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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2898 |
15th March 2017 Hiking - Walking: Barcelona Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny and warm Max Speed: Distance Covered: Wednesday 15th March – walk *** Barcelona and travel – sunny and warm. Nice night on Riomar seafront, woke to clear sunshine but lighter winds than yesterday so after breakfast with no promise of any windsurfing it was easy to move off. We found a Lidl in Deltebre to stock up and it was our intention to use the toll motorway to Barcelona but we found the N-340 and AP-7 which were great and free even if very busy with lorries! Instead of taking the inland route around Barcelona as we did on the way down we decided to take the road along the seafront which is a dual carriage way and leads to our mountain road. If we could find somewhere to park I would like to see the cathedral, I had this picture in my head of what it looked like and wanted to see it. We had a short section of toll past the airport then just followed the port sign and we were right in the middle of Barcelona. The port/ferry terminal is huge and we were soon at the marina with all the swanky yachts, the trouble was the road keep going into tunnels so you couldn’t see where you were??? We saw a sign for the Port Olimpic de Barcelona and turned off finding a 24-hour carpark right by the marina. We had lunch before walking to the marina breakwater to get our bearings but we could not see the church anywhere:( Back on the wide elevated busy prom where you took your life in your hands as electric scooters, Segway’s, bikes and joggers rushed past! You had to avoid the many street hawkers selling mainly large beach mats but also, sun glasses, selfie-sticks, shoes and trinkets but there were signs up everywhere saying do not buy these items as it was illegal and you will be fined but the police had done nothing to stop it! We continued along the prom past a huge metal sculpture that looked like a giant bed pan but we did spot a green parrot here. This area was the centre for the 1992 Olympics and must have been a great venue right on the Mediterraneo and there where loads of dinghies, yachts and even windsurfers out enjoying the light airs. There are Platjas (beaches) all along the front which were fairly busy with volley ball being popular, as was the exercise area where the posers could show off their muscles. We came to the Port where the huge obscene motor yachts were berthed, while people begged on the Cathedral steps, and scavenged in the rubbish bins (we saw at least 3 people doing this) and sold crap to tourist’s, multi-millionaires swanned about in these grotesque monsters:( We walked past a restored warehouse that is now a museum with restaurants doing a roaring trade and the dreadlocked boys entertaining the kids blowing large bubbles which was fun to watch. Then Mag spotted the sign for the Cathedral. We entered the old town full of narrow streets with tall old building all with their washing drying from balconies. At last we found the Cathedral, the only church we have found open in Spain and you had to pay to get in – bloomin religion you can keep it. To add to my disappointment, it wasn’t anything like the picture in my head so goodness knows where I am thinking of!!! We had had enough of culture and crap so headed back past a series of gross sand sculptures where they thought it entertaining for a sand ape to be peeing water into a bottle:( Relieved to be back at the van. Don’t think we will be making a return visit to Barcelona, not really our thing. The best thing we saw was a new Mum and Dad leaving the hospital right on the sea front with their tiny baby wrapped in a brilliant white blanket and a new changing bag over their shoulder, taking a quick photo of the new baby with the beach and sea in the background before heading off for their new life :) After paying over 8 Euros to get out of the carpark we headed for the hills. We had a bit of trouble getting back on the right road but drove towards the Pyrenees with the snow-covered mountains in view and getting closer most of the way :) It was roughly 80 miles to La Molina where we skied a month ago but as we had been there before and were not that keen on the steep icy slopes we carried on a few miles to Masella another little ski resort. We parked up in the carpark with a couple of campers including an Italian in a red VW like ours who we had a lovely chat to. He said the skiing here was great spring skiing and only icy first thing, so hopefully we can get on the slopes tomorrow as the good weather is due to continue:) Photo Gallery Here |
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