Barcelona

On holiday, we did a day trip to Barcelona. We picked an interesting time to go with the illegal referendum on the Sunday and protests and strikes on the Tuesday. But when we went on the Wednesday, we didn't see any troubles or signs of them.

It was an early morning, which made neither of us happy, but it meant we got in the city for around 10.30am. The city lies between 2 mountains and first stop was the one on the far side of the city, Tibidabo. There is the Church of the Sacred Heart up there, next to a theme park. 

And there were supposed to be amazing views over the city. But Caroline and I seem to have an issue with getting views. (Have a look at our views from the top of the empire state building when we went to New York.) 

Church of the scared Heart

There is giant bronze Jesus on the top apparently.

Inside.

Black Jesus and Mary.

Tiny glimpse of the city.

We couldn't even see most of the fair ground. The most popular/famous attraction is a plane attached to an arm which propels itself out over the cliff side.

Plane

The second stop was Parc Guell. It was supposed to be an upper class housing site, designed by Antonio Gaudi, but it failed and was opened as a public park. He did finish a couple of the houses.

Tiled roofs.

You can around the park for free but have to pay to go into the house and Hall of One Hundred columns. We were only there for an hour though so just wandered around the park.

The most famous bit is the serpentine bench which we could just see from the park. Apparently the seats are very comfortable and Gaudi has the builders drop there pants and used them to hold the seats.

They are doing so work on it so we couldn't see a lot.

At the top of the park are the colonnaded pathways. The acoustics are great and there were street artists playing inside. 

The walkway at the top has 50 cement/stone balls that make up a rosary. Gaudi was very religious and used to walk along the path each night. Now there are loads of street sellers along the walkway. Every so often, they would quickly other up everything and run into the trees. Shortly before the police walked by. :)

We treated ourselves to some earrings from one of them, which may turn our ears green but they were very pretty!

out over the city

At the top of the parc

After Parc Guell, we headed towards the sea and stopped at the Unfinished Church, Sangrada Familia. This is another one of Gaudi's designs. It was started in 1882. Work stopped on it when Gaudi was killed (by a tram when he tried to cross the road aged 74) and started again after the Spanish Civil war. It should be done by 2026. Again you can go inside (it's on our list for next visit) but we just walked around. 

Only 2 side are finished. The left side is dedicated to the birth of Christ. And is very chaotic.

The right side is dedicated to his death and much more stark and harsh.

As for the rest, I'm not sure. They are going to have to knock down a city block and build a bridge for the road for the front of the church. 

Our final stop was some free time. We were dropped at El Port Vell by the aquarium and told about the fabulous shopping centre with a Starbucks and a Subway and all the shops like Lush and H&M. We were not impressed with that idea, so Caroline and I legged it over the bridge to the Las Ramblas. 

The street stretches 1km and has lots of street artists, stalls and restaurants. We stopped there for some tapas and a glass of wine (so much better than Subway).

Drassanes Plaza.

La Farola (by Gaudi of course)

After lunch we wandered around some of the squares and back streets and found a great little jewellery shop where Caroline picked out her present.

We had to power walk it back to the bus to get there in time and managed a bathroom break. My feet were very unhappy with me at this point. 

We took some more sights in from the bus but we seemed to be on the wrong side of the bus for all of them. It was about 8pm when we got home so we got some wine and a cake and made pasta back at the apartment. And rested our poor aching feet! :)

Holidays!!!

Last week was finally time for our holidays. Caroline flew to Gatwick on the Friday and we stayed in a hotel near the airport (where I got free parking for the week). We flew out super early on the Saturday morning, but it meant we got to our apartment by midday. We had a 2 bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor, about a 3 minute walk from the beach, and with a balcony overlooking the pool. 

It was the end of the season so it was really quiet. The pool bar closed the first day we got there but there were bars just outside and the wine is so cheap, so we didn't mind. Plus it meant it was quiet on a night.

The first few days were a bit overcast but that didn't stop me enjoying the balcony in a morning. And anytime I could really.

But the sun did come out! Caroline tended to sleep in later than me so I had breakfast and usually a trip to the pool or beach before she got up.

Sunny!

We were only over the road from the beach. It is probably not fun in the height of the summer (apparently you can barely move) but for use is was practically empty all the time. We had no problems getting sunbeams whiner and wherever we wanted. 

I also had some fun playing with my new underwater camera. Unfortunately there weren't any fish to chase.

The only downside of where we were staying is we were technically between Salou and Cambrils and there weren't many restaurants. The ones there were very English. :( But you could get the bus into Cambrils for a nice place. 

We spent the first few days just chilling, swimming and sleeping. Tuesday was Caroline's birthday so we went for some cocktails before dinner, including a giant Margarita.

Celia Brooks Food Tour

Last weekend I went on a food tour around the Belgravia and South Kensington area, with a chef/author Celia Brooks the tour started in a chocolate shop called Rococo which some very tasty chocolates. 

Over the road, the second stop was a cheese shop for a short cheese tasting. I did think about getting one cheese but s I am away next week, didn't seem like a good plan however tasty.

Lunch was at a Lebanese restaurant and then to Harrods food hall for a quick trip around and to pick up some macaroons. The food hall is very impressive but after seeing some the prices I wasn't so impressed. £5 for a punt of Strawberries. Insane. 

Harrods macaroons.

They do impressive cakes

Only for the rich

 The last stop was wine tasting. The shop was very cool with a lot of variety.

And they cater to some very rich clients apparently.  This Cristal is worth over £8000. I dared not get any closer, but the feet give some perspective.

After we grabs some bottles and went to a cook shop for a drink and chat. I was very restrained and did not purchase any cooking gadgets. (I refused too look - my kitchen is way too small for anything else and I am saving the last little bit of room for a blender.)

The tour came with some discounts at the shops so I got some chocolate and some gin. They didn't have the one I have been looking for but this one was intriguing. 

new bottle in my gin collection.