2024 in Spain (Catalonia - Barcelona)

took a flight from Toronto (YYZ) to Barcelona (BCN) on August 23 (overnight into the 24th) to do some sightseeing of the Catalonian mainstay and thereabouts, before the sailing on the Celebrity Equinox:

"the shift"

earlier, the trip for 2024 was set up for Greece, Turkey, Israel, Cyprus and Egypt (to go to Africa for the first time in my life) in late October to early November on the Norwegian Getaway:

• booked that merely a month before the happenings of October 2023
• Egypt also had some knotted-up "visa requirements" for Canadians
• Norwegian Getaway's line then scrapped the sailing

(...back to the drawing board!)

"the new sailing"

still wanting to set foot in Africa for the first time, I chose a sailing that would dock in Morocco:

• Celebrity Equinox happened to have a sailing from Barcelona as a "means to reach Africa"
• got to board a non-Norwegian (NCL) ship for once

"the over-trippers"

read about the "anti-tripper" feelings online before flying into Barcelona but:

• never saw any wrathful anger or fighting while there
• soft, "passive-aggressive" banners of "anti-tourism" or "over-tourism" hung in the less busy pockets of town
• those having a look at town and those showing them around went about their business without much noise and threats of fighting

"the sightseeing"

day 1

landing day and getting our bearings straight:

• landed at Barcelona's El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport (BCN)on August 24th
  • the sky-ship hub let wayfarers walk straightforwardly into a Metro stop
• the public transit system worked seamlessly:
  • many "kiosks" helped anyone buy "tickets" or "passes" in English and many other "idiomas"
  • in downtown lines, the loudspeaker on the Metro would speak in English + Catalan + Castilian Spanish
    • further out, one would hear only the latter two:
      • "pròxima estació! ¡próxima estación!"
• Eixample, a newer swath of Barcelona, with its grid street layout, made it straightforward to find one's way around
  • older swaths of Barcelona, however, had a more "messy" street layout
• Mercadona, Spain's main supermarket line, did its best
  • so little for so much food and drink!
• Festa Major Sants, a yearly August street crafts show
  • happening upon this at Plaça de Sants gave the evening a welcoming feeling

day 2

nothing felt overly-over-crowded on August 25:

• Jardins de Montjuïc
  • site of the Olympic Games in 1992
    • almost no one there in the dry morning sun!
• Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
  • the "Olympic Stadium" was locked up but saw a small sliver of the inside between the main gates
• Sagrada Familia
  • the "Modernist" cathedral thought up by Antoni Gaudí
• Park Güell
  • another work by Antoni Gaudí, a garden-like spot far from downtown Barcelona
  • well worth the ride to see the Mediterranean Sea and Sagrada Familia from afar
• Barri Gotic
  • a "Gothic Quarter" with many churches and that old-world feeling
• Mussol
  • for Catalonian eats, far away from the first-time sightseers who would likely eat near "Las Ramblas" (read that one should not go there!)
  • nobody there "waved their menus" at us which made the food better

day 3

for August 26, a trip to Andorra and southern France, which will make up another "blog post":

• came back the same evening, too tuckered out
• had some "döner for dinner" from a German Turkish kebab shop across the street from the guesthouse as a "nod" to the last trip

day 4

for August 27:

• a morning of having a closer and inside look at Sagrada Familía
  • the inside did not let me down at all
    • the stained glass windows are a must-see
  • hard to believe this church
    • started building in 1882
    • won't be done until 2026
• going to the ship dock via a "Cruise Bus"
  • a 10 minute ride for only 3 euro
  • it would take 45 minutes to walk in the hot sun on an uphill bridge (all with backpacks and lug-alongs!)
• boarded the Celebrity Equinox ship to go to Cádiz in southern Spain!