Barcelona 25th May

Statue of Columbus seen through a forest of masts in the marina

The Spanish village - built in 1929 to showcase Spanish culture

The fresco from the relocated church at the Spanish Village

A model of the Pedrada house on display in its attic

the amazing dragon like chimneys and vents on the roof of La Pedrada

Strolling along Las Ramblas

Columbus' statue at the end of Las Ramblas

Leaving Barcelona - from our balcony

Last year we saw Barcelona's most iconic sights but in such a way as that most of the pleasure was sucked right out of them.  We'd done two back to back city walks in 35 degree heat and covered at least 13km to include Guell Park, Sagrada Familia and Montjuic all in one day.  Not surprisingly we were exhausted.
Today's visit was nothing like that.  We took a more leisurely approach and gained a far greater enjoyment of the city.
I think being on the water today made a difference for us too.  We felt we were so close to everything.  Barcelona's port area is clean and modern and there are attractions nearby such as the aquarium, several museums and of course, Las Ramblas. 

What we like about Barcelona today is that it is a liveable city underneath it all.  A solid infrastructure is well in place for the tourist, but it doesn't dominate the city or its people.  There are some cities we have visited who could learn from Barcelona, where the hunger for the tourist dollar comes across as desperation such as Tangiers, or is not as well organised as in Cadiz or Malta.

We took the HOHO bus today, choosing to do only get off three times.  The highlights were:
1 Revisiting the Poble Espanol.  This was the model village created for the Expo in 1929 and showcased the best of Spanish architecture, food, and arts and crafts.  It was so successful it was never demolished and remains a major tourist attraction.  We visited it briefly at the beginning of our Spanish trip last year, but it definitely warranted a second visit.  There is a beautiful medieval chapel that has been relocated to this site and its frescoes are quite lovely.
2 Finally being able to go inside the Gaudi house, La Pedrada, which was built in the first decade of the 20th Century.  It is still a most remarkable looking building, still way ahead of its time.  It was undergoing refurbishment last year and was closed to visitors.   It is still a functioning apartment block but parts have been set aside as a museum: the foyer, the rooftop, the attics and one apartment.
An hour's visit provided a fascinating insight to his use of the shapes of nature, use of fractals and geometry to produce the most amazing structures.
3 Strolling down Las Ramblas on our way back to the ship.  Block after block of stalls, restaurants and street entertainers made it a very easy walk back.  It finishes at the Statue of Columbus, which is incredibly elaborate.

We left Barcelona at around 10pm after being advised by Capt. Jose that sailing conditions tonight and docking in Marseille would be quite rough.    We had swells of 4.5metres through the night, but the ship's stabilisers meant that things never became too uncomfortable.  Unfortunately though, we were not going to be able to dock in the old port in Marseille - and will be a  forty minutes drive from the city centre.  Since we only have the afternoon here, they are arranging shuttle buses to help people get in and out of town.