Barcelona Review & Info

[PenelopeCorelli]

We had an amazing 40th anniversary 35 day vacation, with a 24 day b2b cruise, beginning with 3 days in Barcelona, Spain. So here are some of our experiences in this beautiful city, and some of the great deals.;)

 

 

 

Sunday, June 28

 

We packed everything for the three of us (Me, DH, & 13yoDD in two 21” bags and two 25” bags plus 3 matching carry bags. Stored cruise bags (one 25” & one 21”) in a locker inside the Barcelona airport, new terminal – Called Terminal 1 – lower level (another locker is at old terminal 2, outside the building). Paid for 24 hours (€4.90), then paid for the other days when we returned a week later. Bought a T-10 ticket for €7.70 (10 subway rides – can use for more than one person). Took a train to our hotel, “Hostal Neutral”, a Rick Steves’ recommendation in the Eixample area on Rambla Catalunya, balcony view above the rambla. Great price, great location. :)Lots of outdoor café tables in the center parkway of the boulevard, with the corresponding restaurants across the street on either side. Small tapas dinner at Taller de Tapas for €30. Popular non-seafood items found at several restaurants in the area: bombas (fried mashed potato balls), barbares (fried potato chunks with cheese), croquet pernil (deep-fried ham & cheese) and Catalan fresh tomato bread. Our waiter said Barcelona tap water is bad; he never drinks it. We found it to be true over much of Europe (& the USA); most people prefer to drink bottled water.

 

Monday, June 29

 

Walked to Boqueria Market, a large farmer's market– fruit salads were €1, chocolate croissant €1.30, water €1.50. Took a bike tour with Fat Tire, lots of riding – narrow streets, people, cars, poles – challenging for us older folks, although DD had a blast. Hot & humid, my hands sometimes got slippery from the sweat! :pWe stopped at different sites where our guide, JJ, would tell us about it. Initially challenging to find Fat Tire – we got several answers when asking for directions, and forgot that some people will direct you even if they have no idea, deeming it impolite not to help. (Sometimes I wish some were not as “helpful”.) The bikes have hand bells, which no one pays any attention to, so they’re useless – a loud horn would have been better. Riding in the street with all the cars is fun, also. :DThe park by the zoo has a Gaudi inspired fountain and a lake where rowboats can be rented. We also stopped at the beach. After the tour, we stopped at Café Imes in the Eixample area for a nice deli lunch (€5.10 each) – a sandwich or baguette w/ meat & cheese, a plate of tapas salads, and a drink (includes wine or beer). PS: American portions at restaurants are twice what they are here, so it seems you are paying twice as much for half the amount. But very few fat people here. The humidity is also a factor in this! ;)

Needing detergent (in the cruise bag) & shampoo (pre-cruise), we found a great grocery store – Caprabo – on Calle Consell de Cent 301. Amazingly low prices, esp. on their generic brands. Bought 1L OJ @ €1.20, 1 ½ L water, € 0.42, shampoo (2 for €3), detergent €1.73 bag. Wondering about soda prices? One small grocery was charging €22 for 24 Coke cans. In Caprabo: a 12 pack for €5.30!

Nice department store, El Corte Ingles, by Plaka Catalunya – bought several fans. Prices range from €2 to €45 or so, with lots of selection in the €6 to €12 range.

 

Tuesday, June 30

 

Breakfast at Ciudad Condal, a Catalan Denny’s of sorts, nice Spanish omelets. Took the L1 subway to the train station to buy 3 tickets to Montserrat (€67.50). Wanted to buy the combination train & aeri (cable car) but the lady was gone. We got the train/funicular tickets, and then found we had missed our 9:36 train. It takes a while to get the tickets, figuring out what is needed – and interpreting the machines correctly, inserting proper change, etc. We waited an hour for the next train. Nice ride to Montserrat & an interesting place. Not a whole lot to do there, but it was a good day trip. Did not want to wait for an hour in line to see the Black Madonna. In the church plaza is a vortex. People stand in the center of the circle and raise their arms heavenward.

After returning to Barcelona, we walked along the Ramblas, observing the many living statues, some oddly gruesome, then walked a block away to a main shopping area for locals, paralleling the Ramblas. Bought some needed basic earrings at Claire’s while DH saw a couple of thieves bag up a rack of baseball caps and disappear into the crowd.

Stores are closed from about 2pm to 6 or 7pm. Restaurants (Cerveseria) stay open for dinner until 12 or 1am. Stamps can only be purchased at tobacco shops or the post office. Found an internet café (they’re all called that, although they’re not cafés). The internet: € .70 for 30 minutes; phone calls: € .18 a minute. Pedestrians cross at crosswalks 5-10 seconds before the light changes. You have to know what you’re doing, because cars don’t acknowledge any pedestrian right-of-way!:eek:

 

 

We had a great time, though it was hot, and experienced nothing that would stop us from returning. Loved the food!!

[PenelopeCorelli]

Wednesday, July 1

After breakfast, we went into the subway station at Catalunya & looked for the train to the airport. We couldn’t find it, as I think we went into the wrong subway entrance. Someone there said that Sants is the best stop to get to the trains. That was 6 stops away. I had to use the bathroom, so we asked for directions. Several opinions on how to get there. Finally got off at Sants and found the WC upstairs by all the stores. It was free – which meant that it wasn’t that great. As I looked for a suitable stall, there was no toilet paper in some stalls, no lock on one door, another wouldn’t close, but I didn’t have time to find the ultimate, so had to settle for what I could find! They had stainless steel toilets with no seats. :eek: There was soap, water, & a blow hand dryer, though, thankfully. It was still not evident where the train to the airport might be, and we didn't have much time to spare, so we decided to get a taxi & went outside, finding one long queue for all taxis. Cost €30 for one and we were running late; traffic was horrible. We finally made it! :rolleyes:

Extra Barcelona airport info: Luggage carts are free, the taxi had an automatic initial charge of €7.50, Warsaw is written very differently in Catalan, (although I don't know why it comes out with asterisks when I try to write it) , and the exit sign says: Salida, Sortie, Sortida (the last word is Catalan, my guess is).

