Touring with my German friends

Day 3    Barcelona     Sunday, July 27, 2014

These are the Engels, Benedikt, Hilde, and young Stefan. I met them a year ago on my Great Lakes bike tour. They are from Aachen, which is near the borders of Belgium and Holland. I have remained e-mail friends, and we suddenly realized a few months ago that we were going to be in Northeastern Spain at exactly the same time. They decided to drive the hour from where they were staying, in Gerona, to Barcelona for one day to see the city and to let us visit together again.

So great to see them and to have Janet meet them. Stefan spent the past school year in Pennsylvania, so he had not been home very long before this vacation for them. We walked along Barcelona's famous La Rambla from its start at Plaҫa de Catalunya. La Rambla is a city highlight, a pedestrian boulevard running 0.6 miles to the port where the Columbus Monument is. We diverted into the old city to see again the Cathedral and Roman walls. This time Janet got to go inside the Cathedral. Once back on La Rambla, we saw the Columbus monument up close with its many statues and commemorations.

The five of us walked all the way to the beaches of Barceloneta, beyond the port to the north.

Being a nice hot Sunday, the beaches were jammed. This next picture captures the throngs enjoying the sun:

They had sand sculptors, as well as quite a few women who must have misplaced their bikini tops. Janet joked about Stefan getting some of those views, but it seemed to fall flat and we just kept walking back to the port.

Once we reached the port, we found a cafe for lunch. As one would expect, the prices at those primo beach locations were extravagant, but we still enjoyed our food and the scenery. After that long walk, Janet's foot was hurting so we said our goodbyes and took the subway back to our flat for a rest. I learned later that the Engels continued on for a very extensive walking tour of the old city.

After a rest, we decided to try again on the funicular/gondolas now that we knew where the funicular start was located. It all worked great, and the views were fantastic.

Once at the top, we went inside the castle that was built in 1640 as a military fortress. The best part was seeing the old photos of Barcelona in the museum. But it was the views from up there of the port that was the best, including a Norwegian Cruise ship that we would see later in Naples.

Another view of the castle:

This Catalan flag flew atop the castle with a view down to the city and Mediterranean. There were posters explaining how in 1939, the troops of Franco took over Barcelona and they executed the president of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, in 1940. What they didn't mention was how the republicans up to that point had used the castle to lock up and execute right nationalists (Franco supporters). Course, everyone here and all the Basque people hate Franco, so that was okay.

 Here is the Catalan flag flying in all its glory!

Janet and I returned to the flat (another two gondola rides down and a funicular ride to the bottom of the hill) and rested again. Our dinner was at one of the many little restaurants that populated our area just down our street. We ordered tapas again, this time a Russian salad, little fried battered thingies, two little sandwiches, and of course cheap beer (the bottled local beer was 1 to 1.2€, or $1.50 to $1.80, so not bad!).

Just a few feet away was this theater:

I just HAD to take Janet's picture here because she was the El Molino editor-in-chief, which was our high school yearbook. The windmill blades were turning and everything! We were tired after a long day of walking and seeing this beautiful city, and we still had one and a half more days!