Our Last Full Day In Barcelona

We are staying at a hotel called the Melia Sky in Barcelona.  It is a middle of the range hotel but we reckon the positioning of it is excellent.  We are 6 stations out of the city centre, the Metro Station is 5 minutes walk away and the rail fares are almost as cheap as the alcohol prices.

We get ten local train trips for €10.  Trains come every 4 minutes! It is a less than 15 minute train journey into the centre of the city.

On top of all this there is another La Rambla, a local street which is setup as a pedestrian mall (almost) with various restaurants available all along it.  Small supermarkets are within a 5 minute walk where you can get a cold 500ml Estrella can of beer easily and icy cold.  And what is good about this local La Rambla, is it is authentic and not set up just for the tourists.  There are plenty of restaurants and most at good prices.

A glass of wine is especially inexpensive at around €2.  A 500 ml glass beer top top price locally would be €4 (Grande Size AUD$5-50 in a cafe/restaurant).

The hotel is very well situated and so much less expensive than those in the city centre.  I am making a few typos as I type, the Estrella cold 500ml can is working well!

Patsy, my toe is healing well, right now as I can't feel a thing. We checked out a local Pharmacy and the guy there suggested some treatment and sold us some antiseptic, antibiotics and band aids for around $15 all up.  The treatment is working well, There is no problem for me today.

Also the new ship we are travelling tomorrow on has "NO" laundry facilities.  But the food and entertainment is at no charge!  We understand the older ships had laundry facilities but not the newer ones. Instead of the laundry, they have an extra cabin!

So today we decided to try out a visit to Montserrat, a Catholic Monastery/Church built high on top of a mountain not far out of Barcelona and accessible to us by train.  It would cost us €29 each for train fare, cable car to the top and entry.  The best part of the day was getting there and back home again safely on our own via the train network.  The place was worth the visit but the adventure of doing the experience on our own successfully was much better.

The photo above left is a section of Montserrat, a holy Catholic place set high in the mountains nearby.  The photo to our left here is the view from Montserrat high in the mountains. Doing the trip on our own meant we didn't have to endure an ABC (Another Bloody Church) tour.

We had a quick walk through the area, didn't bother with any museums but just took in the magnificent views from way up there.

Trish had promised the grandkids a Barcelona Football Club shirt each.  They come in at around €100 for the genuine article.  Needless to say there are 'copies' available all over Barcelona at around 1/3 the price.  On our way back to our hotel, the train popped into the city centre where we got off and checked out a local less expensive supplier.

We had a bit of fun bargaining the price.  We only got around $10 off the price but it was a bit of fun that both the shop owner and I enjoyed.  Hopefully the grandkids will like them!

Tomorrow we board the ship around lunchtime.  We sail at 4 pm local time.  I have been lead to believe the internet on board is expensive and not very good.

It is most likely there will be a major slowdown in the rate that my Blog Posts have been coming.  I have some data available to me on the phone sim I have bought so I will post when ever it suits.  This may well be few and far between.  We shall see how we go.

If I need to post from my 'tablet' when on shore in free wifi areas there will not be photos I am afraid unless I can prepare them quickly before hand.

Just about evening mealtime here so we are again off to the local La Rambla for a walk, a drink and something to eat!

And by the way, the new jeans Trish took up for me yesterday have worked out perfectly!

...