Barcelona

[flea b]

Hello!

 

I'm going to Barcelona in August with husband & children age 12 &14 on Fred Olsen Black Watch. We thought we might do the tour bus. Not really into football so not bothered about seeing Nou Camp. Hope to see Sagrada Familia and would like to see the fountains but heard they're not on until 9.30pm. Would we be able to see the show and get back to the ship by 10.30pm. Any other suggestions for a interesting day greatly appreciated,

 

Thanks,

 

Flea B:)

[Normandie-BCN]

If the ship is leaving at 11pm, the ganway will be closed, I supose, around 10:30. From the fountain to the ship in taxi you have a 15 minutes ride. The problem is to find a taxi there.

 

So, in case you get a taxi that could wait for you while the fountain show, which will usually do but you must ask before (at that hour a lot of taxis gave up and go home), you will not have any problem to leave the fountain at 10:00 and be at the gangway of the ship before closing (10-15 minutes ride + 5 minutes to get the gangway from the terminal).

[tom_uk]

Do you mean the open-top tourist buses when you say 'the tour bus', or do you mean an excursion arranged by Fred. Olsen?

[yoj13]

Hi,

The open topped red bus is a great way to see Barcelona. Hop on and off as many times as you like. I think there are 3 routes in Barcelona. Don't miss Las Ramblas BUT be very careful if you take valuables. I never take my handbag, hubby puts a few euros in his pocket and thats it. There will be lots of people walking up and down Las Ramblas and amongst them are the pickpockets. I don't want to scare you but last year my friend and I waited outside the Nou football stadium whilst our other halves went in.

We sat outside and had a drink and when I saw her at dinner that evening, she told me her purse had gone albeit with a small amount of money in. How it happened we will never know as the bag it was in, was zipped and had a flap over as well. So do take care. Barcelona is a very vibrant city.

[flea b]

yoj13 -

Thanks, I had been told about pick pockets so I'd bought a bum bag, but by the sound of it they would probably whip it off me! We will do as you say, hubby have minimal amount of cash. Forget the bum bag idea!!

 

Tom uk -

Hi, I saw your info on the other thread - thanks, and you are definitely not butting in!! I meant the open top bus, I did wonder if it would be all too much to take in for one day but we are there from 0800 hrs til 2300 hrs so plenty of time. Because this is our first cruise I keep thinking we will be in a big rush / panic to do everything, also I am always looking at the time worrying about being late, that is why I'm trying to plan a little! I don't think we will do Fred Olsen trips as it will work out expensive for 4 of us.

[tom_uk]

I meant the open top bus

 

A lot of people recommend them, and like them. Howver, I have to say that when we visited Barcelona in May 2005 (on our Sinfonia cruise) we tried them and didn't like them at all.

 

Here are the things we didn't like about them:-

 

a) although they do indeed cover all the main spots, they have to travel through a lot of not-so-main areas to do so. For example, Sagrada Familia is a bit of a distance away from other principal sights, so to get to it the buses have to go through a couple of kilometres (it seemed) of anonymous apartment-land Barcelona. Nothing unpleasant, just not especially pretty;

 

b) the main (or most popular) line has two routes, the Red and Green routes. Your ticket is good for both of them, but you do find yourself changing buses where the routes intersect. There were big queues at each of those stops, and lots of confusion whenever a bus hove into view: is it red? is it green? (the buses are the same, there's a sticker on them which identifies the route); and lots of people swaying back and forward as conflicting opinions as to which route route it was flew up & down the queue;

 

c) we found it hot! we were upstairs on the open floor, and there was no shade. Even in May we found it very hot. I recall that the seats were plastic so got very hot and we 'stuck' to them, and the handrails were all metal and got even hotter. At some stops the bus just stopped & waited - I remember a 10 minute wait in the sun at the main railway station where we just fried.

 

So we don't remember the open-top buses with any fondness.

 

What we also did was use the metro, which turned out to be easy to use, efficient, and cool. The electronic ticket machines have an english-language capability. There are stations at all of the major destinations. If we go back (and I think we will) then we'll use the metro. I think you can buy day-tickets.

 

Final suggestion: think about doing Sagrada Familia first. We were there late morning in May and it was already packed out - not much chance to stop & take it in, you had to keep marching forward. Again, if we went back we'd get the metro to it (it has a Metro stop) as the first destination of the day - it ought to be less busy early on. Then we'd probably get the metro back to Placa Catalunya and have a coffee, either on the square or down Las Ramblas.

[flea b]

Thank you Tom, very helpful. I'm not very good in intense heat so the Metro will be more suitable. Also I will make sure we do sagrada familia 1st, as I'm not that great in crowds either! I will still expect it to be really busy though. I will now try looking for info on the Metro as I wasn't even aware that there was one. Think I need a Barcelona Guide book too!

[tom_uk]

Think I need a Barcelona Guide book too!

