Barcelona, Day One, The City

On the last day of a cruise they want you out of your room by 8:00 AM and usually off the boat by 9:00 AM.

So we get to our hotel by 10ish and of course the room's not ready. Our free tour doesn't start until around 1:00 PM so there's nothing much to do except wander around on our own.

So we head to La Rambla for a stroll. It's still early and so it's not too busy yet. In a couple hours it'll be packed

With not much to do why not visit the local market? This market has been here, in one form or another, since the year 1217. It's very popular with locals and tourists like.

And there are lots of beggars in Barcelona. Ande this is how they beg - on their knees with a cup on their head. Silly fuckers!

After a hard night of begging it's good to have a nice sleep. At least the weather is warm enough to sleep outside.

Barcelona is in Catalonia province and Catalonia is part of Spain but in 2017 the people of Catalonia held a referendum to decide whether to remain part of Spain or secede and become an independent republic. The vote was 92% in favour of secession. The Spanish government subsequently ruled the referendum illegal and invalid. Some of the organizers, of the referendum, fled to other countries and some stayed behind to face the music.

The ones that stayed behind are now locked up and that's what the sign below is about.

The Cathedral of Barcelona.

A few close-up shots. Such fantastic detail.

A typical narrow street in the Gothic Quarter where our free tour was.

This is the square where Christopher Columbus was met by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on his return to Spain after discovering North America.

One of the funniest things we saw today was this small shop that sells small statues of (mostly) famous people having a dump.

Look closely at the photo below (it's shot through glass so there's a bit of glare). See how many people you recognize.

Donald and has pal Putin.

More about it here.

Another interesting thing our guide showed us is a wall built with stone. What's unusual is the stone in the middle. If you look closely you'll see Jewish writing. Apparently when they were building this wall they got many of the stones from the graves at a local Jewish cemetery.

A better pic. These Spaniards were pretty mean dudes back in the medieval days.

The Sagrada Familia is probably the best looking church ever. When we were here about 10 years ago they estimated it might be completed by 2030. The guide we had today said they aren't even making estimates anymore when it'll be done. To finish ot they have to knock down an entire apartment building across the existing street and resettle all the families living there - very costly I'm sure.

Two shots of Sagrada Familia from the front..