A Sunny Day And An Outing In Barcelona.

With a map of Barcelona city obtained from the hotel we took a bus to downtown in the late morning. Our hotel apparently was in the industrial area on the outskirts of the city. We had to change bus to go to the city but it was not a hassle at all as the bus was frequent enough. We spent sometime in Catalonia, in the city centre, which was overcrowded with people, majority tourists. The tourist bus, the open topped ones were also crowded. There was a long queue of people to board the buses. Fahrul went to get information from the tourist information centre, where there was also a long queue, and off we went to see some of the sites using the metro.

The park in the centre of Catalonia Plaza was full of people and so also the pedestrian mall leading from this plaza to the next main plaza. It was just like any other touristy city, with its grand hotels, designer shops and outlets, various kinds of restaurants including Mc Donalds, Pizza, Burger King and other fast food outlets.

At another location where the old temple stood, there were similar types of crowd. Groups led by a guide with a flag or number plate raised guiding the tourists on. The temple itself was being maintained and some refurbishment work going on. There were tower cranes and scaffoldings erected to facilitate work making the sight unsightly!! However that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the tourists present, clicking away on their cameras and videos.

We went to a mosque in the city, a building that was part of a terraced type of building block, performed our obligations to the Almighty, and then looked for a suitable restaurant nearby. One vegetarian outlet we found served some very interesting vegetarian food and sandwiches. One that attracted Ram and I was a combined platter of couscous (I stand corrected for spelling!!), rolled crepe with vegetable fillings, various beans, dhal and several types of dressings with various salad toppings. The platter was very nice and I liked the couscous especially and the rolled crepe with fillings had a unique after taste. For drinks we had a combined fresh juice of carrot, apple, ginger and milk that was truly refreshing. Ram and I thought of just sharing one tall glass but ended ordering another one not because we were still thirsty but for the unique taste the concoction gave to the palate. The concoction was called ‘orgasmic’ and it was that alright, ha ha.


We continued walking around the area after dinner and stopped at the Hard Rock Café where Sita bought some stuff one of her friends requested for. I took the opportunity to rest my leg at the front plaza (I do not have my walking stick with me remember?) after all the walking. We finally headed back to our hotel at about 11.00pm. We lost track of time as it was still light at 9.00pm!!

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Barcelona, Catalunya,
España