 

Definitely! Barcelona is packed with sights, and (in my humble opinion, of course) if you try and make it up as you go along, you could end up in the middle of the city just dithering while you sweat - I know we did! I think Barcelona is one place that definitely repays a good deal of forward planning.

 

Guidebooks: We had the Dorling Kindersley Top 10 guide to Barcelona, and it's pretty good. Certainly efficient, in that it'll give you the basic facts, and it includes a metro map. Not much on the history of the city, and not enough about Modernism, but then that's not its aim.

 

But it's a great place, and there's a good chance the children will enjoy the Modernist architecture at Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell: there's a playful element in it that I think children respond to.

[flea b]

Thanks again Tom, I am hoping the children are going to get a lot out of the holiday... My daughter is interseted in arts and has chosen it for one of her GCSE options, Geography too. We are going on a caribbean cruise in 2007 and they are looking forward to doing the Mayan Ruins, so it's good they are interested. I will go to Waterstones before work today to choose a guidebook, it will need to have Metro Map or we won't know where we're going. Thanks again for all your help, much appreciated. :)

[miss mental]

flea b, hello!

 

The link below is a Barcelona tourist guide!

 

Check it out! :rolleyes: there are photos of the fountains plus metro maps etc. the site also has all the other sites such as Guell Parc (where we are going!!!)

 

http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/albums-en/magic-fountains-montjuic/

 

Heather X

[Mark_in_Colorado]

flea b, I agree with tom_uk regarding the metro system. I think Barcelona has one of the best in the world. There is good info on using the metro on the online tourist guide that Heather provided in the post above; there is also good info on the official English language site at www.tmb.net/en_US/home.jsp. When you have a good idea of what you want to do, and become familiar with the route map, you can figure out whether you would be better off buying 4 one-day travel cards for 5 euro each (20 euro total), or buying a couple of the T-10 travel cards for 6.65 euro each. The T-10 cards are good for 10 trips and can be shared among the family members (just pass the card back after passing through the turnstile).

[Andros]

I have a homepage with all kinds of info on it, including links and other ports of call(link in signature). Barcelona is a wonderful city and glad to be returning there again this year. Hope you and your family have a good visit there. Happy Travels, Andros

[KathiB]

Flea b,

 

We were just in Barcelona for 3 days pre-cruise with our two daughters. We used the touristic bus a bit but it is better thought of as an overview and not really direct transportation to a specific spot. The first afternoon we did the blue route (southern ) and did not get off as we were suffering from a bit of jet lag. The entire route was 2 1/2 hours long but a fun way to see alot of the city that we didn't plan on seeing more of. The next morning we got on the red line (northern) and went directly to the Sagrada Familia, which was the second or third stop. We got there by 10:15. There is an English speaking tour at 11:00 which is a great way to really appreciate this amazing structure. Before the tour we spent 2 euros each to take the lift to the top of one of the towers, really fun and a must for kids. After the tour finished at about 12:00 we spent an additional 1/2 hour walking around the outside and gift shop.

 

We then walked across the street and waited 2 minutes for the bus, got on and continued to the Parc Guell. We walked around there for an hour or so. From the the red route would have continued for another hour or so to areas we were not really interested in so we took a taxi (they were lined up at the entrance to the parc) directly back to our hotel for a little break. The fare was about 6 euros (for the 4 of us). I wanted to let you know that if there are four of you you might want to grab a cab now and then. It is almost the same price as the metro and you get to start and finish just where you want. We had some fun drivers, too. One who said the restaurant that I wanted to go to was in a bad area so he suggested another by the beach (Salamanca). It was wonderful and we were the only tourists there.

 

Anyway the bus is good but has it's drawbacks. We bought four 2 day passes for 22 euros each and only used it 2 times so we did not get our monies worth.

 

Have a great time in Barcelona.

 

KathiB

[Parrot Mom]

We were fortunate to do a pre-cruise in Barcelona onour own and used a guide/driver to tour Barcelona.. We saw more in six hours than most people see in a week... the highlight was noticing a building that had an unusual mural. Auriello, our guide, told us it was a Picasso Nativity Scene... If you need more info please write.. parrotmom@comcast.net

[Sunsailor]

The Maritime Museum is one block from the Columbus statue near the port. It's a gem and might be great for the kids. It's a do-it-yourself museum tour..headsets for your language and each exhibit numbered. Everything from fishing boats to slave galleys to early submarines. We were there at the end of May - the same day we sailed. The whole museum can be done in about an hour. Check it out on line.

[flea b]

Thanks to: Normandie BCN, Tom-UK, YOJ13, Miss Mental:), Mark in Colorado, Andros, KathiB, Parrotmom & last but not least Sunsailor!! For all your replies. Very much appreciated. Bought my guidebooks now so I will try to plan my route! Thank you all again, Happy Sailing everyone, Love Flea B :)) xxxx