We arrived to Barcelona through some fog that disappeared and gave us unexpected sun and warmth. A gift.
Our driver into the city was very courteous and warm – easy to spend the hour plus in his Tesla (seems to be the auto of choice for private drivers -Uber too). He was born in Pakistan, lived some years in London and loves living in Barcelona.
And then, with Beth’s most excellent choice to upgrade her reservation for simpler access, we gained digital entry to our home for the next few days. The new hybrid lodging format leaves me underwhelmed, not the helpful innkeepers I’ve traveled with for years. But it turned out fine.
Off we headed to enjoy the dry weather while we could. Our local La Concepcio Market for a walking lunch and watched a parade of civil marriage ceremonies and then a traditional bride and groom exited the Church of the Holy Conception across the street to get to their Rolls. We got oriented enough to get to Placa Catalunya (after a gelato – it keeps finding us!), marveled at the Block of Discord architecture, enjoyed an outdoor sangria cava (cervesa for Mary and Beth) before we headed back to dress for dinner. A good intro.
interesting gallery.
The evening was dominated by a thunderstorm with lighting that closed the restaurant at Barcelonetta quickly. In retrospect, would’ve been wiser to have skipped the outing. The area was near deserted, the restaurant vacillated between taking our early dinner order (by Spanish standards) and closing, ……… the large raindrops caught us for a while before we could get a taxi.
Had to eat and scurry though, so the experience left us nonplussed.
