We certainly experienced "the rain in Spain" today. We had breakfast at the hotel (an experience we won't repeat)
and left in time to catch one of the first tourist buses from the square. It was a bit cloudy, but no worries. So no ponchos or umbrellas. Well before we reached our morning destination, it was raining hard enough to drive us to the lower level of the sight-seeing bus. We fell into conversation with a lovely lady from New Zealand named Avril, whose plans for the morning matched ours. When we got off at the stop for Park Guell, our first mission was to find rain ponchos. Once that was done, we ignored the rain as we explored this strange park area, designed by Antoni Gaudi and a team.
It was intended to be a residential area, but too few were interested in buying (I get that - can't imagine living inside a Gaudi building). Eventually it was turned into a park. We got separated from Avril, so went for coffee on our own, but we met her again at the bus stop. We all proceeded then to the Pedrabes Monastary - one of Barcelona's lesser-know gems! It's a lovely old place, with treasures dating back to the 14th Century.
We wandered, almost alone, through its various areas for the early part of the afternoon, then parted ways with Avril to come back to our hotel. After a short rest and dry clothes we headed out again in the sunshine for the last loop of the hop-off-hop-on tour. We took the metro to the beginning of the route [ in the Olympics Area (1992)] and rode the full loop around an old industrial area the Mediterranean shore (now being redeveloped as a technology hub) without getting off. By then clouds were rolling in again, and since we never learn, we were without rain gear again [4 ponchos and 2 umbrellas back in the room]. Luckily, we got to the subway and from thee to a covered, outdoor restaurant right across from our hotel, before the heavens opened. So we sat in splendid dryness, watching everyone scurry along the street.
We had a very leisurely supper, but finally had to make the dash to the hotel. Now we're warm and dry once again.
Link To All Photos for 30 September
We wandered, almost alone, through its various areas for the early part of the afternoon, then parted ways with Avril to come back to our hotel. After a short rest and dry clothes we headed out again in the sunshine for the last loop of the hop-off-hop-on tour. We took the metro to the beginning of the route [ in the Olympics Area (1992)] and rode the full loop around an old industrial area the Mediterranean shore (now being redeveloped as a technology hub) without getting off. By then clouds were rolling in again, and since we never learn, we were without rain gear again [4 ponchos and 2 umbrellas back in the room]. Luckily, we got to the subway and from thee to a covered, outdoor restaurant right across from our hotel, before the heavens opened. So we sat in splendid dryness, watching everyone scurry along the street.
We had a very leisurely supper, but finally had to make the dash to the hotel. Now we're warm and dry once again.
Link To All Photos for 30 September
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