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Hola from Barcelona
It’s been a little over a week since I last wrote & since then we spent a few days in Valencia and are now in Barcelona.We left Madrid in rain & arrived in Valencia to the sun. What a pretty little city. The train station itself is an awesome building & we were staying close enough that we were able to walk to our hotel.
I loved Valencia – although the third largest city in Spain it felt small & contained. Very much my kind of city with far less people than Madrid. It still had the very much Spanish feel that Madrid had with lots of narrow streets, old buildings & lots of courtyards with statues & fountains everywhere you turn.
We did all the touristy things like the Cathedral & the famous food hall The Mercado.Went out to wher e the America’s cup was which actually seemed very empty & dead but could imagine how it must’ve been so buzzy back then but my favourite was the Lladro factory tour that I took myself off to. It was amazing to see the artists or workers hand crafting the flowers & hand painting the figurines. Afterwards you were able to browse in a huge showroom & make a purchase but honestly I took so long to decide that I ended up with nothing. Apart from price which was a big consideration the whole dilemma of carrying it for the next two months was too daunting!! They offered to ship pieces home but when I pointed out one of the cheapest figurines for 100Euro that I was looking at the guide said it would cost more for the shipping!!
On our last night in Valencia we went off to a Flamenco dinner & show. All I can say is what an unusual show!! There was the singer who started it off & we thought he was having the audience on by his wailing & facial expressions & gestures but no this was for real. Then there were two flamenco dancers who looked like they were going to cry half the time. Very very strange….but strange in a nice way. We both thought it was a great night & well worth the money.
Now we are in Barcelona. We suffered our first rail mishap getting here. Lined up to get on train & were turned away because the ticket guy in San Sebastian had booked us for the wrong date!Yes, & I hadn’t checked the date!!!So, we had to hurriedly go back out & purchase new tickets & still did manage to get on the train although not sitting together. I had a great non English speaking neighbor so had a pleasant 3.5hr trip but Amy’s neighbour was a 38yr American woman who was drinking wine out of the bottle the whole way & talked that loud.Hilarious!!!
Barcelona is different to the other two cities in that there is much more modern mixed with the old here. We have been staying in an apartment this time in the Barcaloneta area which I chose & when we arrived we both decided that this would be the last time I made accommodation decisions!!!But…as the days have gone on we’ve actually got more used to the area (I think). Been off on the hop on hop off buses so have seen heaps of the sights – also, another Dali museum!. Late yesterday we caught a cable car that leaves from Barceloneta & travels across the harbour to a hillside & garden area called Montjuic. Sat up there on a huge terrace overlooking Barcelona drinking a Pina Colada & I thought this is magic.
Love to all & it will be adios from Barcelona & Bonjour from Marseille
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