Last Stop: Catalunya!
Day #1 in Barcelona, Spain
| Back to itinerary |
On to
the next pictures |
For the last stop of my
trip, I took the train from Collioure, France, to Barcelona, Spain.
 |
 |
| First,
I took the 29-minute train from Collioure, France, to Port Bou, Spain
(3.30 euros, $4.60). We had a long wait at the Cerbere, France,
border station, where our passports were checked. At Port Bou, I
had a 1.5 hour layover. Here I am along the tracks in Port
Bou. The train to Barcelona came at 10:29 am and got to Barcelona
at around 1:00 pm for 9.60 euros ($13.50). I got off at the
Passeig de Gracia stop (rather than the end of the line) and walked to
my hotel. |
In
Barcelona, I stayed at Hosteria Grau, a
cheap place a long block or two
from the Ramblas. |
 |
 |
| Here
is my Hosteria Grau room. It had a giant bed, window, end tables,
a large armoire, sink, but most of all, awesome air-conditioning!!! |
Another
view of my room. |
 |
 |
| I
set out around 2:30 pm to explore. Here I am in Placa de
Catalunya, which had a very Trafalgar Square feel to me. |
I
followed the Rick Steves
self-guided walk of the Ramblas. One of the stops was to view
this Roman necropolis. |
 |
 |
| As
a fan of the Travel Channel, I had seen counless shows telling about
the greatness of the Boqueria Market in Barcelona. |
I
had to check it out for myself! |
 |
 |
| There
were tons of food vendors. This is the largest covered market
actually selling food that I remember visiting. |
The
fruit stalls were beautiful. Many of them also sold
tourist-friendly cheap fruit salads and juice drinks. |
 |
|
| Another stop on
the walk was Placa Reial, a traditional Spanish square but with palm
trees in it! |
|
 |
 |
| I arrived too late
to visit Palau Guell, but I
enjoyed the view from the outside.
The roof looks fun! (Later I learned that the colorful roof chimneys are a recent addition.) |
|
 |
 |
| At
the end of the Ramblas is this Columbus Memorial. |
The
Ramblas continues over this wavy bridge to Maremagnum, a shopping mall. |
 |
 |
| I
was amazed that the water at the Barcelona waterfront was clear enough
to see fish! |
For
lunch, I had gotten a sandwich, 2 bottles of pop, and a chocolate bar
at El Corte Ingles for 4.84
euros ($6.80). For dinner, I went to
the FrescCo on Ronda Univeritat
(a couple of blocks from my
hotel). The meal was 9.95 euros ($14) for an all-you-can-eat
salad bar and hot bar, plus chocolate soft serve ice milk (so good!)
and one soft drink. So much of Spanish food customs is so foreign
to me; I like FrescCo because it is easy to understand, fairly
healthful, and tastes good. |
| Back to itinerary |
On to
the next pictures |