We left the ship to prepare to load another 3,000 passengers and went to the Customs Hall to find our luggage-only there wasn't any Customs to go through! That was the first time we experienced that in our cruises and we were happy that there would be no standing in line. We went straight out of the hall into the Barcelona morning and there was a man holding up a sign with my name on it-our driver, and next to him our smiling English speaking guide.
A black Mercedes E Class waited at the kerb and it didn't have to wait long until we were cocooned in it's leather comfort and sipping bottles of iced water.
We thought we were heading straight for La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's last architectural masterpiece but as it wasn't open just yet our guides wanted to show us some of the city first.
The Emerald Princess far below
We drove to the top of Montjuic as they wanted us to see their beautiful city from the best vantage point. It is raining heavily out to sea. Would the rain spoil our day? Yesterday it had prevented us from visiting France and our Captain made a good decision as there was flash flooding ashore and some people died as a result.
A bird's eye view of this beautiful city
After 20 minutes or so it was time to move on with our tour. This is Luis our careful driver.
We are driving along with Anna our guide giving a commentary on what we are seeing. I am taking photos from the car. I am loving everything I see.
We are driving on a very wide street called Passeig de Gracia. Hey! That's the street our hotel is on!
There is a crowd outside this building. It's Gaudi's Casa Batllo. It's not on our tour today but we will get tickets on line and visit it tomorrow, Sunday.
We wind our way through the city until it is time for Luis to stop and let us off. He will meet us in a couple of hours to continue our tour. Men are playing bowls in a park. We will walk to Sagrada Familia.
I think that's it!
The Basilica is expected to be finished in 2026
We had pre-paid tickets and Anna went to retrieve them. This allowed us to avoid the long lines of people wanting to buy tickets.
You could spend a long time just admiring the sculptures, so many and varied are they
People waiting to get in
The door is open and we will soon go in to marvel at the interior
Just so much to see!
There are many musicians and animals portrayed in the wall sculptures
The horse's head
Giant insects amid the ivy sculpture
Ok- we are going inside! (Next)
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