Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona at about 9am and were taken to the yacht, but could only board at 1pm.

I think this is Christopher Columbus.

So we decided to take a walk on La Rambla which is a 1,2km walk through the city lined by trees and a some fantastic architecture dating way back to the early 1900. It was so amazing to hear all the different languages being spoken within earshot.  i was in heaven.  At the start of the walk, the flea market shops were quite expensive but just 500 metres later, you saved yourself some serious money.  The imposing statue on the left was rather large and apparently you could go up to the top of this thing in a lift.
We were on a tight budget, or should I say I was on a tight budget, my wife shopped like she had all the bucks in the world.  She never stopped smiling and you could hear her oohs and aahs from across the street, with frequent shouts of "ANDRE, COME LOOK HERE", my wallet even trembled.  Debs needed me and my wallet close at hand and I dare not stray or go away.  By this time I had been awake for a total of 19 hours and my judgement was severley impaired with frequent bouts of handing over money taking preference over saying no.  We were warned about pickpockets which made me rather paranoid, unecessarily so.  I felt a bit like I ws in a flea market in SA as there was a lot of Indian and Chinese traders on the outskirts.  The shops were narrow and long with a lot of the same stuff found as you walked around.  The ice Cream was divine and breads fresh.  The people were smiling and I was so taken aback at the fact that there were no black people in sight.

Shopping heaven for my wife.

And she shopped and shopped........

The trek up La Rambla was a slow process, but it gave me a chance to look at the awesome architecture on display.  I took lots of pictures and felt like the camera was attached to my face.  I was in awe of everything.

The top of La Rambla

Narrow shops, but very long 

By the time we got to the top of La Rambla my legs were a gonner and the thought of wqalking back was a daunting one.  We took a slightly different route to speed up the process somewhat.  Sidewalk cafe's were everywhere, it felt like I was in another country, alas I was.  The yacht was majestic indeed, the rooms were big and the staff on board were amazingly friendly.  A few Seffricans worked the casino on board, the Phillipino's serves drinks and coffees and the Indonesians the food.  We befriended them all with the waiters rushing to serve us.  There were four restaurants on board with the one serving cakes, croissants, muffins and sweett hings all day with an endless supply of coffee.on tap.  I was quickly made aware of the cost of drinks, Coke was $3, Dacqeries were $5 and cocktails $7.  I drank a lot of coffee, water and iced tea.  All of which was free.

Leaving barcelona

Leaving Barcelona was cool and out adventure on the high seas began. A little rough as there was a lot of movement on the first day, but we survivied, they played music loud as we left port.

The sails were hoisted and off we went. We unpacked our stuff and settled in as we belonged there.  Palma de Mallorca, here we come.