Barcelona Review

[hazeleyez3]

We spent four days before our cruise at Catalonia Portal de l’Angel in the Gothic Quarter. The hotel was close to Las Ramblas, and is right around the corner from a nice little bakery. The rooms, by American standards, were small as are most in Europe; however, we were quite content with it. I will say though, the walls are quite thin.

 

We somehow managed to pick 4 days that were cold and rainy, which made some things less enjoyable, but we still had a blast.

HOHO Buses

We had both agreed that we would use a HOHO bus the first day to get a better sense of where everything was. Unfortunately, I didn’t convey that I wanted the Barcelona City Tour one…the one my husband bought tickets for was Bus Turistic.

Bus Turistic: Because it was raining outside, nobody wanted to sit up top, which led to a longer line. It also seemed to take the buses a long time to arrive. As we were waiting in line, we saw that there was hardly a wait for Barcelona City Tour, so we decided to buy a ticket for that one.

 

Barcelona City Tour: The buses had convertible tops which allowed some people to head upstairs for the ride. At most places along the route, there was hardly a wait between buses, and the buses did not start the route until another one arrived.

On our 2nd day we noticed that, due to a parade, Bus Turistic was not stopping at all of the places on the routes, yet Barcelona City Tour was.

Sagrada Familia

We didn’t want to have a schedule in Barcelona, so we chose to not buy tickets beforehand. This worked out fine for us as the line was only about 20-30 minutes, which we certainly didn’t mind waiting in. The church is absolutely beautiful. We spent a good amount of time there admiring the architecture, stained glass windows, and artwork. The towers were closed that day due to the wind.

Magic Fountains

It isn’t until May that the light show starts. Our cruise started on April 30th, so the first time we went to the fountains the show just involved music. We spent one night after the cruise; however, and were able to experience the light and music show. Either viewing is wonderful. The show is only on certain days and certain times, so you need to take a look at the schedule before you go.

Park Guell

It is extremely pretty, and the architecture and art is wonderful. Unfortunately, it started raining cats and dogs, so we didn’t spend as long a time as I wanted.

[FreezingInMichigan]

We spent four days before our cruise at Catalonia Portal de l’Angel in the Gothic Quarter. The hotel was close to Las Ramblas, and is right around the corner from a nice little bakery. The rooms, by American standards, were small as are most in Europe; however, we were quite content with it. I will say though, the walls are quite thin.

 

We somehow managed to pick 4 days that were cold and rainy, which made some things less enjoyable, but we still had a blast.

HOHO Buses

We had both agreed that we would use a HOHO bus the first day to get a better sense of where everything was. Unfortunately, I didn’t convey that I wanted the Barcelona City Tour one…the one my husband bought tickets for was Bus Turistic.

Bus Turistic: Because it was raining outside, nobody wanted to sit up top, which led to a longer line. It also seemed to take the buses a long time to arrive. As we were waiting in line, we saw that there was hardly a wait for Barcelona City Tour, so we decided to buy a ticket for that one.

 

Barcelona City Tour: The buses had convertible tops which allowed some people to head upstairs for the ride. At most places along the route, there was hardly a wait between buses, and the buses did not start the route until another one arrived.

On our 2nd day we noticed that, due to a parade, Bus Turistic was not stopping at all of the places on the routes, yet Barcelona City Tour was.

Sagrada Familia

We didn’t want to have a schedule in Barcelona, so we chose to not buy tickets beforehand. This worked out fine for us as the line was only about 20-30 minutes, which we certainly didn’t mind waiting in. The church is absolutely beautiful. We spent a good amount of time there admiring the architecture, stained glass windows, and artwork. The towers were closed that day due to the wind.

Magic Fountains

It isn’t until May that the light show starts. Our cruise started on April 30th, so the first time we went to the fountains the show just involved music. We spent one night after the cruise; however, and were able to experience the light and music show. Either viewing is wonderful. The show is only on certain days and certain times, so you need to take a look at the schedule before you go.

Park Guell

It is extremely pretty, and the architecture and art is wonderful. Unfortunately, it started raining cats and dogs, so we didn’t spend as long a time as I wanted.

 

We were on your same cruise and experienced that lovely cold, wet weather. ;) We also did the red bus (Barcelona City Tours) and loved it. We saved it for post-cruise and the weather had turned warm and sunny.

 

Wasn't the Gothic Quarter amazing?!? I could have spent days just exploring that area. We had a lovely respite from the rain in Forns del Pi coffee shop. Highly recommend it... AND their awesome chocolate con churros.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review, too bad the weather was not better!

[Keith1010]

Thanks for writing and posting this review.

 

Keith