October 30, 2018              Barcelona            Tuesday 30^th

This morning Miro and Cathy met us at the apartment and we set out to visit Mercado de La Boqueria, the Barcelona food market.  It is amazing, I think you can buy just about anything there food wise.  After our stroll through the Boqueria it was off to the Maritime Museum down by the Columbus Column.

We went to the museum with Steve and Hannah, Miro and Cathy went off to walk along the waterfront.  They would meet up with us after we finished the museum.  The museum is located in the building of Drassanes Reials de Barcelona, the royal arsenal of Barcelona, dedicated to shipbuilding between the thirteenth century and eighteenth century.   The main exhibit was a reproduction of a 16^th century Royal Galley.  There are other smaller exhibits of model ships, equipment, weapons, etc.  I of course took photos of most of it.  Steve, Hannah, Miro and Cathy were going to take the cable car up to Montjuic Castle.  Sue and I would take the Metro and a bus up to the Castle.  Wikipedia will tell you probably all you need to know about the Castle.  It was originally a fort, it has a long history involving Spain, Catalonia, France and Britain.  Today it is a cultural center.  The views overlooking Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea are spectacular.  After the Castle we headed back home via the bus and the Metro.  The others went back by the cable car.

Steve went with Miro and Cathy to get something to eat, Hannah was tired and just wanted to rest.  Unfortunately she had to wait in the foyer to our apartment, she didn’t have the key to get in, we arrived and let her in.  Sue and I went to get something to eat at the Restaurant Romesco that Steve had found on the internet or in Rick Steve’ book.  It is a small diner.  The three waiters and the bartender are all about my age.  The food was great.  I had sausage with potatoes, and Sue had a veal stew.  Our bull including bread and two beers was only 15.80€.

Steve had made reservations for the four of us to attend an evening classical guitar concert at the Casa Batilo, again Wikipedia is your friend if you want to know more.  It was designed by Antoni Gaudí in his Modernist style, and is considered one of his masterpieces.  The tickets enable guest to walk through the five levels of the house.  The photos show the elaborate design and decorations.  The tickets also included two drinks, so it was a pretty good deal.  The concert was on the roof top deck.  There were two guitar players, and a Flamingo dancer.  It was very good, unfortunately it started to rain after about 20 minutes, and that ended the concert.  But we could use our tickets to get new tickets for another night.  Miro and Cathy may use them.  

The Obama Gastro Pub was on the way home, so of course we stopped for a nightcap.  It was another very good day.

This goes against my compulsive nature, but I’m posting today’s photos without comments.  Maybe I’ll get to them when we are in Lisbon, but I doubt it.

Tuesday Oct. 30