Day 1--Barcelona

 We bounded off the plane at Terminal 1 and headed for customs. The airport looked nice--there were outdoor courtyards that looked like lovely places to wait for a plane. It was a long wait in a hot hall, and our first exposure to European customer service. I don't think the agent said even a "Hola".  Got our suitcase and headed for the Aerobús. 

I had watched a LOT of videos about Barcelona, especially about how to get from the airport to the city. The absolute best was from Roadtrip Spain and Portugal. I wanted to take the Metro (so cheap!) and Rob wanted to take a taxi (so safe!) so we compromised with the Aerobus, which is a private bus service. Of course, we couldn't remember exactly how to get from the luggage area to the exit, but we followed everyone else LOL and I soon saw the doors to the right and the moving ramp.

We paid cash at the machine and somehow did not get change back despite it saying it was giving it. It wasn't much. We joined the long line. There was a family behind us and it got annoying how close they kept getting to us! When finally it was our time to board, the girl from behind us basically squeezed infront of us, and then was blocking the aisle at the luggage rack. This was the type of behaviour I had seen in videos about pick pockets on the subways. Luckily, she was just being annoying and moved. 

The trip in seemed pretty quick. You go on a highway and it's not quite rural at the airport but there is empty space. Lots to see especially as you get closer. 

This is the Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower Hotel.  The dome on top is a revolving restaurant.

This is the ITC Barcelona by Soho Boutique.  Surprising, it's only 2 stars. Here is its location:

That hotel is the smaller circle on the left of the two circles close together. The other circle is where our hotel was. The Aerobus drops you off alongside the Plaça de le Universitat. I knew we had to head to the far end of the plaza and down either side of that building. The lane in front of our hotel is taxi only.

We were staying 3 nights at the Hotel Jazz. The lobby had dispensers with cold water and a candy bowl. Check in was pretty easy, staff spoke English quite well, and our room was ready even though it was only about 12:30. Remember to keep your card on you as you need it for the elevator! Our room was 604 which is a Superior Double with a king bed. There are 8 floors but I believe the 8th floor is just the patio/pool. 

I had to do quite a bit of editing to get anything but the light from the door to show. The room looked exactly like on their website. You can see it's actually a split mattress but it didn't bother us. 

Bathroom was quite adequate, with a toilet and bidet. We did not like the tub as it had no plug. There was a rainhead with not great pressure and maybe a handheld wand (can't remember). I just remember it was really hard to get the right temperature and it took forever to get warm. 

There also was what seemed like a towel warmer. We asked towards the end of our stay how to turn it on since there was no switch anywhere. They said the housekeeping staff could turn it on if we needed it. Of course, our last morning as we were killing time, Rob was exploring the room and found the breaker panel and figured out how to turn it on LOL.

To be safe, I used Google Translate LOL. So if you're ever in Room 604, it's the third breaker from the left.

The view out of our doors was nice. That's C. de Gravina (the street), and the Hotel Midmost Barcelona. The street between us is Carrer de Pelai. It was a pretty quiet room thankfully.

We showered and got out of our travel clothes and headed out to find food. Our goal was the famous Mercat de la Boqueria.  Before we got to La Rambla, we came across a Sephora store, with a slide that takes you to the basement:

He didn't actually go down. I think he would have been in such a panic to be in Sephora that he would have tried to climb back up it LOL.

The market was more down La Rambla than we were thinking, and the market seemed smaller than we thought it'd be. We had watched videos that said to go towards the back so we did. We tried a few things--a meat and cheese cone, and a couple of meaty/potato pastries. At one booth, I said Oui instead of Sí and told the cashier that we were from Canada and I kept saying oui. She said her sister lives in Nova Scotia! 

We ended up not getting any of the candy or sweets like I thought we might. We thought we'd also be at other markets and could get something there, or we'd be back here. The hours are not great though!

We kept walking down La Rambla. It's bustling and pretty, but also kind of derelict in places too. Empty stores, graffiti. 

Before we knew it, we were at the bottom of La Rambla, and the Monument a Colom.

