Barcelona

I revisited Barcelona - having been twice before. I really like Barcelona, the people are friendly and its a laid back kind of city. The city is well planned out - at least the area north of Las Ramblas is, with its grid formation of one-way streets, making a pedestrian feel safe (one of the few places in Europe!).

At the top of Las Ramblas is Plaza Catalunya - a large plaza where people meet, sit and watch the day go by, or watch the police chase the fake hand bag sales-man. Spanish life seems to centre around plazas - people pass the time away and it is always quite relaxing to just watch.

Barcelona has the largest concentration of Anotnio Gaudi's works. You can see them in random places around Barcelona as bank buildings, parks or cathedrals.

The grid system of buildings and roads has produced a lovely collection of similar buildings providing uniformity - some have differences, as above, but each block is an octagonal shaped building.

The spanish love their ham (jamon serrano) and you can find it hanging up in stores devoted to the stuff.

Where Las Ranblas meets the Mediterranean is Port Vell. This is the port where the ferrys leave for the Balearic Islands (Ibiza and Mallorca). There is a statue of Christopher Colombus here, with Mount Juic looking down on the port. THere are several cities around the mediterranean, all claiming Colombus as their own. In Sevilla's giant cathedral you can find his final resting place (apparently!).

More of the beatiful port in Barcelona. There are thousands of yachts and boats here, plus some nice beaches (though not as good as Australia's!).

A quiet moment in Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a green vein running through Barcelona. Down the pedestrian section are people in the most amazing costumes touting for a spare euro for a photograph. You can buy flowers, birds, souvenirs along the way - even have your portrait drawn.

Street theatre (I didn't pay my euro!).

At the beach! The weather was not quite as good as other places I went to but for the last day or so. I was meaning to stay in Barcelona for a week but I think the constant moving and walking caught up with me - so it ended up 10 days. It would have been longer but I had to leave my hotel as it was full. Off to Alicante and the Hogueras de San Juan!