October 24
Barcelona
[Our fourth and last day in Barcelona. Strange how it’s taken me three months to blog four days? Anyway, this is where we came out onto the street every morning from our hotel. And every morning I would say I have to take this picture up (or was it down) the street. But you had to take to take it from the middle of a very busy street, so this last morning I had to throw caution to the wind . . . ]
[And stop in the middle of the street for this shot! At a height of 512 metres, Tibidabo [Magic Mountain] is the highest point of the Collserola sierra. It is popular because of its views of the city of Barcelona and its cultural and leisure facilities, which include Spain’s oldest amusement park, a neo-Gothic church, a modern communications tower, an astronomical observatory and, above all, magic! (http://www.barcelonabusturistic.ca) We didn’t go there – time was of the essence.]
[This was a free day for us. So, let’s take the subway somewhere . . . ]
[Waiting, then . . . ]
[Here comes our train . . . ]
[Aha, back to Parc Montjuic where we took the funicular (here) . . . ]
[Up to grab a cable car ride . . . ]
[And away we go for stunning views of the city . . . ]
[Gee, Bill! I wish we had better weather for this??]
[Yes, a perfect day . . . ]
[And, again, Sagrada Familia is mid photo . . . ]
[And we had a right angle turn here . . . ]
[Arriving at Montjuïc Castle, an old military fortress, with roots dating back from 1640, built on top of Montjuic hill. It currently serves as a Barcelona municipal facility (Wikipedia).]
[With many views over the port and city . . . ]
[A big gun (not available for conceal and carry) . . . ]
[Every fortress should be spruced up with a garden (well, actually a parterre) . . . ]
[Entrance (oh, you could tell from all the clues?) . . . ]
[Generically described as . . . ]
[As a naked woman statue. Duh . . . ]
[(From the Super)]
[Another big gun not suited for concealment . . . ]
[View of a major port . . . ]
[Where big cruise ships hang out. This must be the place where the Super and I previously disembarked from such a ship for a plane ride home . . . ]
[The Super and Anne with the A-lister overlook position . . . ]
[Meanwhile, back inside the fortress walls . . . ]
[Yeah, it’s her again . . . ]
[Yes, it’s way more than just a cruise ship port . . . ]
[What good is a fortress without a dungeon?]
[And from a different perspective looking inland . . . ]
[The Drummer of El Bruc Timbaler del Bruc . . . ]
[(From the Super)]
[All about the castle . . . ]
[Trying to catch the Super with an unfurled Catalonian flag . . . ]
[THIS IS THE CITY . . . BARCELONA, SPAIN . . . ]
[Here is a panoramic video of said city . . . ]
[What’s over there?]
[With views available . . . ]
[In all directions . . . ]
[A little more of the fortress aspects of the castle . . . ]
[(Three from the Super)]
[Again, trying to catch the flags unfurled in the breeze . . . ]
[A vertical sundial . . . ]
[On the building . . . ]
[The city, with Magic Mountain on the mountain top in the background . . . ]
[Time for lunch, a slight wait while they were opening . . . ]
[Why yes, we were anticipating a table with a view . . . ]
[And here it is! Xalet de Montjuïc, described as an elegant restaurant with the best skyline of Barcelona – and it was adjacent to the Olympic diving pools.]
[This place had average dining reviews – but at this table, who cares?]
[My tuna, as I recall . . . ]
[Bill had fish (forgot brand) and beans . . . ]
[The Super had . . . something?]
[A meat stew of some sort?]
[And did Anne have . . . ]
[Lamb?]
[Anyway, we all thought everything was quite good, no doubt enhanced by the ambience!]
He had occasional flashes of silence that made his conversation perfectly delightful. ~ Sydney Smith
Up Next: Part 2 (at some point)?
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