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Traveling Home

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While we always enjoy traveling, especially exploring new places, cultures, languages, and food, there’s no place like home. We were all ready to click our heels and get home. Getting to the airport and checking in, boarding, and the first leg of our trip was easy and unremarkable. There must be fewer flights scheduled (COVID issues we assume) … as we noticed that each airport we’ve been through is very quiet (except JFK, it was bustling).  We flew from Barcelona to JFK and had a very nice view of the Mediterranean coast as we turned to head west across Spain and then the Atlantic. We think we could see Zaragoza not too long after departure.  Delta served a very nice lunch on our flight. Some of us had Thai chicken curry and others had a three cheese pasta. They wouldn’t quite let us let go of the Spanish culture of having a beer or wine at lunch … and offered complimentary drinks. They even had mimosas, which is what we opted for.  This was one of the best in-flight meal...
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Picasso and Our last night

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We started our last full day at the Mercado de La Boquería for breakfast. Then walked about 15 minutes to the Picasso Museum.  The museum is nicely done: We felt like we were led along a timeline of Picasso’s life while being show his work from each time period. We also learned quite a bit about his life.  After the museum we took a very leisurely stroll though some surrounding neighborhoods just looking in shops. We also took a little time to buy our requisite souvenirs.  We ended up back in front of the cathedral where a antique market was in full swing. There were also street performers, including a man making huge bubbles, much to the kids’ delight.  We made another swing through the Mercado to take some bread, cheese, and meat home for lunch. Then, siesta … After our siesta it was COVID testing time. We had to do our test while being observed via Zoom by the testing company.  This was each of our reactions when all our tests came back negative: We went out...
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Sitges

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After breakfast and a leisurely morning in our apartment, we hopped on a train for a 30-minute ride to a seaside town called Sitges. It’s just south of Barcelona. Our main goal was to have paella.  While walking towards the beach from the train station, we did some window shopping. DJ found a store that sells loose leaf tea; he bought some. Jim took the opportunity to ask the shop owner where we might find the least  touristy and best options for paella. She was happy to tell us about three options, but only her favorite was open. We were definitely the only tourists in the place, which we were happy about. It wasn’t located on the waterfront, but the food was amazing. We ordered a three course meal which costs about $20 each.  It was a three-hour lunch … we think we are in the Spanish groove.  We usually try to recreate food that we’ve had on a trip. We will definitely try to make paella, but we are sure it won’t come close to what we had today. Thank you to the tea...
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More Gaudí and Mercado de la Boquería

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This morning we headed to Parc Güell via the Metro and a short walk. The park was designed by Gaudí and includes gardens and architectural elements. It is on a hill which gave us a good view of the city.  There were a few vendors and street performers inside the park. We sat and watched these fellows for a few minutes.  After walking the park it was time for coffee! We then took the Metro back to the area near our apartment. We spent some time perusing the shops inside the Mercado de La Boquería, a big market where one can buy all kinds of meat, cheese, veggies … or have tapas. We purchased all of the above and created a charcuterie-type lunch back at our apartment.  After a very nice siesta we took a walk on the Ramblas. We decided to have drinks and watch a soccer game. Unfortunately, the bar didn’t serve food so we opted to eat at a place on the Ramblas despite being advised not to do so; it is fairly touristy. The food was mediocre and Jim got into a slight argument ...
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La Sagrada Familia

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We did something for the first time in our traveling experience — we hired a private tour guide.  José led us on a walking tour of Barcelona plus the Basílica de La Sagrada Familia.  We found our guide through Rick Steves of Public Television fame — his suggestions never disappoint.  José met us at our door at 9:30 and we started with a walk of the oldest part of the city, which is just a couple blocks from our apartment. Barcelona was a Roman city in its infancy.  José showed us many things we would have never found on our own, many of which were over 1800 years old — including these original Roman columns.  The famous architect Antoni Goudí — who designed Sagrada Familia — was the focus of the next part of the tour.  We saw several examples of his work like this building below which is called Casa Batlló.   We have been to a good number of large, famous churches in the world.  In our opinion, nothing compares to Sagrada Familia. It’s design dep...
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