Barcelona Time

It was a smooth 2-train trip journey to Barcelona, changing in Valence. The TGV arrived at Barcelona Sants station on time at 4.30pm. The walk to our accomodation required numerous rest stops as we hauled our 100kg of luggage along.  Even the girls felt uncomfortable thanks to the weight of their souvenir presents! Sweaty and tired, we got there.

The apartment was interesting. On the 4th floor, it consisted of 3 bedrooms, the kitchen and bathroom all coming off a long corridor with living area at the end opening on to a tiny balcony. Two internal spaces on either side of the corridor provided 'natural' light to penetrate into most rooms. The girls were ecstatic to have their own room with double bed!

Following a shower and short rest, we went in search of dinner at a local restaurant recommended to us and much like our experience in Genoa, this restaurant opened at 7.30pm. Arriving shortly after the opening time, and without a reservation, the owners kindly squeezed us in! Described as rustic and traditional, the restaurant was only small with seating for around 50 people and we were their first customers.

Barcelona = tapas. So, after much discussion, we chose a selection of dishes to sample. As per normal, eating out is always interesting as one's expectations are not always met. The food was good and we were all happily full.

The Fuente Magica de Montjuic was built for 1929 World Fair. On certain evenings, depending on the season, people are memorised by a 30 minute light show of the dancing fountain. For us it meant that we had to attend tonight's show or miss out. With everyone quite tired from general finishing up activities in Grenoble, we were going to skip this and head off to bed early.

As it happened, thanks to the general later Spanish schedule of eating dinner, we had timed it perfectly to grab an ice cream and walk quickly up to the Fuente Magica de Montjuic (the Magic Fountain of Montjuic) for the 9pm show!

Weaving though the throng of people, we find a good spot to be memorised by this huge fountain as the 3620 water jets bubbles and spout cascades of water lit by every colour of the rainbow all choreographed to a mixture of 1980's, Spanish classical and swing music. At one point we venture forward to find a spot on the barriers only to showered by a light mist as the wind blows!

As the show concludes, we begin the short walked down towards Placa d'Espagna only realising how popular the show is, as thousands of people mingle around.