May 2nd

Today was a transition day. Jeff had prearranged a bus from Andorra at 0815 to Barcelona by 1115. When we arrived, we basically had 8 hours to explore –  what is Barcelona? We had to start with food because no breakfast, and well — hungry!! There were lots of little places near where we stored our luggage for the day. We each had a mini baguette sandwich – mine a multigrain bread with chicken, sliced hardboiled egg, lettuce and tomato, and mayo. Jeff's was regular baguette with jamon and queso. We split a yummy piece of dark chocolate cake with bits of cherry and swirl of vanilla cake. 

Now we trekked about Barcelona. We started by going to the big church, La Sagrada Familia. It is an ongoing process – as in “more than 135 years since laying of the first stone”, (from sagradafamilia.org). They basically hired a famous architect, Antoni Gaudi. Anyway there is a long history, tickets are pricy, and Jeff & I were not enamored with the basilica. It definitely has a style. We walked pretty much all around it, with every other tourist in Barcelona – at least it felt like it. It was crowded! Decided to head to the Gothic Quarter. It was charming and very picturesque. We did go into a side sanctuary of another cathedral, but not the main part. they were pricy also. There were a few plazas, or squares, to just sit and see or be seen. We had a gelato: mango scoop and dk. chocolate. 🙂  Next we strolled to and through a grand park. It was a great day: temperature in low 70's and a nice cool, gentle breeze with lots of sunshine. From here we decided to walk about to the beach. Dipped our tootsies in and this refreshed/rejuvenated us. We had done a bunch of trekking!!

Last thing on the radar was dinner. We had many places to choose from. But we landed on a place advertising Pisco Sours. The restaurant was Miski. Of course, we each had a sour – one with lime, and one with passionfruit.. We loved them!! The food was great, Peruvian and ceviche. (We did not try any ceviche dishes.) Jeff had the Menu. He chose a starter – Causa Rellena, which is a mashed potato loaf topped with lime sauce & tuna, and two Peruvian sauces drizzled around it. The presentation was very appealing and taste was better. Jeff's main was Pollo Miski, which is 1/4 Peruvian style chicken, served with salad and steak fries, and a dish of three sauces – as above, presentation and taste superb. I had a main dish only – Lomo Saltado, which is Peruvian sauteed beef in a sauce with tomato wedges, served on bed of steak fries and side of rice. Meat was so tender and sauce was excellent. We enjoyed this meal and place immensely, and highly recommend it. They have another restaurant in Geneva, Switzerland. 

After we finished we meandered by all the yachts moored up. Wowza!! There were some large ones – small cruise ship size. Anyway, went back to collect our luggage, time to leave Barcelona and catch train to Valencia. We enjoyed Barcelona, more than we expected.