Seeing Barcelona @ Breakneck Speed!

 We headed straight for the bike shop and awaited our guide.  I was super excited for this day because I love to bike and I wanted to see as much as we could in literally a day!

Full disclosure, I thought this was a super cool pic and assumed these would be our bikes but they gave us e-bikes as we were heading to the top of the city for a cable car 🚠 ride! 

Next we headed straight up to the public gardens. What a delightful sight for a city with 1.8MM people. The pictures don’t do this immense space justice.  Come on, CB, we can do better.  I digress!

Continuing to the top, we find stunning views of the city and an ancient fort once used to protect the city. 

You’ll see an up close pic of Christopher Columbus as we bike toward the beach but legend has it, he’s pointing to Italy.  🇮🇹 I’m terrible with history but I always assumed he was Spanish.  Our guide said he originated from Italy with a surname of Columbo. 

At this point in our journey, we boarded a cable car and headed to the very top. 

Barcelona is home to a large shipping port, 🛳️ cruise ship port and home to the famous Barcelona Beach 🏖️; created for the 1992 Olympics and is still popular today!

The fort at the top was built to protect the city though I don’t know how the cannons could destroy anything so far away but what do I know??

We head back down to our bikes via cable car and head to the beach.  😮 wow.  What a super cool area of Barcelona.  The W hotel is an architectural beauty and sits right on the ocean.  There are amazing bike trails, a huge boardwalk to run, bike or rollerblade.  Outdoor pools, racketball and restaurants galore. Even though I thought it a bit chilly to wear a bikini, there were many beach goers. 

🚴‍♀️ Biking through Barcelona is not for the faint at heart.  This ain’t no greenway in CB!  It was exhilarating, heart pumping and a sort of mental and physical agility navigating through tourists who have no clue where they’re going nor the rules of the road, citizens who don’t give a shit and kids running in all sorts of directions.  I’m happy to report neither Bill or I killed or maimed anyone.  Success!

Leaving the beach, we headed for the Olympic stadium which is now home to Football Club Barcelona!  The Olympics are on my bucket list.  So, the torch is attached to the stadium and perhaps it’s because I saw it in person and the significance of it but I thought it was just beautiful.  Simple elegance if you will. The tour guide did bust my bubble when he told us the story of lightening the torch to open the games.  Watching it on tv, I was overwhelmed and impressed by the marksman who “shot” the torch with a flaming arrow.  What I didn’t know was that he in fact, missed his mark but the Olympic organizers left nothing to chance so “the man behind the curtain” lit 🔥 the torch the second the marksman missed his mark!  😱

Next stop! An absolutely lovely outdoor theater where locals often times hold a concert, 🎶, a production or a place to simply enjoy.  This Grec outdoor theater is located in the heart of the city yet is so secluded you can escape the noise of the city for a brief respite!

As we pedal back to the bike shop, we stop to touch the cotton falling from the cotton trees.  🌳 Color me stupid but I thought cotton grew on bushes.  Our guide informed us that the trees are what you get when you don’t control its growth.  Super cool and fluffy soft!  Course, I’ve been sneezing ever since!

Bikes returned, we make our way to an old building that used to make ships; it’s now a museum and restaurant.  

After lunch, we’re walking, we’re walking and we’re walking! One of the famous streets is called La Rambla which is truly a glorified tourist trap.  You’ll find overpriced cafe after after cafe after cafe and countless tchotchkes places.  But, it looks amazing in a photo.  You’re welcome.  

Of course we had to “do a little shopping”. We found Bill an official FCB shirt and I bought a white pashmina to replace the one I left in New Orleans (wonder how that happened?!) and a cheap but fun wooden fan.  Fans are very popular here as city center is a concrete jungle and though they are located on the sea, it’s very hot in town.  

Off to prepare for dinner!  We have logged more miles than I can count but we’re grateful that we can and we need to work off the amazing gastronomic dishes we’ve consumed.  😇!

Our travel agent highly recommended this local establishment and boy, was it a great suggestion.  Tapas.  The most delicious tapas enjoyed in the tightest space surrounded by graffiti walls and ceiling.  

The burrata was delish but the white and green asparagus with cocoa and basil 🌿 oil was Devine.  I totally forgot to get a pic of the beef skewer with chimichurri sauce on a bed of  falafel followed by original Pepita consisting of two thin slices of filet, mash potatoes and gravy.  Our server incorrectly added too many glasses of wine to our bill and it was still only 75 euros and that includes the VAT! The exchange rate may not be in our favor but the costs associated with many of the goods and services is by far in our favor!  #winning

Since we just consumed an ungodly amount of calories, we decided to walk home.  Hmmm…we walked straight here on the way over to the restaurant but on the way home, I don’t know what the hell we did but we certainly didn’t walk the same way.  I said to Bill “babe!  We’ve walked far more than a mile and none of this looks familiar”.  Bill’s immediate response is that we needed dessert.  Ok.  I’m good with that.  His definition of dessert is cake, pastry or chocolate. Mine?  An Old Fashion.  We stumbled onto a place called Alice.  Alice had a secret garden.  Do you know where I’m going with this?  Holy Moly.  

Apparently you can’t order cake in the secret garden but it was so cool, we decided to have a nightcap. The garden and the menu were just stunning!  Though I didn’t capture the menu very well, zoom in on the photos to see the beautiful artwork!

We’re still searching for a place to satisfy my main squeeze need for chocolate!  Alas, we find a gelato place and he orders a double brownie filled with Nutella and topped with ice cream and whipped cream! Success!

Remember earlier in the post when I told Bill we had been walking well over a mile, well, I was right and we were down right lost.  Neither of us could get our google maps to get us back.  Picture this-2 Americans aimlessly walking in circles at midnight.  It is funny as shit now-not so much then!  We hailed a cab!🚕 

Our heads had barely hit the pillows and we were out!  Fabulous day!  Tomorrow, we head for the high seas!