Tuesday in Barcelona

A leisurely hotel buffet breakfast con mucho cafe among the flowering cacti because waking up had not been so easy. Took the S2 train one stop then lost my way in S. Cugat trying to find the Rambla del Celler on which the other hotel is situated, but, muttering to myself, caught sight of it eventually. Sha, waiting for me in the lobby, led me confidently back to the station by a more direct route and we bought T-Dia "tiquets" entitling us to every means of public transport within 2 zones. We took the FGC train to Pl. de Catalunya where a busker was giving a terrific performance of Bach's 1st 'cello suite from memory, surely a professional. Then we took the metro to Valcarca, nearest stop to the Parc Güell. A passerby pointed us down the correct street, from which we found signposts to the park up the narrow Baixada de la Gloria. There were 240 steps (counted them later) but for the way up a series of escalators have been installed.

The Park Guell, its excentric design by Gaudi, swarmed with tourists, a large proportion of whom were young school groups from France. It's fun for both children and adults, with passages through leaning tree trunks carved from stone and many a hairpin bend among the pines and cacti. The sandstone cliffs draped with flowering wisteria hid pigeons' nests and caves such as the one where we queued for the WC. Gaudi's house is here as are other colourful ones with murals, turrets & mosaics, and one has a luxuriant flower garden dotted with orange trees. The view of the city, mountains and the coast from the top of the hill was absolutely stunning. We saw an even taller, steeper hill in the distance, the Tibidabo, topped by a huge church: the Temple del Sagrat Cor.

Eventually, having done an adequate tour of the winding paths & the buskers on Chinese fiddle, steel pans, guitars ... we came back down the hill and hopped onto the metro, getting off on impulse at Fontana. Disappointing in that there were no fountains but we took the opportunity to sit down in a tapas bar for coffees and a pasta de manzana (no English spoken) where most other people were enjoying cigarettes and alcoholic drinks with a great variety of tapas. Back on the metro to Barceloneta for another long walk round the harbour, to one of the beaches: Platja Sant Sebastian. There beyond a row of palm trees we saw a building like a giant green glass sail and a metal sculpture Homenatje a la Natacio by Alfredo Lanz, 2004. Waves were breaking on the sand and a games club was playing a sort of volleyball game. We passed a cable car and the dock for cruise ships, one, the AIDA, being cleaned by its crew. Then we caught a 17 bus from the quayside back into town.

Where we got lost beyond redemption in the Barri Gotic. (To be continued.)