5:30 am taxi ride to the airport and off to Spain we go. It is a short flight and we arrive in Barcelona at 10:20 a.m. Finding two taxis is easy, so we are soon on our way to the Hotel 4 Barcelona. We immediately feel like we have traveled through time from the 19th Century to the 21st — how refreshing! Four lane highways, modern buildings, and traffic that respects the law and is not intent on mowing down pedestrians for sport. We are unable to check in and our rooms won’t be ready until 3 p.m. so we check our bags and head out to walk the streets for food and sights. We find a small cafe nearby and have tapas and drinks (I have my first Sangria – a favorite of mine – and it is delicious). We are very tired, but must kill some time, so after we eat, we walk to the nearby beach! Holy Moly, it’s the ocean! We come upon a beautiful beach and a deep blue ocean as far as the eye can see – Hello Barcelona, I Love You. There is a large walkway with people jogging, skating, bicycling and just enjoying the beautiful sunny day. It feels like Long Beach in SoCal. Even as tired as we are, it is a sight to see. We find a few concrete seats and lounges (surprisingly comfortable) and wait out the remaining time. We finally walk back to the hotel, get our rooms, rest, change and meet again to take the girls back to the beach. This time, they have bathing suits under their shorts and we get some beach towels from the Hotel and head back out. The girls lay on the beach, tanning themselves, while I relax at the Beach Bar in the shade. We have dinner at the restaurant ManGo, and order Paella, the delicious Spanish dish with rice and veggies or meat served in a big skillet for 2 or more. Everyone is a bit burned out, so we agree that we are going to take it easy in Barcelona. Michael gets Hop On/Hop Off tickets so we can ride around and see some sites. The only scheduled stop is Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia (Sacred or Holy Family), a large unfinished church, that was started in 1883 and Gaudi took over construction in 1884. It is an amazing architectural sight and includes several different types of staircases and many stained glass windows. We then split up as the girls would like to do some shopping. We find a street of clothing stores and everyone tries on clothes – Hailey and Brittney find something to buy, but Lexi has no luck. Next, we go to La Rambla (a huge open market) and are greeted by the sight of fruits, vegetables, meats, breads, fish, and seafood – what an incredible display of edible treats. By now it is late and we start back to meet the others for dinner. The next day, we head once again to La Rambla, as we just didn’t get enough the afternoon before. Afterward, I take the girls back to the beach, where they enjoy the sand and sun and I enjoy another Sangria (I am in Spain, after all). We get up the next morning and go to the train station heading for our final destination — Bilbao, in the Basque Country. The trip takes 6 hours; fortunately, it is a very comfortable train and the countryside is beautiful. We had no idea that the Basque Country was covered in such lush green mountains. We arrive at the Sercotal Hotel Gran Bilbao. It is a beautiful hotel, with the largest rooms and bathrooms that we have had to date. The only downside is that we are not in the center of the city, so we have to take taxis to get anywhere at all. Very few people here speak fluent English; as a result, we are extremely grateful for the Spanish that Michael and Amanda are able to recall, which enables us to communicate everywhere we go! We spend the first morning at the Guggenhein Museum – a modern art museum that some appreciated more than others. We had a nice lunch and then walked around Bilbao and came upon the Basque Musuem! We had to wait until 4 p.m. to visit, as we arrived during Siesta. There are four floors of Basque History and it is fun to see the Echeverria heritage. We taxi back to the hotel for dinner there and then retire to our rooms for much needed rest. Our final day, we venture once again for a last trip on the metro to find a bridge that our taxi driver told us about the evening before. We have to take a taxi to the metro station, then the metro to a few blocks from the bridge, then walk to the bridge, which is on the water front. It is really a very nice city, with many beautiful buildings. The area is clean and the people friendly. The bridge is unbelievable! It carries a ferry on cables from one side of the river to the other. It can hold up to six cars and many people. We discover that you can ride an elevator to the top of the bridge and walk across. A treat we cannot pass up! We then go walking through town looking for a restuarant. We happen upon an Italian restaurant (yeah, I know, we’re in Spain; but when you have 7 people to seat, you can’t be picky)! Turns out this food is phenomenal. We each order a pasta dish and are surprised by the amounts they serve. We have been used to getting fairly small portions in Europe — not a complaint, just the way it is; as America has a tendency to serve really large portions. We comment how these servings seem more like American servings. In fact, none of us can finish our food and we all agree we will take our leftovers back to the hotel and eat them for dinner; saving ourselves another trip out in the evening. Funny thing is, when we are looking for the restroom; I notice a table with 4 people and they have 2 bowls of pasta and they are spooning servings into separate plates they each have in front of them. I realize that what we have done is order a family size plate of pasta for each of us — the waiter must have thought we were such pigs!! When I go back and inform everyone what we have done, we all have a very good laugh. Someone observes that at least we didn’t eat it all.
As I close out this blog for our European Trip, let me just say that I, for one, have had an incredible time. So many good memories and laughs and fun adventures. I think the granddaughters have learned a lot — about different cultures, how to use the underground (aka subway, aka metro), how to step out of their comfort zone and take a few risks, an appreciation for different foods, a keen awareness of what a blessing it is to have been born in the United States of America, and how happy they will be to be back in their own beds, with their own pillows and beloved pets!
Beach Bar on the beach in Barcelona, Spain.
Hailey, Lexi, and Brittney tanning on the beach.
Tapas – delicious!
The ceiling in the Sagrada Familia church.
A spiral staircase
The front of the Sagrada Familia.
La Rambla market
The flower dog in front of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Hailey, Lexi, Brittney, and Amanda at the Guggenheim.
Giant spider sculpture at the Guggenheim.
Entering the Basque Museum.
The ferry hanging from the bridge. We walked across the span you see at the top of the picture.
Safari So Good 