Barcelona, Spain - October 29, 2012

Ah beautiful Barcelona, whimsical, romantic with a vibrant atmosphere makes Barcelona an inviting place for both visitors and residents alike. The city’s architecture is uniquely iconic. The city has two distinctive personalities. The 3 million residents collectively represent the very soul of the Catalunyan region. Catalan people feel a strong sense of cultural unity. Their history, civilization, language and character have been distinctive for almost 2,000 years. Barcelona is not only the political center and heartbeat of the Catalunyan life, it is also one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean in terms of commerce and culture. The society is the spawn of its long-thriving intellectual and artist community. Most striking is the diversity of architecture in which Gothic structures share the skyline with the surreal spectacles created by one Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi’s architecture puts a signature to the Barcelona skyline and although we have visited this amazing city before we had yet to visit the Park Guell where one of the Catalan patriarchs, Eusebi Guell befriended Gaudi and was a major benefactor to him and his work. Park Guell is filled with colour, curved lines and nature inspired statues and is where we began our day right off the ship and into the subway taking the line L3 to the park. Barcelona has an excellent criss crossed subway system that easy to navigate and is a very cost effective way to get around the city. After the visit to the park we strolled back to La Rambla passing most of the major Gaudi sites (buildings) along the way. Unfortunately, Dustin (our son) was not in town but we did visit his office and received a very warm greeting from his work colleagues. from there to the La Boqueria market and then to a Tapas Bar for some lunch, Bilbao Berria - great spot. Strolled back to ship for the sail away and another spectacular sunset. A great day, here are some of our memories...