September 29 Barcelona, Spain Day 2

It is our second day in Barcelona, Spain, docked at Port Nou’s Terminal B. At sunrise, just after 7:30, the sky was cloudy with some billowy greyish clouds out to sea. You could see rain on the horizon. The harbour water was almost calm. The 8 a.m. temperature was 19°C. Today’s forecast is for a high of 23°C with intervals of clouds and sunshine with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm in the afternoon.

We went up ,just two decks to Deck 14’s Spa Café for a light breakfast – a small plate of fruit pieces and a small half bagel spread with peanut butter, topped with three banana coins, a few blueberries and shredded green apple with a decaf Americano. We have a foody tour starting later this morning. There were two new ships docked today – Tui’s Mein Schiff 3, and Costa Fortuna. We spent more time completing the blog for yesterday before going to the theatre to get our excursion stickers for “Gourmet Tapas Hopping”.

Our group of 18 – eight couples and two single men – walked out of the cruise terminal to the awaiting bus. Manoro was driving and our guide was Jorge. It was just a ten minute drive to near the Columbus Monument where we began the walking tour. Jorge explained that we would be starting the tour walking through the oldest part of Barcelona where there are still some Roman walls visible. The walls were reinforced in the 4^th century. The Romans settled the area and called it Barcino. The area was known as the farmyard of the Roman Empire because of its mild climate and over 300 sunny days every year. Barcelona is the capital of the Catalonia region, in northeastern Spain.

Jorge passed everyone a receiver and earphones for the tour. We could be 15 meters behind him and still hear what he was saying. The walls were built higher than the Roman walls to defend the ship building in the port which is now the marina. We peeked into the courtyard of the Maritime Museum to see a derrick for loading ships and a replica of a wooden submarine, Ictineo 1, built in 1859 which stayed under water for ten hours. Nearby is the tallest building in Barcelona, the Naval headquarters built in the 1960s. It was a skyscraper idea that residents did not like. Now there is a height limit to new buildings. We passed a statue of the Spanish writer Frederic Soler. He was a Catalan writer and dramatist who was the founder of modern Catalan theatre.

We circled over to La Rambla. It is a common name in Spain. It originates from an Arabic word. The Moors, Muslims from Africa, occupied southern Spain for almost 800 years ending in 1492. Under Barcelona’s La Rambla runs a canal to divert rain water from the streets into the sea. There are many distinctive buildings lining La Rambla, like a patterned tile one with wrought iron railed balconies. Next, we walked into Plaça Reial (Royal Square) where the elite of Barcelona lived several hundred years ago. It was the former location of the monastery of St. Frances of Assisi. The square contains a fountain and ornate street lights designed by Antoni Gaudi. Back on La Rambla, we stopped to look at the Teatre del Liceu, where the old Opera House, Gran Teatre del Liceu, once stood before being badly damaged by fire in 1994. As part of the 175^th anniversary of the Opera House, sculptural metal doors were installed earlier this month adding a “more contemporary link between Liceu and the world.” The three open work doors are ornamented by letters from the Hebrew, Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Indian, Latin and Tamil alphabets, each door weighing some 1,100 pounds. Across from the opera house is the oldest café in Barcelona where later in the day, we stopped for the first of three tapas and wine tastings. Near the intersection where we turned to enter Mercat St. Josep La Boqueria there is a former department store which sold umbrellas called Para Guas Sombrillas. The facade is historically protected. At Mercat St. Josep La Boqueria is Barcelona’s fresh market where you can find spices (including Spanish saffron and Spanish Paprika), candy, fresh fruit and vegetables, (including dragon fruit with red pulp rather than light grey pulp), pastries, bread, fresh olive oil, honey, seafood, fresh fish and meat. There were several kiosks selling empanadas and burritos, among other mouth-watering delights. There are also restaurants and cafés. It was founded in 1827. On La Rambla, at the corner of the entrance to the market can be found a Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts while across the street is a Taco Bell. We had 30 minutes to explore the interior of the market. It stayed open during 18 months of COVID-19 related shutdowns, since this is where the people shopped for food.

Once everyone returned, we walked back to the narrow pedestrian streets of the old town, where it is easy to spot a Catalan Estelada flag, flown by supporters of Catalan independence. The flag has five yellow stripes and four red stripes with a white star on a blue triangle. The legend of the flag without the star and triangle is that Ramon Berenguer II, the Count of Barcelona, in 1082, lay on his deathbed after being injured in a battle. He is said to have put his finger in his wound and pulled the fingers across his yellow shield, creating the four red stripes of the flag known as the Senyera. There is evidence that the Senyera flag was used in Aragon in the 12^th century.

