Ann is excited to be visiting Barcelona again. We sleep in to 7.30. Yesterday I did 21,800 steps! This morning it is a mild 24 degrees with cloudy skies.
After gym walk and breakfast we head off to Barcelona. Once again this is a large port and a shuttle bus is provided for 4.5 euros a return trip. We get off the ship at 10.20 and there are two buses waiting but quite a line. We eventually get on a third bus and it is at least 15 min ride to the drop off point which is only 5 min walk from the start of Las Rambla. We head off at about 11 am and walk through the Barre Gothic area. There is a bit of construction work going on near the start but once we get going the area becomes familiar. We find our way to our apartment on the Carrer de Pi where we stayed in around 2013 and then the square and restaurant where we had burgers with John and Kaye and we think Tempranillo wine, and then the tapas restaurant where with John and Kaye and Ross and Karen in 2016 we had tapas on toothpicks.
We then continued back on Las Rambla with no clouds but crowds and getting warmer. There were some closed down shops which surprised us but others that were renovated and completely changed from what we remember. We did get to our supermarket and picked up four wines. I have read on the internet that we should be able to get the wine back on board without having to pay corkage of $15 per bottle as we are screened in the terminal and not when we get on board. We have also heard that all cruises after ours are being charged a $30 corkage fee which would make it debatable as to whether it was worth it from an economic point. We continue back towards the port and stop off at the market where we buy some potato bravos and some cherries the size of small apricots! On our way back we find a new marine area with shops and restaurants and an aquarium. It appears it is also going to be the site for the Americas Cup contest in October.
We eventually get back to the bus pickup point and are back on the ship heading for a couple of cold beers by 3 pm. No problems getting the wine on board. My Fitbit tells me we have done over 24,000 steps and we are feeling it. We are looking forward to a sea day tomorrow!
We have a bottle of wine in the afternoon and will pass the formal dinner and go to the horizon court where we believe there will be tapas.
No comments:
Post a Comment