Peggy and Mary K have just spent 3 wonderful weeks flying to Barcelona for the first full week and then boarding Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Sea for our first transatlantic cruise lasting two weeks. During the first week of this cruise, we sailed to Seville, Spain; Tenerife, Canary Islands; Grand Canary and Las Palmas, Canary Islands.
We'll begin this blog with the first part of our trip - a week in Barcelona.
During the first 3 days, we selected a hotel near the Placa Catalunya and strolled down Las Ramblas from Catalunya to Boqueria Market.
We decided to stay at another hotel in Barcelona for the last 4 days -- we wanted to be near Las Ramblas between the Market and the seaport, giving us a different look at the city.
So we'll begin with the lst part of our trip -- 7 days in Barcelona!
We boarded Norwegian Air -- a non-stop flight from Miami, FL to Barcelona -- and it was a bargain for one way! We traveled light for 3 weeks -- we each had a carry-on swivel luggage which easily fit in the overhead rack and a personal bag we put in the seat in front of us. Both bags were weighed at check-in and the airline put "Approved" tags on both of them -- we were under the weight limit - whew! .(Be sure to check out "Packing for Barcelona" on our blog...we show you how we pack, how many items we took with us and -- believe it or not --- both of us didn't wear a couple of items we brought. We both remembered to bring a fold-up duffle bag which we filled with souvenirs on our trip back home on the ship -- no limit to weight!
We had never travelled on Norwegian Air before but we liked the price and it's a non-stop flight. It proved to be a wonderful ride. The "Dreamliner" really IS a dream and we loved the flight attendants. They were friendly yet professional and their outfits brought Peggy back to her airline days in the 60's -- cute suits with great pillbox-type hats! We'll take Norwegian again whenever we can!
An interesting bit of Norwegian Air trivia....Tail Fin Heroes....
Upon our arrival at the airport, we looked for the Aerobus to Placa Catalunya -- it's only 5.90 euros for the trip -- a far cry from an expensive cab -- and it was right outside our terminal building. Remember -- we're two BUDGET-MINDED sisters.
After a pleasant ride from the airport
-- we were beginning to get a feel for Barcelona and the problems they're going through right now. Catalonia wants to separate from Spain -- earlier in the month, an election was held and a majority of Catalonians voted to withdraw from Spain and be recognized as their own country. We heard both sides from several people in Barcelona but feel free to google this situation on your own. The major thing that hit us on our bus ride were the many Catalonian flags on apartment building balconies.
Arrived at Placa Catalunya in front of the large department store-- El Corte Ingles. The placa is large, beautiful and bustling with activity.
Then we walked directly across Placa Catalunya, found that we were on the street to our hotel and it was another 3 or 4 blocks to our first hotel - Hotel Lleo which we had booked for the first 3 nights -- Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
We were happy to see the size of the hotel room and bathroom...and plenty of storage.
Sunday -- checked out the hotel where we had a large room (by European standards) at the front of the hotel with doors that open to a tiny balcony overlooking the street.
We couldn't wait to take the elevator to the roof-top where there's a swimming pool, lounge chairs, a lovely lounging area and rooftop views of the neighborhood.
We also stopped at the Triangle of shops across from the Placa.....the slide at the Sephora store caught our eye. You can actually ride the slide down, down, down to the lower level of Sephora. And of course, the "eye candy" Sephora employee also stopped us in our tracks.
Then we walked back to Placa Catalunya and checked it out. We couldn't miss the street vendors and the police who constantly chased them away. "Designer" handbags and athletic shoes, magnets and keychains....all laying on sheets with ropes in the corners so they can be scooped up when the police are spotted.
We took our first walk down Las Ramblas, just across the street from Plaza Catalunya.
Jardin del Eden....the food was delicious; the ambience was impressive...just right for our first Barcelona meal.
Every morning, after breakfast, we took advantage of the
First stop on our day's agenda, we wanted to get to La Manual shoe store which was off LaRambla for espadrilles. We found their website and they advertised hand-made shoes and reasonable prices. We were disappointed -- the prices were high, in our opinion, and "handmade" if you can fit into a standard European size. Found espadrilles we really liked -- and for less euros -- at 2 other stores.
This is the shop for espadrilles we searched
all the side streets for. What a disappointment!
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And this is the shoe shop we found -- Toni Pons -- a block away and with much better prices for espadrilles made in Spain.
