Day 12: Barcelona
We arrived in Barcelona in the morning, and as with everything else on the cruise, disembarkation went smoothly. After checking into our hotel, we took one of the sightseeing bus tours around Barcelona.
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| For those of you wondering what Obama has been doing since he left office |
Barcelona has some of the best architecture in the world. A lot of the top sights were designed by
Antoni Gaudi, and are just plain weird. There is also a lot of strange public artwork.
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| Not designed by Gaudi, but impressive, nevertheless |
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| 3 buildings designed by Gaudi |
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| Sculpture by Joan Miro |
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| Plaza Espanya -- the round building is a bull ring that was converted to a mall |
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| Sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein |
For those of you looking for pictures of the
Sagrada Familia Cathedral, designed by Gaudi, we didn't go by there, having visited it on our last trip to Barcelona. Here's a picture stolen from Wikipedia (yes, it's still under construction).
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| Sagrada Familia |
We got off the bus in the historical center of Barcelona and walked around, and back to our hotel.
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| A cathedral in the center of town |
Our hotel was near the
Plaça de Catalunya, the main square in modern Barcelona.
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| Plaça de Catalunya |
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| El Corte Ingles, a department store on Plaça de Catalunya |
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| Our hotel -- Roomate Pau (I don't name them, I just stay there) |
After resting at the hotel we wandered back out into the city.
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| Mercat (Market) de Santa Catalina |
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| They still have a graffiti problem in Spain |
In the Barrio Historico, we stopped in at the Museu de la Xocolata, the chocolate museum of Barcelona
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| This is made entirely of chocolate |
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| As is this.... |
After leaving the museum we walked around the old town.
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| Old walls dating to Roman times |
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| Barcelona Cathedral |
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| Local architectural touches |
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| Inside the Basilica |
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| Inside the Basilica |
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| Inside the Basilica |
Next we headed for
Las Ramblas, the main pedestrian street in Barcelona. Neat architecture and art all around.
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| Along Las Ramblas |
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| Interesting architecture along Las Ramblas |
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| Another neat storefront |
Day 13: Andorra
Today, we took a trip to Andorra, a 3-hour bus trip from Barcelona. Andorra, located on the border between Spain and France, is another of those tiny European principalities, and qualifies as country number 116 on my list.
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| Andorra--at the red marker |
Our journey began with a trip to the bus station. Along the way, we encountered a group marching in favor of Catalan independence. (Catalonia is the region in Spain where Barcelona is located). The marchers seemed to be mostly our age.
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| Catalan independence march |
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| Arc de Triomf, not to be confused with the one in Paris |
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| Taking a break after a long morning of marching |
When we got to the train station, we purchased the bus tickets from a machine. When we boarded the bus at 10:00 AM, they asked for our passports, which we smartly had left in the hotel safe--after all, Andorra and Spain are both in the European Union--who would need a passport to travel between them? Well, as it turns out Andorra is
not in the EU. Fortunately, we were able to get a refund for our tickets, but unfortunately, this was the last bus from that station until 3:00. Fortunately, I remembered that there was a bus to Andorra at 11:30 from the main railway station, halfway across town. So we dashed back to the hotel, got the passports, and took a taxi to the other station, in time to catch the bus. Needless to say, they didn't ask us for our passports.
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| Heading across town to the train station |
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| On the way to Andorra |
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| A town in the foothills of the Pyrenees |
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| Another town, near Andorra |
The principality of
Andorra is the size of a large U.S. county, and the capital is the city of
Andorra La Vella, which has a population of about 23,000. For the record, Andorra is about 8 times bigger in area than San Marino. It's principal "industry" is tourism, consisting mostly of skiing and duty-free shopping.
There's not much to do in Andorra La Vella except to walk around the town and wander into the shops. Unlike San Marino, Andorra gets a lot of tourists in the winter, mostly for skiing.
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| Andorra La Vella |
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| Andorra La Vella |
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| Government Exhibition Hall |
The "old town" of Andorra La Vella is very small, consisting of what appeared to be only a handful of buildings.
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| St. Stephens Church, dating from the 13th century |
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| The other side of the church |
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| One of the few older buildings besides the church |
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| Another view of the Government Exhibition Hall (on the left) |
If you are looking for watches, cigarettes, liquor, or jewelry, Andorra is a great place to visit. Otherwise, not so much...
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| Avenue of Duty Free Shops |
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| Apparently cigarettes are unhealthful--who knew? |
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| Andorran street art |
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| Fine Andorran Cuisine |
An uneventful 3-hour bus ride took us back to Barcelona, where we arrived in time for a fashionably late dinner.
And thus ended our trip. Final grades as follows:
- Rome: B+ -- Fascinating, but try to go in the off-season
- San Marino and Andorra: C -- Only worth the trip if you're collecting countries
- Viking Sea: A -- Possibly the nicest ship I've been on
- Tunisia, Algeria, Valencia: Incomplete -- need to go back and spend more time
- Xativa: B+
- Barcelona: A -- possibly my favorite city
