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Stop #1 - Geneva,
Switzerland
Stop #3 -
Lisbon, Portugal
Stop #4 - Zurich, Switzerland
I left Sam, Joy and Lui at Geneva with Rey and
Gabi Talattad and I took the early flight from Geneva to Barcelona.
Good thin Hotel Ibis provided the shuttle as my flight was very early at
0700H. I took my breakfast at the airport and I choked at the
sandwich/Coke combo that had a hefty price of CHF 12.50 or about CAD$13.50.
Switzerland was very expensive but the sandwich combo was just too much.
I was impressed with Barcelona airport due to
its sheer size and layout. Toronto airport is nothing compared to it.
The architects made sure that the airport had lots of natural light,
shopping malls and it was very spacious and I did not feel cramped unlike
Toronto. From the airport, I took
Aerobus and the round trip
ticket was EUR 9.95. I got off at the first stop at Plaza Espanya and
took the Barcelona Metro going to
Hotel Millenni.
I bought the 2-day unlimited Metro pass for EUR13.00.
The hotel was only 100 meters away from Metro
stop Paral-lel and it was near
La Rambla,
Christopher Columbus Monument,
La
Barcelonata Beach and
Plaza
Catalunya which were all in the city center. After settling at the
hotel, I started my walk towards Christopher Columbus Monument then strolled
along La Rambla. What I noticed in Barcelona was the plethora of
tourists with their carry-on/check-in bags.
La Rambla was a street full of different
stores and it was parallel to the
Gothic
Quarter of Barcelona. The hotel was also parallel to La Rambla so I
started to go to the Columbus Monument which was at the southern area, and
walked along La Rambla going north. At La Rambla was the
Erotic Museum
which was not worth for EUR10 entrance since the
Sex Museum at
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, which Amit and I visited last year, had more
interesting items.
The northern end of La Rambla was
Plaza Catalunya and from there I walked South and strolled along the Gothic
quarter. Within the Gothic quarter was the
Cathedral
of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia which was packed with tourists and
locals. The
Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya was also located at the Gothic
Quarter. Walking further south will be the Columbus monument and
further was La Barcelonata Beach.
I usually collect nice beach sand but did not
bother getting some from La Barcelonata because it was not really white.
I had my lunch in the area and had some Tapas. All the while I thought
a Tapa in Spain was a beef recipe like a Filipino dish. But it
actually meant "small serving." So I had various Tapas of cuttle fish,
sardines and potatoes. San Miguel beer was a Spanish beer but nothing
spectacular about it.
After lunch I went to
Casa Battlo which was
one of the structures made by architect
Antonio Gaudi.
The Casa looked like head skulls and Gaudi made it for the aristocrats of
Barcelona during his time. From there I went to
Sagrada Familia
and the architect of it was Antonio Gaudi. Sagrada Familia was famous
not only for its intricate design but it is still not complete since Gaudi
took over in its construction on 1883 (Yes! 1883) with the anticipated
completion on 2026.
Gaudi probably did a lot of the famous
landmarks in Barcelona as I went to
Guell Park which was another Gaudi inspiration. It was a park with
typical Gaudi inspired stone structures.
At this point, my left foot already developed
a large blister and walking was very difficult already. The 2 day
Metro pass was worth it and had to take the subway from stop-to-stop.
On my way back to the hotel, I stopped for
dinner and had some Spanish mixed grill seafood and double Sangria along
Paral-lel street. Regular Sangria did not have enough kick and the
waiter was good enough and made it a double.
Stop #3 - Lisbon, Portugal
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