We spent the rest of our day, strolling around the quaint shops off Las Ramblas. As in most
European cities, the further you get from a main street, the better the prices. The best streets were across Las Ramblas from the Boqueria Market.
Heading back to Placa Catalunya
...We stop at El Corte Ingles Department Store (on the Plaza), where we've heard the 9th floor restaurant, La Rotonda, is a "must" for the views! Scanning the store, as we took the escalator to 9, it reminded us of Macy's. Not what we we're looking for in Barcelona, so we went directly to La Rotonda. All that we heard about the views is so true! We enjoyed our meal with magnificent views as our backdrop!
Tuesday --Delicious breakfast at Hotel Lleo starts our day! Today, we include wine! We're on vacation!
We decided to get off at a neighborhood-type market and stroll around after having a cola and mixed olives.
We went a little crazy with Las Arenas photos, but we couldn't help ourselves! The history, the transformation and the views were amazing!
Wednesday --What a way to start the day! A few minutes on our hotel's rooftop!
An interesting kiosk caught our eye so we stopped to take a look. Unique perfumed liquid candles that burn for several hours, in tiny glass bottles...by Weeking - Spain. After our saleslady explained the various aromas and the meanings for each, we were given a demonstration and a whiff of each scent. Mary K. was so taken with these unique "candles" that she bought bottles and stands for herself herself and as gifts!
After a full day at Las Arenas, we were ready for our bus trip back to Hotel Lleo, where we would check out and move to our"second half" hotel, Hostal Operaramblas.
More beautiful sights from our final hop-on hop-off bus ride.
And....the ever present street vendors (when the police aren't chasing them off).
We had Hotel Lleo hold our luggage when we checked out that morning so we ended up back at the hotel and taking a cab to our next hotel -- Hostal Operaramblas. Loved the location -- a few blocks from Market Boqueria. It's been nicely remodeled and in a wonderful location just off Las Ramblas
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Thursday -- We were delighted to find a McDonalds with outdoor tables and umbrellas -- perfect for our morning coffee and about 2 blocks from our hotel. What a great place for people-watching on the Ramblas -- and the coffee was good, too! (Oops....notice another street vendor!)
We couldn't wait to begin exploring the Gothic District with all of the quaint little shops -- some opening to beautiful plazas.
Our Gothic district hotel is located just down this street off La Ramblas...Gran Teatre del Liceu Opera House is on the corner. 
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Guess we have a "thing" for steet
lights -- they are works of art
in Barcelona!
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After walking over cobblestone streets and climbing up and down lots of steps, it started to lightly rain and out came our ponchos!
We like to carry ponchos with us when it looks like there's a possibility of rain.. Unlike carrying an umbrella, we're "hands-free" and don't have to worry about umbrellas blowing away in the wind.
We wandered through the Gothic District and ran right into a lovely plaza. We didn't realize this was Parliament Place until we saw lots of news people interviewing Catalonians about the latest election and the Spanish government ignoring the outcome.
Walking through the many side streets of Las Ramblas, we happened upon Toni Pons Shoe Store....espadrilles, handmade in Spain. Reasonably prices and a huge variety, Mary K. couldn't resist these Barcelona espadrilles! 
We mapped out Palau Guell (Palace Guell) and found it just a few blocks from our hotel. This is a beautiful palace built by wealthy Guell for his family and designed by Gaudi. For $12.95 USD you can tour the palace with headphones. Ir's a maze of rooms so pay close attention to the recording and keep checking the map they give you. Since it was rainy outside, we couldn't tour the terraces, only the palace and it was a bit disappointing....very little furnishings and only selected rooms (no kitchen or bedrooms which would have shown us how this wealthy family lived). The palace was very dark -- lots of woodwork but very few of the Gaudi tiles were in evidence.
After touring the palace, we stopped off in the gift shop which is quite nice with some lovely merchandise and wonderful Gaudi books. Our advise is to save your euros....the palace itself was somewhat of a disappointment but stop in the gift shop and take a look around.
On the walk back to our hotel, we took in some of the evening beauty of Barcelona, along Las Ramblas....
Turning the corner to our hotel, we found this quaint little tapas bar just a couple of doors away. If you're in the neighborhood, it's the bar with the barrels -- Tabarlot -- a great place to have a beer or a sangria -- the perfect end to our day.
