Saturday 31 August

This morning we have booked to visit Sagrada Familia as soon as it opens at 9.00am. It is only a short walk from the hotel. We join the short queue early and are through security to collect the audio tour device quickly. At 9.00am on the dot we proceed into the "Temple" as Gaudi referred to it. He was the second architect to work on the project, the earlier man submitted a standard gothic-style design with buttresses, very boring. A unique space, I won't attempt to describe it, just look at the photos. The tour takes around 30 minutes and then you can walk around the museum in the basement that shows how the building evolved. Gaudi used models and progressively refined the design using them. The museum also shows work from the other artists, sculptors, stained glass artist etc.

We check out of the hotel by noon and hail a taxi for the short ride to Hotel Catalonia Sagrada Familia which is further out from the central area of the city. Tony made a happy mistake and booked the wrong hotel for our 4 nights before our Basque tour with Intrepid Travel. We don't like the new hotel as much, but they have a small pool which we make use of while we wait for our room to be prepared.

Much to our surprise it seems that the hotel has a problem with storing our suitcases for a couple of days. "It is Hotel policy" they say. Bit of a problem as our Intrepid Tour involves travel by local bus & train with walking to hotels or metro trips. Not the easiest with big bags, so we had planned to use backpacks and have a Barcelona company transfer the cases to Madrid. As they only pick up Monday to Friday, and we leave on Sunday, this cunning plan won't work. It's not a problem at the Madrid end, but we have no option but to cancel the transfer and tour with the suitcases. Just as well we go to the gym!

At 7.00pm we join a briefing by Intrepid, our fellow travellers are all female it seems. But wait, this group is going to Rome, wrong tour group! We find the right group and yes, there is at least one other male amongst the 9 travelling to Madrid. The day ends with a shared restaurant meal close by.