La Rambla

The last day in Barcelona and the last day of our vacation. We started the day at Park Guell on a hill overlooking Barcelona. It was quite a haul up the hill from the subway. You can see the stairs and even an escalator set. We have had a couple of sets of escalators here in Barcelona and they have been nice perks. Park Guell was a community designed for the elite and encouraging connection to nature in a suburban setting. It was a bold plan designed by Gaudi (same architect as the La Sagrada Familia). It was ahead of its time and had great paths and design. It was purchased by the city and is now a UNESCO heritage site.

After that, we had lunch down toward the water and checked out the Americas Cup (sailboating) competition. We just missed the race between the US and New Zealand (we lost). We checked out the pier where the kiwis had their boat and looked at some of the team merchandise.

After that, we took a ride on a funicular tram to a cable car ride up to the top of a mountain that overlooks Barcelona and the Mediterranean. Part way up, we heard bumping music and saw a big crowd. On the top was Casello Montjuic, an old Army fortress. We toured around and took pictures. It was an awesome view. On the way down, we got off on the stop with the music to check it out. You had to have a ticket, so we couldn't go in, but it looked like an EDM festival, and it was packed.

We didn't think about the fact that Barcelona was a large cruise ship destination, but we saw four ships docked or just leaving. That is a lot of people flooding into the city. We definitely heard much more English spoken here than when we were in Porto or Santiago.

We ended the evening with dinner at a tapas restaurant to try some local tapas favorites. We also tried out a small brew pub next to our hotel. They had 3 gluten-free beers, so I (Jack) was excited to have options.

We have an 11 am flight to Dulles in Washington and hope to catch Ashley on our way through. Now, back to the "real world. "Read more