After breakfast we left the Liberty of the Seas at 9:30 AM to stand in line for almost an hour waiting for a taxi to take us to our hotel. We passed the time by having a nice conversation with a gentleman and his wife who live in Mexico. Finally we were able to get a taxi and made our way to our hotel arriving around 11:00 AM.
We took a tram and then an underground subway to the Barcelona City Center called "La Rambla". We had many warnings from a lot of people before coming to Barcelona to be extremely careful due to the large amount of pick pockets in this area. We were told that Barcelona was the "Pickpocket Capital of the World". Once we arrived at La Rambla we could see why this could occur so easily because it was very, very packed with people. This was a very popular area for tourist and the locals. We tried to not get into the large crowds that were walking the street shopping and watching the sidewalk acts to avoid bodily contact with others. This area had unique European apartments that lined the wide sidewalk with shops, sidewalk cafes, and carts of merchandise on the lower level. It was a great area to just people watch and many were sitting in the cafes doing just that. Nice size trees lined the sidewalks and down side streets. Alleys opened into large court yards with many restaurants. Large fountains were always found in the center.
"La Rambla"...what a busy area!
Getting a drink from a fountain, for us it is a no-no!
This is a street act...put a coin in the bucket and it will ride it's bike for you !
One of the many fountains that are in the center of a square.
Motorcycles lined the streets beside La Rambla.
We walked all the way to the end of La Rambla which ended at the pier where large ships docked and the Barcelona Aquarium sits. We crossed the street and were able to see a tall sail ship of long ago with the full moon in the back ground. Lots of people were still out and about enjoying the nice evening. We have been told that the locals eat dinner at 9:00 or there after and then spend much time in the local bars singing and dancing the night away. Larry and I were ready to head back to our hotel around 10:00, due to all the time changing that took place on the ship getting here. It took us about an hour after changing from subways to trams to get back to our hotel. We had had a long day and were glad to get into a nice bed to sleep and dream about our trip to Montserrat on the coming day.
Barcelona has tropical weather...today was a perfect 74 degrees.
The tall ship with the moon high in the sky.
Wish we had more time...we would love to take off on one of these bikes for a ride around the city.
This is the way back to La Rambla
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