After a snack, we rode the cable car and train back to Barcelona and went to the Poble Espanol. (a short walk from the Placa d'Espanya train/metro station). This "Spanish Village" was built in 1929 for the World Expedition. It has copies of characteristic buildings from all of the regions of Spain. The village has many little artisan shops with jewelry, crafts, restaurants, and bars. We arrived very late in the afternoon, and the first thing I saw was an Internet Cafe. Our primary reason for visiting Poble Espanol was to go to the flamenco dinner show at El Tablao de Carmen restaurant. I had seen some good reviews of this show on an Internet message board. Although we were drained after our long day of sightseeing, we thought the show entertaining and the food good (although not great). We certainly got our money's worth, as the dinner, hour-long show and all the table wine we wanted was less than $50 per person. After the lengthy dinner, we couldn't find a cab, so we briskly walked back towards the metro, passing by the Magic Fountain and its performance. Unfortunately, we found that the metro closed at 11 pm. Before we had time to panic, a taxi pulled up and we were off to the hotel--exhausted after our very long day!
Our next day we wanted to see more of this exciting city. We sought out the Bus Turistic (tourist bus). As in many cities, this bus links all the major tourist sites. You can get on and off the red, double-decker (yes, like in London) bus, touring at your own pace, with the same ticket. The many buses run about 20 minutes apart. It's a great way to see the city inexpensively. We bought a two-day pass when we got on the bus. One thing to note is that the two-day pass is the best buy, but the two days must be consecutive. You also get a coupon book with the two-day pass that gives you discounts to many of the tourist attractions that don't have to be used the same day as your bus pass. (Had we only known, we could have saved a couple of dollars at Montserrat if we had done the tourist bus the first two days and saved Montserrat for our last day.) There are two itineraries for the bus. We decided to do one each day for our remaining time in Barcelona. We happily rode the bus, stopping along the way, to La Sacrada Familia. What an amazing cathedral (or shell of a cathedral). The amount of detail on the outside, and what is planned on the inside, is indescribable. We used our Bus Turistic coupon to save a little money, and stood in line for about 15 minutes before we were able to enter the church. The inside is FAR from being finished. Since it was a beautiful day, we also walked and shopped in the area between La Sacrada Familia and the Monument to Columbus. I'm not sure how many miles we walked that day!
Our final day, we caught the alternate circuit for the Bus Turistic. We began to wish that we had more time in Barcelona, since we were only seeing many of the attractions from the bus. We did take time to visit the Parc Guell, and were glad that we did. This park is wonderfully decorative, with mosaic features throughout. It is an uphill walk of five or six blocks from the tourist bus, so you might want to take a taxi if a moderate hike doesn't appeal to you.
If you are interested in visiting Barcelona, many cruise lines either embark or include Barcelona as a port of call. Most of the major cruise lines also have found this port to be popular with their passengers. For example, Celebrity, Costa, Crystal, Holland America, P&O, Princess, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea and Windstar (among others) all include Barcelona as a stopover or embarkation point.
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