Europe finale - Barcelona

After leaving the ship, we stayed at a good hotel in Barcelona close to the well known street of La Ramblas. We walked to the market there and ate empanadas, iberico ham, and gelato. You have to scan your euros into a machine everywhere in Barcelona. It would detect counterfeit money I realized. We were very careful and cautious of pickpocketers everywhere we went. 

 We got hop on hop off bus tickets for the 2 days that we were in Barcelona. That same day we took that bus to Park Geull. It is a famous park designed by Gaudi. The next day we visited Sagrada Familia also designed by Gaudi. We climbed many narrow steps down one of the towers inside the Church.  To be honest, I did not think the Sagrada Familia was beautiful, maybe I am not a fan of Art Nouveau.  It seemed like a monstrosity to me.  However, others love it.

We had dinner that last night at a lovely tapas restaurant and did some shopping.  There was a festival in town and daughter L and her husband enjoyed fireworks on our last night in Barcelona.  The rest of us went to bed.

We had a connecting flight home to Toronto on Sept 25th.  We were tired and happy to be home after a long trip, but many good memories were made.  Our family had some great bonding time.

On further reflection, cruises are a great way to have quick glimpses of places.  Husband M's nephew mentioned backpacking through Europe a long time ago as a student and it sounded great to have a week in each city at your leisure.
 

La Ramblas Market

La Ramblas Market

La Ramblas Market

La Ramblas

Park Guell

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

tapas - pickled mussels

tapas - avocado dip and truffle risotto

Sangria

 

Europe Continued - Cartagena and Tarragona Spain

 We visited the ancient city of Cartagena Spain (not Columbia).  The stairs down into the Roman Theatre (built 5-1 BCE) were very steep.

Cartagena Lighthouse

Cartagena Roman Theatre

Cartagena

Our next port of call was Tarragona.  We walked the medieval Old Town.

We would come to the end of our cruise in Barcelona where we left the ship and spent a few extra days.

To be continued.

Sunday Smiles - Saccharin

The clocks fall back one hour today.  Here is a fun meme for you.

 Linking  to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

European cruise continued - Malaga, Spain

I wrote this post before the terrible flash flooding that has recently affected this area.  Sending prayers to Eastern Spain. 

We had a day at sea before our next port of call in Malaga, Spain.  It was around this time husband M and I, son K all caught this cold virus.  I think daughter L's husband also was sick.  It lasted for weeks but we got through the cruise thanks to Tylenol Cold pills.   That night we passed Gibraltar on our way to Spain, which was kind of neat.

Anyway, Malaga is the birthplace of Pablo Picasso.  The tour guide took us to the square close to his birthplace.  There we bought these delicious roasted almonds in bags at 2 bags for 6 euro.

That evening I remember we were on the top deck of the ship and experienced the lovely sail away from the port of Malaga.  The weather was balmy, music was playing and they were serving a special lobster dinner.

Spanish roasted almonds

Malaga

Picasso's birthplace is in this square

To be continued.

Friday Art - Ant Face

 Welcome to Friday Art!  I did a black ant  face ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") for you today.  It is coloured in with watercolour pencils and outlined with acrylic marker. 

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art For Fun Friday.

And we are in November! Brrr!  We got 13 kids for Halloween last night same as last year according to my blog.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Pumpkin Patch, Chocolate Cake and Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! I took this one in our neighbourhood.

And here is a fun one for you.
 

 Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date!  Here is my Pumpkin Patch ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") in watercolour pencil.

For the dinner date I am showing my chocolate cake made with a Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge cake mix and a can of store bought icing.  It was so good!  Admittedly, I dislike making icing, cheese sauce and gravies.

Wednesday Memes

 

why chameleons can't play games