A very energetic but successful day. Barcelona is really impressive.
Very busy but orderly and very tidy. A very popular mode of transport
here is the motor scooter. They are everywhere and apparently have
right of way on the road system, according to Brendan, the irishman
who drove us in from the airport yesterday.
We
spent the day roaming the city of 3 million people on the Barcelona
Turista Hop On, Hop Off bus, first following the blue route and then
switching to the red route. Tomorrow we will be exploring the green
route.
We
started the day by struggling to find the Gracia stop being the stop
nearest our accommodation where we were to get on the bus but we
eventually found it. Then we went to Tramvia Blau-Tibidabo, a
mountain top accessed by tram (or in our case bus because we couldn't
find the tram stop we walked straight past) and funicular railway.
Once you get to the top you get to see the spectacular panorama of
Barcelona which unfortunately today was a little hazy. At the top you
have the contrast of a spectacular church built in 1886 and an
amusement park built many years later – very novel.
We
then went to Monestir de Pedralbes, a former monastery built in the
14th
century as a cloister for nuns. It was financed by generous donations
from the wealthy families of the women who became nuns. They must
have been very wealthy.
After
lunch at Macdonalds in the centre of town, we headed for the
Teleferic De Montjuic located on a different hill from Tibidabo, a
cable car providing access to a spectacular castle overlooking the
Mediterranean and the very busy port area of Barcelona.
The
most impressive aspect of Barcelona is its very quirky architecture
as demonstrated in the photos. The residential component of the city
appears to consist of four or five story buildings much like the one
we are staying in shown below. Presumably there are more conventional
suburban areas in the outlying areas.
Tomorrow
we are back on the hop on hop off bus for more exploration. Saturday
will be a more targeted exercise once we work out what we want to see
more of.
The photo below is a photo of the bullring no longer in use. It is now a shopping centre. Bullfighting has been banned in Barcelona but still goes on elsewhere in the country. It was obviously very popular given the size of the structure.
Below is the National Museum of Art which we will have a closer look at tomorrow.
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