mt. Tibidabo. One of the highest points in the city. On top of the mountain is the Temple de Sagrat Cor and a small amusement park. There are also some pretty spectacular views of the city.
To reach the top, we took the Tramvia Blau half way up the mountain and then the Funicular Tibidabo the rest of the way.

On the way up the mountain we passed several beautiful old homes.

Once we reached to top, we saw the beautiful Temple de Sagrat Cor.

and decided to see how close we could get to the statue of Jesus at the top.

You can see mom and Christina up at the top. Turns out you can get pretty close.

This is us in the elevator that takes you up to the top.

Here are some other pics of the amusement park and other views.

We were curious about several locks that were placed on some of the railings. Upon further inspection we realized that they all had names of couples on them. Several were even engraved. We think this might be a place where people place locks when they become engaged or married, similar to the bridge in Paris.

After our exploring we were famished, so we headed back down the mountain to an Irish pub in Den's neighborhood. After a great meal, we decided to take a nap. The rest of our evening included a trip to the grocery and a movie.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Happy 4th to you all! I sure will miss seeing some fireworks tonight.

Day 7 - Sagrada Familia

This morning we got up early to beat the lines at Sagrada Familia. It was beautiful as ever...

 On the left is the old side and on the right is the new side.

The three pictures above kind of made me mad. They charge 13 euros per person to enter this cathedral (and hunderds of people enter daily) and this is the kind of sound system they have put in place? Wires crossing the floor and cords everywhere? I certainly hope this is temporary because it really takes away from the beauty and serenity of the cathedral.

The rest of  the day was pretty relaxed. We had pizza for lunch.....

Then we wandered the neighborhood and ended up at Santa Maria del Mar again.

And then pinchos for dinner....again. :)