Ferry to Barcelona and our First Full day

Friday March 25 was another cloudy day as we left Palma and took the 11:30 a.m. ferry to Barcelona.  It was a great trip.  A very comfortable 6.5 hours.  We read and napped as there was no WIFI.   There were not too many foot passengers.  We arrived at around 6:00 p.m.  High was about 16C.

In Palma terminal with our ensaïmada for the trip 

GNV Bridge Venezia - our boat

Boarding

Another view

All aboard

Assigned seats in a ferry-very nice

The Mediterranean

Very quiet lounge

We started our treat- lasted until Saturday

We took a taxi to the hotel we were staying in for one night.  It is the wonderful Praktik Garden where we spent the last night of our aborted trip to Spain in 2020.  It is located in the Eixample area of Barcelona.  Very central.

Outside of Praktik Garden

Wonderful circus posters cover the walls on each floor

Our hotel room- very interesting pictures

The room

Bathroom

The hallways

Another view

We went for a walk up the Passeig de Gracia- very wide beautiful street with high end stores and some wonderful Gaudí buildings.

Casa Milà- popularly known as La Pedrera (stone quarry) was Antoni Gaudí's last civil work which he started in 1906 and finished in 1912.

 

Casa Batlló- redesigned by Gaudí in 1904, known locally as House of Bones

Another view

Adjoining Casa Amatler

Up close- designed by Catalan architect Josep Puig I Cadafalch 

The building was originally constructed in 1875, then redesigned as a residence for wealth chocolatier Antoni Amatler between 1898 and 1900.  His daughter lived there until her death in 1960.  It is now a historic house museum.

We meandered and then chose a fabulous place for dinner, just a block from our hotel.  Boro had a 

very inventive take on Spanish favourites. 

Alano waiting for dinner

Lovely spinach, green bean, sun-dried tomato salad

One of the best fried artichokes we have ever had- lots of oil, dried fruit and nuts

Bomba rice with prawns, thin ibérica pork "chins" and saffron ailoli

Leaving the resto- one last photo

It was a great meal to end our first day in Barcelona.

Back at the Hotel- one last selfie

Saturday March 26 was very cloudy with rain in the morning.  High about 14C.  We checked out at noon and walked to our Airbnb which is in the Gràcia area, just about a 30 minute walk from Praktik Garden.  Gràcia is located at the top of Passeig de Gràcia, but it feels like a different world.  It was an independent town until the late 19th century.  Locals even say they are from Gràcia, not Barcelona.  The area is very diverse and full of small restaurants, bars and shops.  

On our walk in the rain to our Airbnb

More wonderful buildings

Detail

Giogio Morandi (Bologna, 1890-1964)  exhibit at La Pedrera  

Historic Hotel Casa Fuster

We found our Airbnb with no problems.  We entered the building with the code (very small entrance) and then looked for the key in the lock box.  No key, but our hosts had said that the cleaners might still be there and would have the keys.  However, she gave us wrong information about which apartment we were in and Alano had to phone someone who was dealing with Saturday emergencies.  The two women hosts manage a large number of properties.  While Alano waited for information about check-in, I headed to the nearby Mercat La Llibertat, which we had visited on our Culinary Backstreets tour in 2015.

Outside the Mercat

While smaller than the Palma market, there was an excellent choice of meat, fish and vegetables

Vegetables

I bought food for our next two dinners.   I also stopped at a small wine store that was just closing and bought a bottle of local wine.  On the way back to the apartment, I stopped at the Forn de pa Cal Molina for a baguette and some lunch.  

When I returned from the market, Alano had managed to get into the apartment.  It turned out the hosts had given us the wrong apartment number.  When the cleaner was leaving the building, Alano told her that we were the next renters and got the key.  The apartment in spartan, but well equipped. The location is excellent and it is on a very quiet street-- Carrer de Mozart.  

Dining area with bathroom behind

Bedroom

Kitchen area

However, our next issue was that there was no information about a WIFI log- in.  We wrote to the hosts, but decided to go out and explore the 'hood.

Clocktower build in 1864 in Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia

We stopped at a kiosk in the square called News and Coffee- "unusual place for coffee and curated reads to go".  Very good coffee.

Very hip barista getting our cortados

The reads and the beans

News and Coffee 

Building from 1890

We walked up Carrer de Verdi-- lots of Catalan flags

Another neat building nearby

We found a wonderful fruit and vegetable store and bought some olives.


The fruit and veg store

               We can never get enough "carxofa"- artichokes

Great looking chocolate store

We headed back to the apartment and stopped a Turris, a great bakery about five minutes away.

Turris bakery in wonderful building

Raising funds for Ukraine

We went back to the apartment and found a message from the hosts with three potential WIFI links.  Unfortunately two of the networks they suggested did not exist and we could not get into the third network with the password they had given us.  Very frustrating as we have not had internet issues at an Airbnb for years.

We ended up going to a walk and first finding a lovely bar called Bar But, where we had a glass of wine and tried to use its free internet so that I could do the blog.  Unfortunately, they had a bad connection but recommended the bar next door.   Success!! I had a glass of vermut and Alano had a coffee and some appetizers.

Bar But.... very nice folks

So.... here is the latest.  Hopefully, we will get connected at the apartment soon.  So, next blog might be Sunday or it could be Monday.  Stay tuned.