Barcelona, Spain - Always Amazing!

On our third visit to Barcelona, I decided not to do any excursions but rather to walk with a purpose on my own and to see places on foot that had not been possible on the two previous trips.  Ever since watching the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona on television, I had had the desire to see what seemed like a vibrant city with a rich history. 

Barcelona, Spain’s second largest city, is located on the Mediterranean coast in eastern Spain, in what is the Catalonian part of Spain.  There is a streak of independence running through the people of that area and even the Spanish spoken there is somewhat different from traditional Spanish.

The Spanish I know has come primarily from travel and especially subbing in Spanish in the Lincoln-Way schools, so I wouldn’t know that the Spanish spoken in Barcelona is not precisely the same as I heard in other parts of the country and in South America.

When our first Mediterranean cruise of 24 days in 2008 ended in Barcelona, we were pleased to have a chance to finally visit it.  At that time, we had never been to Spain and we did a tour from the ship which included the first-timers’ highlights of the city.  We also took the opportunity to walk La Rambla (more on that later), and to make a visit to Güell Park, with its offbeat art and architecture of Antoni Gaudi.  Our friend Dale Sandoval, retired Art teacher at Lincoln-Way East had told us not to miss Güell Park because it was so unusual.

Two years ago, we did a shore excursion called Gaudi’s Barcelona where we had a formal tour of Güell Park and other Gaudi’s designed buildings as well as Gaudi’s unfinished Sagrada Familia Cathedral.  This year, I planned to take the ship shuttle bus to World Trade Center and then walk into the Gothic Quarter to check out the interesting architecture there. Barb had decided that since she had been in Barcelona twice before and despite the fact that she would like to have gone into the city, it would be better for her to remain on the ship and continue to “recover” from her exhausting tour two days ago to Granada and the Alhambra.  Our friend and tablemate, Alice needed to find either a post office or shipping service to send some important documents back home to Indianapolis, so we decided to take the shuttle together and decide once we got into the city whether we would explore together or go our separate ways. 

After being dropped off at Barcelona’s World Trade Center, we walked a short block to the base of the huge Christopher Columbus statue where we took unobstructed pictures (as opposed to quick pictures from a bus window) and where Alice found an Information booth.  She found there was a post office a short distance away.  She communicated her needs to the clerk who was very patient and understood sufficient English to communicate what she needed to do.  With my negligible knowledge of Spanish, I actually was very slightly helpful in helping her get the documents sent back to the US.

We began to walk together down a busy street that was quite obviously a part of the Gothic Quarter.  We snapped lots of pictures of the narrow streets with balconies, most with flower boxes and plants, extending over the street from the many apartments. We walked several blocks, stopping every so often to snap pictures of churches with tall spires, a large castle-like building, and had our eyes drawn down one block toward an obviously Gaudi influenced building which we think was a music hall.  Lots of people were taking pictures and what seemed like thousands (literally) of young children, probably something like eight years of age, on a field trip.  Their teachers and chaperones were doing a great job keeps the youngsters in lines so the other pedestrians could get past.  An eight year old is an eight year old but given the number of kids, they were exceptionally well behaved

.  The teachers were obtaining tickets for the children to go into the building.

Alice wanted to find a café or restaurant so she could get free Wi-Fi and after meeting with a lack of success she finally found a Starbucks and settled in with her computer.  I indicated I would go out (not being a Starbucks or any other coffee drinker) and walk along the interesting street and come back a little later.  Just as I was returning to Starbucks, I heard a commotion and loud music and then what sounded like gunfire!  Looking down the street, it was clear there was an organized protest march under police supervision.   It didn’t appear there was any danger as people were going about their business and some were taking pictures of the protest. Needless to say, I couldn’t resist joining the picture taking.  I couldn’t read the writing on the signs but when I rejoined the ship later, someone said it was a protest on the part of firemen.  By the time I returned to Starbucks, Alice was nearly finished with her emails and we found a street that took us over to La Rambla.

La Ramba is probably Barcelona’s most famous street and certainly “the place to be”.  The street is divided with one lane going each direction near a small sidewalk in front of various shops.  There is a wide pedestrian mall lined with palm and other trees as well as souvenir shops and cafes.  It may have been a bit too early in the day for the mimes and street performers to be present, but I remember that particularly well from our 2008 walk along La Rambla.  Alice was getting rather tired of all the walking, so she got a cab to take her back to the ship while I continued to walk and enjoy watching people and checking out the storefronts.  After about an hour walking alone, I went back to the World Trade Center, got my shuttle, and returned to the ship after almost enjoyable free day in one of Europe’s premier cities.

It was Barb’s birthday and I had felt bad leaving her on the ship but she said she just needed the chance to relax after such busy days.  In fact when we left the room for breakfast, there were balloons and a happy birthday greeting posted on our door.  Shortly before dinner, Alice called and told Barb that she was pretty sick and guessed she had a temp of over 100 degrees!  She would miss dinner and would go to the doctor instead.  Thus we had Barb’s birthday dinner without our tablemate.  Other HAL cruisers are familiar with what happened at dessert time.  Many dining stewards gathered and sang the traditional Indonesian birthday song followed by her birthday cake from the ship. 

After we returned from dinner, we called Alice to see how she was and what she had learned from the doctor. To our surprise, she said she was the 6^th or 7^th person to report similar complaints since last night!  There was a pattern in every person’s case. They immediately asked her if she had taken the overland excursion to Marrakech while we were in Morocco.  She said she had and all reports of illness had been on the same of two buses.  People began reporting illnesses for the first time last night, three days after returning to the ship.  The doctor gave her medication, quarantined her in her room until she is much better but said from reports they have received, only those who had been on the trip and ate in the same restaurant, had become ill and it was unlikely that people with whom the sick individuals had had contact were in any danger.  Let’s hope so!

The busy day concluded with a local dance group featuring four flamenco dancers.  Their colorful outfits and the energy with which they danced, clicked their castanets and feet with perfect precision led to a prolonged standing ovation from the large, appreciative crowd.  Tomorrow we visit the small Spanish island of Minorca and the port of Mahon.  It’s our last Spanish port for this cruise but we will be back when we do the two week extension at the conclusion of our Grand Voyage.

CT