On Sunday many museums and galleries are free, so we decided to make this day our cultural experience day. After all the activities yesterday, we were obviously more tired than we thought - we slept in a bit so breakfast was a bit more rushed. First however we planned to take the funicular & cablecar up to Montjuic, which has commanding views over both the city and the ocean. There is a castle on the point and the rest of the "mountain" is a park/walking/cycling tracks - goes on for miles. Adjacent at the bottom is the former Olympic Village (time did not allow us to visit).
The highlight of the day was visiting the Museum National D'Art De Catalunya. Not only were the paintings etc. magnificent, but the whole building a masterpiece. Time just rushed along. After a drink for lunch we decided to walk down to "town" and it is a great boulevard (probably not the right description).
Once again, there were some escalators to help us down and someone made a joke/comment to the guy in front of us. As to be expected he and another couple were from NZ, but not only NZ but Hawkes Bay, but wait there is more - how about Waipukurau? To add more, they had been over to London to visit a friend, who happens to be the brother-in-law of one of Vivian's bridesmaids (Julie Kynoch). Now if that was not bad enough, how about that they ate joining us on the Royal Princess cruise!!!!!!!Yep, a very, very small world.
After we parted company and reached the bottom of the avenue (new description), we dropped into the train station and bought our tickets for our visit to Montserrat (Monday trip). Opposite is the site of the former Bull Ring which is now a shopping centre. Fortunately it being Sundays, shops apart from food were closed. We took the glass elevator up to the top. From a distance I had thought that the lift was some sort of crane they were using for the building, but no, it is a permanent structure. The sign said €1 pp, but Ivan spotted a small sign saying senior citizens "gratis", so said to the disinterested security guard, was looking away from us "is that OK?" to which he replied, still not looking at us "get in". Some people really love their jobs!
Back home for a rest and freshen up and back to the same tapas bar as last night. We are getting the hang of tapas now and the meal was even better. To add to the excitement Barcelona was playing Valencia and all the bars had TVs in their windows. We were delighted that our team won 3 2. It was noticeable that the supporters were really vocal when we scored, but when the opposition scored, there was just a deathly silence - so unlike a NZ reaction.
A great night and all set for a big trip to Montserrat.
Wow yes a very small world! X
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