Mary and David Arrive

Mary and David Badinger arrived Monday afternoon. Sitges was bathed in sunlight! We took a walk along the sea, around the church and into the old section of the city to help them get acquainted with our favorite city in Spain. Tuesday morning bright and early (around 10:00...think Spanish time) we headed into Barcelona. First stop was Santa Maria del Mar. This time it was open. This carving is on the lower right corner of the altar. It has always reminded me of the travelocity elf!
The walk was intended to be an overview of some of the major tourist areas of Barcelona.

As we walked along we stopped to check out interesting store windows and shops. This plaque is in front of the oldest nut roasting shop in Barcelona. This shop has been wood roasting nuts in the same roaster for 157 years. Now there is a small motor attached to the drum, but you can easily imagine the drum being turned by hand. David couldn't resist buying some roasted almonds and pistachios. Yum!

From the nut shop we wandered our way over to the Ramblas and up to the Boqueria, an open market which is open daily. Fruits, vegetables, shell fish, chickens, eggs, flowers, fish, nuts, candy, oysters, pigs, and oh yes, peeled goat heads! If you can imagine eating it, you can probably buy it at the Boqueria! Then it was on to the tourist information center.....where we ran into David and Mary's friends from Chicago, Paul and Clyde, who were in Barcelona for spring break. What a coincidence! Lunch was at a sushi place that serves the small plates by conveyor belt. It was a little light on the raw fish, but there were so many tasty treats to try no one went hungry. After lunch we continued with the overview tour. We stumbled upon the last 3 standing Roman columns in the city....from the Temple of Augustus. The other columns were re-purposed for other buildings after the fall of the Roman rule.

We had seen these our first winter in Barcelona and have been looking for them ever since. Now we know, come out of O'Ryans Irish bar and turn right!

The cathedral was open after 5:30 so we were able to get in to see the interior.

We walked around the cloisters where a group (gaggle?) of 13 ducks have been in permanent residence and apparently they are used as quacking 'watch dogs' when the cathedral is locked up at night. This is one of the fountains. There are many tombs in the floor.This snail is carved inside the cathedral.

After putting on a lot of miles we took the train back to Sitges. We didn't see everything, but it was enough for one day.