 

I will put the Poland review - July 1-6 ) in the Baltic ports area. We flew back to Barcelona on Monday, July 6 to begin our 24-day, back-to-back cruise on the Oosterdam.:)

[MightyQuinn]

We had an amazing 40th anniversary 35 day vacation, with a 24 day b2b cruise, beginning with 3 days in Barcelona, Spain. < > We had a great time, though it was hot, and experienced nothing that would stop us from returning. Loved the food!!

Loved your quickie review hitting all the important stuff - like where to eat! We have plans to pop in for a taste at several places that you mentioned so I really appreciate your feedback. But is Ciudad Condal really a Catalan Dennys? Say it's not so! :eek::eek:

[PenelopeCorelli]

Loved your quickie review hitting all the important stuff - like where to eat! We have plans to pop in for a taste at several places that you mentioned so I really appreciate your feedback. But is Ciudad Condal really a Catalan Dennys? Say it's not so! :eek::eek:

 

No, not a Denny's, really:o, ( I like some Denny's :p) but a nicely decorated (dark wood, deli case in front, booths in the back) casual restaurant with good prices. Their coffee was great - Bei & Nannini - we asked so we could look it up (didn't yet). We (3 of us) had the "flauta del dia" (1 sausage, 2 Spanish omelets), 2 coffees, 1 tea, €9.30 plus €1.20 tip = €10.50. We ate there the morning before leaving for Montserrat, & the next day on our way to the airport.

[MightyQuinn]

No, not a Denny's, really :o

LOL. A long time ago, I heard this & it stuck:

Denny's is not a destination ... you never plan to go .... you just end up there! :p:p

 

Since we plan to have breakfast at Cuidad Condal, the Denny's reference is actually funny. And we'll be all over the Flauta del Dia. Thanks again. And Happy Anniversary!

[PenelopeCorelli]

My Pre-Cruise Poland land tour is now posted in the Baltic ports area:)

[PenelopeCorelli]

Monday, July 6 Warsaw to Barcelona

 

 

 

We were the last ones on the plane back to Barcelona. My DH & DD used the restroom, which was not close to our gate. When she came back alone, I knew he would still be waiting for her. So I sent her back to get her father & thus we were the last ones on the plane. Oops! Glad they waited! This plane was smaller than our plane to Warsaw, with one aisle and two seats instead of three on each side. Some other people were in our seats – there were 2 adults & 2 small children and the last seats left were not together. Since the children could not sit alone, we let them have our seats.

The airline food was nice – a Prince Polo Polish chocolate bar, meats, cheese, bread, catsup (no mayo), and more bread. Among the beverage choices is Spanish wine, served in small individual bottles.

When we landed in Barcelona, we got on a bus that took us to the terminal. As the bus door was closing, a stewardess ran out with DH’s expenses notebook, which we had left on the seat. Fortunate, as we wanted to track our daily expenses.

We picked up our luggage in the T1 terminal. DH figured that our Left Luggage was in T2, logically the newer terminal. We took an airport bus to T2. It was very crowded and we did not see anyone who worked there to ask where the left luggage was. It wasn’t clear to us exactly where the Left Luggage was where we had left our two cruise suitcases. We went outside & across the street and found the Left Luggage facility there. But it was not where we had left our bags! Inside the building, the attendant explained that the other Left Luggage location was downstairs in the newer terminal – T1! Our reasoning that the newer building would be T2 was incorrect. We had been in the correct building all along! So it was getting late, and we were concerned that the ship would close the gangway at 5pm – somehow we had heard this – it was now about 3:30 pm. We waited for another bus back to T1– carrying our other luggage, of course, which was getting a little cumbersome. I had 2 tote bags also with several pieces of Polish pottery! In addition, we were searching for the claim ticket, which we could not find! We figured (hoped) that we could prove what locker we had, because our luggage was bright red or blue and we remembered where the locker was. When we finally returned to T1, it was easy to find the Left Luggage area in the lower level. Thankfully, we could prove it was our luggage, paid € 34.30 - it was € 4.90 per day (pay one day, the rest on return), and exited near the taxi lines. We had a great driver who speedily drove us to the ship! Cost of taxi: €33 + €2 tip.

[welovetotravel]

thank you for the great barcelona highlights!

[ranchette]

LOL. A long time ago, I heard this & it stuck:

Denny's is not a destination ... you never plan to go .... you just end up there! :p:p

 

Since we plan to have breakfast at Cuidad Condal, the Denny's reference is actually funny. And we'll be all over the Flauta del Dia. Thanks again. And Happy Anniversary!

Where is this restaurant located?

[Normandie-BCN]

Where is this restaurant located?

 

Ciudad Condal is in Rambla Catalunya corner to Gran Via de les Cortes Catalanes, 150 meters from Plaça Catalunya.

[KirkNC]

Great review, we also loved our pre cruise stay in Barcelona.

 

Kirk

[PenelopeCorelli]

Thanks, all. Two of my kids gave me a scrapbook at Christmas to start working on for our trip. Figured I'd have to do it - started with Barcelona & remembering good times.

 

I have more pictures here:

 

https://sites.google.com/site/justmamaannecruising/home/barcelona

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/AEngland48/CruisingInTheMediterranean2009Barcelona#