After attempting a coastal route the plan was abandoned when we ended up on a small new road that tomtom didn't know about.It was apparently built as there is new motorway going through and I think this is to supply it .We passed through one village and as C said it looked an atomic bomb had gone off ,not a single sign of life in it.
We find the Spanish villages a pretty grim sight in the main.
Made it safely to Barcelona and found that our hotel is on the Grand Via (Main way)and after a bit of searching for it (forth floor ) and C waiting in car with hazards on and locks bolted all turned out well.The hotel is German owned and the manager is also.So every thing works and is very nice.After parking car and taking bags up to room we wandered into town.Headed for the iconic street of Barcelona called La Rambla,which is actually lined with souvenir shops and tapas bars.
Today my first job was take the dear little pug back to Barcelona airport to drop it off.It went smoothly and that ended our relationship after nearly 8000kms and the only problem was someone taking the park light out in Madrid .Caught airport bus back into town and as there are three keys to get in had arranged to meet C in town.All well.After a spanish lunch we decided to do our last cultural stop and that was the Picasso museum which we both really enjoyed ,in spite of getting abit over loaded now.After that we walked in the Gotic area one a rabbit warren of tiny streets opening up into lovely plazas.One of the little enjoyments we have is working out the transport system and Barcelonas is one of the best with many lines and lots of stations similar to Paris .We bought ten trip tickets and you can literally go any where in the city by swapping lines and just following the what the end station is.Our Hotel is right next to a station .
The next day ,Saturday we caught hop on hop off bus which comprises of 3 routes.It was the first time we ave had to queue as it has a very good reputation.Also very close for all of Europe to pop down for weekends.I can imagine Neil Mc enjoying Barecelona the wonderfully imaginative Gaudi buildings .I will post some photos rather than try to pathetically describe them save to say it is remarkablehow they have stood the time test and look modern now and look bizarre when you see old black and white photos with 1920s cars beside. The church Sagrada Familia he spent 40 years of his life (ended at 74 by a tram)working on is like an incredible disney temple .It is as yet still unfinished but that is not unusual we have seen buildings that have taken 400 years to build.We stopped of and looked at La Pedrera an appartment building finished in 1912 .
The other route took us around the port area ,past the Olympic area .We took a trip on the chair lift up to old military fort which had a great view of city.Then back home absolutely buggered