Spain and Portugal in Depth--Day 5 Barcelona

Casa Grande, AZ

We had time for a leisure breakfast with our fellow travelers.  Bill and I marvelled at all the things we've learned about this beautiful city.  

Jaume planned a discovery walk of the Gothic quarter today.  On the information sheet that he gave us at the beginning of the tour, each day was listed and also the approximate distance.  Today it said 3 miles.  No problem for us we can do that with no problems.  It wasn't until today that I realized he meant one way.

He wanted us to experience what the local do so he had all of us take the city bus a few stops to the Gothic quarter.  The buses were very clean.  I wish I would have asked how much it costs to ride.  

Notice that everyone from the group decided to join in even though we are always warned to pace ourselves.  









The Gothic area was completely different than the area by our hotel.  There are many narrow streets that Jaume led us down.  


This photo was taken inside the opera house.  

It was beautiful inside.  

The outside wasn't too shabby either.

That little tiny hole is the ticket both for the Opera House.

During our walk Jaume took the time to explain the political unrest in Barcelona.  The Catalonia people want to separate from Spain.  Jaume gave both sides of the story to us.  I must say we learned a lot from his discussion.  There are always controversial topics but the program directors always discuss these things.  

Jaume is explaining the Roman walls that are still visibly today.

It was nice that Jaume could show us the city without the normal tourist people.

We walked down narrow walkways and the next thing I knew Jaume was showing these ancient Roman pillars.

Jaume had a favorite place he wanted to show us.

You walk up to the bar and help yourself to a pincher.  Then they come by and pour your wine.  Jaume picked up all the toothpicks and the picks are counted out and that's how you pay.  I think we had squid and octopus.  It was very good and we enjoyed the experience.

We walked back over to the Ramblas and Sue and Hal suggested we take the sailboat ride of the harbor.

Here's the boat we are going to take.

I thought this was a great photo of Sue, Bill and Hal.

Bill and Hal enjoyed their time off their feet.

We're already talking about another trip with Hal and Sue.

Rather than go get our swimming suits and take a dip in the sea, we decided to walk back up the Ramblas and stop at one of the sidewalk cafes for beer and pizza.  Tomorrow we fly to Madrid in the morning.

Turtle Safely.......