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<\/a>Traveling to Barcelona<\/p><\/div>\n
Oh my God, it’s early. We are up at 0545 and out by 0610 for our bus\/train excursion to Barcelona. It is our longest travel day, 8 hours on the bus and train. Our hotel is only about a 12 minute walk but we make a small error missing a turn. I pick up on it right away and hurry (Carol called it a jog) back to the hidden corner. Back on track, with the initial panic subsided, the rest of the walk is easy. We stand in line to get our bus tickets stamped and find our seats. The ride to Antequerra takes an hour and fifteen and we arrive at the train station fifteen minutes early and with 50 minutes until our train to Barcelona arrives. This means only one thing to Carol. A seat in the station cafe for a cafe con leche to enjoy with our breakfast pastries. Once on the train I spend most of the trip trying to catch up on my journal. Somehow, we arrive in Barcelona 15 minutes early. We then proceed to lose the fifteen minutes gained because we exited the station opposite where my map picks up our route and spend some time looking for a familiar street name before realizing we have to go out a different exit. Back in through the station and out the other side, things begin to make a lot more sense. Of course, the street we travel goes uphill and I start in with dripping sweat from all over. We check in to Hostal Alslyp 114, get our room, a map, freshen up and head out the door. It is around 1545.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Montjuic<\/p><\/div>\n
We walk through Placa Espanya and then up a pedestrian boulevard toward Montjuic and our destination, the Catalunya Museum of Art. It is free on Saturdays after 1500. We walk past the Magic Fountains and then up a whole lot of steps to the Museum entrance.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Martyrs<\/p><\/div>\n
We start in the Romanesque wing. It contains art from churches around the Catalan region. A video shows how they removed frescos from the churches and then reconstructed them here in the museum. There is a painting that shows the different way some saints were martyred. None of them look pleasant. They also have a gothic wing that we explore and then find stairs leading up to the rooftop terrace.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Sagrada Familia View<\/p><\/div>\n
The views from here are incredible. We can see the Sagrada Familia surrounded by cranes, an amusement park way up on a hilltop, the sea, and pretty much all of Barcelona. We exit the terrace into a domed room which was the ceremony room and dance hall for the 1929 World Expo. In the modern art section and elsewhere, we discover a few works by El Greco and a Picasso.<\/p>\n