Yesterday was fantastic with the trip to Montserrat topped off by an intense flamenco show in Placa Reial, then a wander through the plazas late at night when everything comes alive. People thronging the squares with bands and buskers at every turn. A good meal earlier off Las Ramblas with beers so big we could barely lift them (what Aussie orders the "small" beer when given a choice between big and small?) and pallellas, pollo and pescado. Today was our last da...

So here we are in Barcelona for a few days before the cruise begins. Richard, Yvonne, Jeannie and I arrived from Darwin on Sunday via Singapore and Dohar, Andre and Patricia Monday via Singapore, Nepal, Timbuctoo and Schiphol (yes I know what it sounds like) Amsterdam where Andre was caught stealing someone else's suitcase and had to return it. Jan Marie and Mick arrived late Monday also and we linked up yesterday. The Roommates Hotel is fantastic, just off Placa...

Last full day in Barcelona. Jeannie had booked online tickets into Gaudi's very popular Sagrada Familia, avoiding queues that stretched around two sides of the temple precinct. Did the Birch Carroll Coyle queue jumping dance on the way in- amazing interior - vaulted ceilings with the buttresses more like trees supporting a stone forest canopy than columns, and stained glass everywhere. Gaudi himself is buried here after his unfortunate inability to outrun a tram ...

Pretty beery day yesterday for the boys. While the lay-dees went shopping for the sales the boys went to the Sports Bar in Barcelona at the bottom of Las Ramblas. Beer and hamburger for breakfast as the Wallabies-British Lions game started at 11am. Six Aussies, and many many Poms. Good game until the last twenty minutes then it became a flogging. And the Poms let us know it. Got on well with a few of them- handshakes all around afterward. After that, wandered do...

Today we rode the Barcelona Hop on off Buses all day. Visited all parts of the city on the excellent buses which run from 10am to 8pm. Photo shows us on the last bus of the night which we caught from Parc Guell- Gaudi's park- at 9pm. In between we saw the city and its many wonderfully architected buildings from the top deck, hopped off for the cable car over the harbor and back, had drinks in the hot sunshine on the mountain, walked around the amazing Sagrada Fam...