Drove the rental into Paris on Monday and returned it at the Gare de Lyon — we wanted to fill the gas tank but the filling station rejected all our cards, but the agent was very nice about it so we didn’t need to pay the hefty refueling fees. Lunch in Gare de Lyon. The TGV down to Barcelona was pretty full and not the most comfortable ride — six hours where the seat start to feel a bit uncomfortable — but we got dinner on the train and arrived in good shape. No phone signal at the station; we leaned on McDonald’s WiFi long enough to confirm with the AirBnB host, who was very helpful with the luggage. Fifth floor, glad there was an elevator.
Tuesday was a long walking day, well over 10 km. Breakfast at Iberica near the apartment — staff nice, food very good — and then the long walk to the Sagrada Família, with a detour through the Arc de Triomf and the Citadel Park.
The Sagrada itself is awesome, in the older sense of the word; the cathedral gets its own photo album because anything less wouldn’t do it justice.
Light lunch after. Walked to the old port to take the cable car up to Montjuïc. Guide books warn that the cable car is not for the faint of heart due to its age, but we dared! Gelato at the top, then the téléphérique to the castle. Cab back to the apartment, exhausted. Dinner at Bórrega Borrás — excellent local food, a good wine. We’ll go back if we find ourselves in Barcelona again.
Wednesday we did two of the Rick Steves walking tours — the Gothic Quarter, then El Born. Lunch at an Asian street-food place that wasn’t great; OK it was pretty awful. Dinner at another local place, cheaper than Bórrega Borrás and not as good, but fine.
Leave a Reply