BARCELONA, SPAIN
(Spain Flag)
(Spain Map)
All of the images below are thumbnails and can be clicked on for a larger image.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008:
We sailed into Barcelona, Spain just before sunrise.
Once the sun was up I headed out of town to Montserrat.
Santa Maria de Montserrat is a Benedictine abbey located in the Montserrat mountain, in Catalonia.
I rode the finicular to the top of the mountain for nice views.
The views from the monastery are quite impressive.
11 minute video of my trip to Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain. Click on the �YouTube player below to watch the video. | ||
After returning from Montserrat I only had about and hour to explore Barcelona.
La Rambla is an iconic and busy street in central Barcelona.
There are many street performers and mimes here.
At 4:00 P.M. we sailed out of Barcelona's Harbor toward our next port.
11 minute video of Barcelona, Spain. Click on the �YouTube player below to watch the video. | ||
|
Hello, Arrived here in Barcelona, Spain just before sunrise. We were the second of seven cruise ships to pull into port this morning. Spain is in the news headlines today because of the horrible plane crash in Madrid yesterday afternoon where over 150 people were killed. At 9:30am we drove into the countryside and climbed the winding mountain road to Montserrat. This is a 1000-year-old Benedictine monastery set against spectacular mountain crags. We had just under three hours to explore and our tour guide wasted nearly an hour of that time pointing out the restrooms and other important things we apparently couldn't live without. Hence we were really rushed to see everything and there just was not time to see it all. What I was able to see is a spectacularly beautiful place. I road the funicular 3000 meters higher into the mountain. The attached picture is from the top of the mountain looking down on the monastery. The line to do that was long and they only left every 20 minutes, so that used up most of my time here. I had to hustle back to the bus in order to get there at the appointed time. There were a lot of scenic view points that I would have liked to have visited. There would have been time to do it had the tour been run more efficiently. The ride up and back was beautiful. We got back to Barcelona about 2:00 and the last bus back to the ship left town at 3:00, so I had one hour to visit La Rambla. This is the main thoroughfare through town and it is where all the tourists go. The street is full of street performers, especially mimes. With seven cruise ships in town it was a very busy place. We were the first ship to leave port at just before 4:00. It was a fun but irritating day. The time we had here could have been managed much better. The tour to Monserrat could have left much earlier leaving either more time there on more time left for touring the city after. We had nine hours in port and nearly half of it was wasted. More later, Tim |
I returned to Barcelona in 2013. Click HERE to take a look.
Click on the arrow above to continue to my next adventure, MONTE CARLO.
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