Friday - We're excited because we ordered tickets to a flamenco show online and it's tonight at the beautiful Musica Palace. We'll be there "with bells on".....we're anxious to experience this dance of Spain.
A quick, light breakfast at our friendly McDonald's...a great spot to "people watch"...and we're off on our day's adventures!
During our roaming, we came across this wonderful "alley" full of art, curio shops and marvelous painted wall tiles!! 
That's a train running around this shop's ceiling!
Around lunch time, we got a little off track...which turned out to be a very good thing! We turned a corner and...a wonderful Wine & Cheese Festival! Ahhh...samples galore....instant lunch!
And we also spotted a wedding couple in the square:
After tasting several different cheese and sampling a few wines, we were on our way again to the Flamenco show.
A few blocks, and we knew we were getting close! (P.S. Google Maps worked great for our routing...we always planned each day and snapped reference pictures of each directions map)
The Musica Palace is amazing! It's a "don't miss" if you're in Barcelona.
We felt very lucky that Flamenco was on the program on one of our days in Barcelona -- this is rare and it's not the usual flamenco show that can be seen everyday in Barcelona at smaller venues. .
We arrived early so we were able to enjoy the outdoor terrace next to the theater with a little liquid refreshment.
We began talking to a very attractive and friendly lady on the outdoor terrace and she indicated that she was part of the show. She told us how to find her before the flamenco show started.....
We were also able to go into the restaurant and gift shop section of the theater and, of course, parted with a few euros after "oohing and ahhing" over the beauty of the building.
The performance was "sold out", but we lucked out by booking, online, early ....second row; center seats!
And finally it was time for the show! We sat just 2 rows from the front in the gorgeous jewel-box of a theater and our jaws dropped open when we saw it. "We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy."
It was near midnight when we finally left the Palace, so, as planned, we hailed a taxi for the ride to our hotel. We researched the taxi cost, taking into account the late hour, so knew 25 euros would be more than sufficient, including tip. Before entering the cab, (as we've learned from past experience), we asked the driver what would be the total fare to our location and he gave us a price of 20 euros. Fine...you think. Well...once we started our ride, the driver informed us that, the price would actually be 40 euros ... because of the late hour! Beware! This happens! Well...after a few moments of "conversation", the driver decided to "honor" his initial fare quote. 20 euros, plus 5 euro tip.
Saturday -- Eager to see Gaudi's Park Guell, we walked to the bus stop at Plaza Catalunya to catch an early bus #24. After some research and much varied advice, we found that city bus #24 will bring us as close as possible to the top entrance of the park. There are 3 entrances to Park Guell, at various levels. We found that we made the right choice when our bus climbed past the first 2 entrances and we saw many people struggling to climb up several flights of stairs, and a few outdoor escalators. The first thing we did upon disembarking the bus was to wait in line for our entrance tickets. Finally, at the ticket window, we were told the next available entrance tickets were at 4:00 in the afternoon! We bought our tickets and waited and waited and waited...Around 1:00, we got the bright idea to try to exchange our tickets for Sunday, early morning reserved. That worked! Lessons learned.....You must see Park Guell while in Barcelona. You must make reservations, on line, in advance. (We were almost disappointed, but grateful to have several hours available Sunday before our transatlantic cruise sets sail at 4:00 P.M. ) And, you must take bus #24 for the very best park entrance. A few photos of what we could see of Park Guell
Plaza Catalunya. Bus 24 stop.
Every time we turned the corner on the street where our hotel is located, we've noticed an intriguing restaurant on the first level of beautiful Teatre del Liceu Opera House.
You have to see it to believe it!
We only had time for a drink at the bar
...which included an interactive 2-seat game in a boat! The hostess said we absolutely must see the lower level restaurant! The stairs leading to the lower level told me ... I have to see this! 
Sunday --We packed our bags last night and left them in Operaramblas Hotel lockers this morning .Back to Plaza Catalunya to catch bus 24 to Gaudi's Park Guell...with reserved park tickets in hand!
Hasta la proxima vez, Barcelona! A fond farewell!
Before boarding Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas, we dutifully check out the duty free shops...and made a few jewelry purchases.
Some of our Barcelona purchases!
McDonald's kids meal toys (future stocking stuffers)
NEXT .......... Transatlantic from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale
Thursday
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