I didn't really want to look like a tourist, or like I'm supporting Columbus, but whatever. It's a monument, a landmark.

Not sure why he was looking so grumpy!

We could see the water across the street, and boats, so we headed across and started walking. And then realized we were behind a fence (left over from the America's Cup), and kind of stuck walking along the waterfront unless we turned around. So we just kept going forward!  And going....and going...

We actually went left out of the hotel and down the angled street. Sephora is on this street, not the one that's to the top. It's 1.6km (1 mile) from the purple icon at the top of La Rambla to the Monument a Colom (if you just go straight but we also spent time in the market). Then 600m along the waterfront (plus going around the monument and crossing the very wide road).

Once we crossed back to the Gothic Quarter, I have no idea where we went. I think we saw the Barcelona Cathedral but I learned today there is also another cathedral near by. We didn't want to get out Google Maps or the printed map I took. So my green line is not exactly accurate.

Google Lens tells me this is the Barcelona Cathedral, apparently also called The Gothic Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia. I had wanted to tour it but we weren't sure about the weather, how we'd be feeling, etc. 

We meandered back to the hotel, checking out a chocolate shop on La Rambla but not buying anything. I didn't take any pictures on the street because, well, the internet is already full of pictures and videos. It really is a beautiful street, but we're not much for shopping and so many stores and restaurants were American ones anyway! 

We decided to go up to the rooftop and check out the view and pool. To our dismay, the pool--though totally  full and looking lovely--said "Temporarily Closed."

Looking towards the Mediterranean Sea, the curved building is the W Barcelona hotel, way out of our price range. You can see two of the cable car towers. We never did get to do that cable car!

Above and below are Mont Montjuïc, just below is zoomed in.

The spires is the Barcelona Cathedral, and the glass ball is the Pulitzer Barcelona hotel. It is fairly close to our hotel. I'm not sure what the glass ball is. I took a look at their website and didn't see anything with just a quick search. There is a lot of interesting architecture here!

At the hotel we decided to go to La Flauta for dinner. It had been highly recommended on Google, and it said to go on the earlier side (before 6:30) as Spaniards eat later. We got there around 6 I think and only had a short wait. We're not too adventurous when it comes to trying food but knew it would be good. 

We had a tomato/burrata salad. The tomatoes were a little hard, but it was delicious and fresh. I had a lemon beer which was quite nice! There is also pan a tomate there which Rob really loved. 

We got these giant shrimp!

They were good and fresh. We didn't suck out the heads, in case you're wondering. 

We also ordered beef short ribs. We were tired and weren't thinking straight. We were thinking it was a rib steak cause it was in the bbq section. They were really fatty, but the meat tasted good. I don't think we got a dessert. We thought we'd get ice cream across the street but then changed our minds. We were full and knew we'd be getting lots of ice cream on the ship. When we left, there was a line up. 

Knowing we needed some exercise after all the bread, I directed us over to the Passeig de Gràcia to see Gaudi houses--the restaurant was VERY quick and it was still daylight. 

They are all truly incredible and if we were to ever go back, I would do the tours.

We got slightly turned around in our attempt to get back to the hotel, and even Google Map didn't help because we couldn't tell which way was which until we started walking enough to see where the blue dot went. It's a lovely area though, I love how the buildings are along the street and there's a courtyard in the middle of the block for the residents. Also at many intersections, the corners are cut back on an angle. There are some cool YouTube videos and other articles on this area of the city. It's really fascinating.

The other big thing we noticed is that crosswalks are not right at the corner. They are a car length or so inwards. This allows cars to turn onto that street when they have the green light and not block the intersection. It was a little shocking to have the pedestrian signal but have a car drive right up to the crosswalk!

Back at the hotel, looking out our little balcony. We went up to the roof again. It was lovely! We were just relaxing but at 9:15 staff came up to tell us and a couple of ladies that the rooftop was now closed. Why?! It was so lovely! However, this could have actually happened on the next night. I have no pictures so...

It was a very long day, although to us it was like, late afternoon. With no sleep the night before, we headed to bed.