Our last full day in Barcelona dawned clear and warm and it was time to head off to Park Guell because you can never have enough Gaudi . Actually you can and I have. We had deliberated over metro V Hop on Hop off ( as in the tourist bus, not my preferred sexual activity ) and went with metro as rarely disappointed. We knew we had a 10 min walk to the Park on a hill from Metro but some escalators were involved. At end of day it was a fairly easy walk. Actually finding the entrance to the ” monumental zone” was a bit trickier amongst the vast parkland. We asked a helpful jogger. We had prebooked for the 08:30 entry time and it was nice and quiet and also good light for photos. Took the requisite photos and then it was time to walk down a very steep hill to the easy metro station and head off to Mont Juic and the general vicinity of the 92 Olympic stadium. Just after getting down steep hill and turning corner we saw the drop off point for hop on hop off! Tip for visitors, take the metro and use the side with escalators!
At base of Mont Juic there was a Funicular to take you to top – it was out of order but free bus provided. What a schamozzle ! No signage, no helpers , just go up to street level and look for crowd and wait for a bus that says ” Special” . It was crowded but got us up there and then a working cable car took us right to top. Impressive views of city etc but no stadium nearby. After a good hour walking around we went back to bus spot, again no sign, and flagged it down. It had to go to end of street to turn around and lo and behold, there was the stadium. We couldn’t get off but at least saw it.
Headed home for a bit of rest and a nice lunch of a burger with no bun ! Then a final walk around La Ramblas for some souvenir shopping and then up to the rooftop pool area for sunset with some bread, meat and cheese. Tomorrow it is train to Perpignan and then pick up hire car for week driving through South of France . Lordy Lordy, anything could happen
Some final thoughts on Barcelona. Friendly people, helpful service staff. They understand English well. It is well laid out and easy to walk although the Metro does work well. It is an interesting city rather than a beautiful city to me. Chicago is a beautiful city. It was hectic two days checking the main sites, would be nice to return and just let it flow over you. Good food and drink. Beer in particular is cheap. Coffee was good if you knew what to order – ” coffee with milk” . In general there are more hot women here than in Paris. And they know it
flashman181 