The last stop on our journey is Barcelona. Marriott does not have a centrally located hotel in this city so we opted for a Starwood property, Le Meridien. This contemporary hotel is located just off of the Ramblas—convenient for walking to all of the popular sites in Barcelona. We were fortunate to receive an upgrade and had a suite with a large balcony overlooking the crowded city where 99% of the population live in an apartment.
On our first day we discovered the Boqueria Market. This is one of Barcelona’s 46 food markets and it is the largest and most famous. The supply of fresh fruits, cheeses, seafood, meat and bread made me want to cook, which is unusual. Every day we would start our morning with a fresh fruit smoothie, a variety of fresh cut fruit and a hot crepe or pastry.
Barcelona is a walking city so we walked. On our first day we walked for 7 hours seeing the 2,000 year old Gothic Quarter and the Old City with its many cathedrals, churches and squares. Narrow streets lead to a never-ending string of sites, shops, cafes and restaurants.
The Ramblas is a wide street with a promenade running down the middle of it for walkers. Thousands of people, both locals and tourists, stream onto the promenade day and night. There is entertainment every few feet with unusually dressed characters on display as Human Statue Art hoping you will take a picture and toss them a few euro.
It was fun just to explore and get lost—and boy did we get lost. Below is me with my sister and brother-in-law clearly lost.
There are 55 museums in Barcelona covering a wide range of subjects. We spent time in the Picasso museum which covered the history of Picasso from the time he was a child until the time he died. It was very interesting. We also visited the Chocolate Museum (not my idea and not worth it) and the Contemporary Art Museum which has an interesting building but very limited art.
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