Looking up we could see the Tower of St. Mary of the Pine Tree and walked toward the church which is now used for concerts. The streets in the old town are so narrow that vehicles are not allowed there. Next was Plaça Nova or Cathedral Square where parts of the old city wall are visible. There were street musicians playing and another informal market was present. There are many of these outdoor markets in the local neighbourhood plazas. The next church was the Cathedral of Barcelona, St, Llúcia in Pila de La Seu. Moving on, the Bishop’s Palace was nearby. We proceeded to the old Jewish Quarter on carrer de Salomo Ben Adret. Then we were back to La Rambla to our first tapas and wine stop at Café de L’Opera where we sat at two tables of 9 or 10. Tapas literally means to put something on top. It was after noon. Our tablemates were Beth and Bill from Connecticut. There was a choice of wines, Sangria, beer, sodas or water. There were two kinds of tapas served, Spanish omelet with potatoes and Onions or Tomato paste and cured meat slices. Both were good. Jorge explained that former and/or old businesses on La Rambla and other areas could have a plaque on the sidewalk stating their name. We noticed the one for Café de L’Opera as we exited. It is the oldest café in Barcelona. After 30 minutes, the group was off to see the main plaza of Old Barcelona, Plaça de Sant James, where Palau de la Generalist & Adjuntament de Barcelona was located. That is city hall. The plaza has been a centre of government in Catalonia since Roman Times. Jorge mentioned that the Vice-president of a Spanish political party had been fired on September 27.

The next plaza was the Plaça de Santa Maria where the pure Catalan Gothic style church, Basilica Santa Maria del Mar dominates the square. This medieval church was built between 1329 to 1384. In less the five minutes, the group walked to the next tapas restaurant – Pork. . . boig per tu on Carrer del Consolat de Mar, 15. The interior boasts bare-stone walls and dangling lights, “making Catalan food with an emphasis on pork”.

Here the tapas were served with sliced French baguette smeared with a thin tomato spread and a selection of charcuterie. Although they did not have Sangria, their light wine blend was Tinto de Verano which is made of red wine, a soft drink, and ice. It was very refreshing. We sat with Philip from Scotland and again Beth and Bill plus their friends, Judy & Cliff and Tim & Terry also from Connecticut. Philip mentioned that he and a former girlfriend had visited Barcelona and decided to visit the top tapas restaurants in Barcelona. Café de L’Opera and Pork. . . boig per tu were number one and two respectively. We had walked six kilometres for the day at that point. There was an oversized artistic pig hanging from the ceiling that was interesting. Larry photographed it and the unique beer bar.

Next the group found the bus and were transported to the beach near the old fisherman’s village. It is in the area where the 1992 Olympic village was located. You can see the 52 meter long golden fish sculpture, El Peix, by Canadian architect Frank Gehry, a landmark on Barcelona’s seafront, close by. There was a bit of cloud but the temperature was about 23°C. The final tapas restaurant was Arenal on the beach on a raised covered patio. We sat with Lydia and Eric from the San Francisco area. There was wine, beer and water to drink. Each person was given a small plate with tapas – a Spanish omelet square, breaded and fried seafood mixture and mini toast with avocado spread and smoked salmon - plus there were olives and gherkins on the table.

Jorge mentioned that Barcelona has 300 sunny days per year. The Spanish main meal of the day is lunch between 1 and 4 p.m. The average restaurant set price for an entrée meal is €15 ($20 Canadian). There were 8,000 apartment units built for the 1992 Olympic village near by. You can see the “D” shaped glass Marriott hotel, “W Barcelona” on the seafront. The excursion ended with the bus picking us up and going back to the ship. It was a five hour tour that we quite enjoyed.

As we were sitting on our balcony watching the harbour, we could see almost a dozen small sailboats that looked that they were having a sailing lesson.

We ate dinner at the Normandie restaurant, on Deck 3, this evening at the same table as a few days ago. The house special dessert was Opera Cake, so I ordered the decadent torte. Then we walked to the other end of Deck 4 to The Club for their hour of pre-recorded ballroom dance music. We were the only ones dancing for the 45 minutes we were there. We stopped at Café al Bacio for an evening decaf cappuccino before going back to the stateroom to finish yesterday’s blog and work on today’s blog.

Again today, there were pictures on today’s post before the text and explanations of the photos. The cruise terminal’s Wi-Fi is faster than the ship’s internet by far. I am taking a long time describing our daily activities because I am checking details on the internet.

Total steps 17,070 = 10.2 km