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| David and Cheri on the bus tour |
I woke early after our first night on Gran Via, a noisy street. Our hotel room is comfortable but we can only get BBC World on TV in English. I read the Guardian Online on my tablet: last night at the Baftas, The Revenant won five awards including Best Picture, Director and Actor, Leonardo di Caprio. I haven't seen it. Brits Kate Winslet and Mark Rylance won Best Supporting Actor. We enjoyed Bridge of Spies. Other news - turmoil on stock exchange after losses in Asia, new high levels of migration in Australia - good news for Matthew's work, and Liverpool beat Aston Villa 6-0.
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| Intriguing view from the top deck of the bus |
We had a buffet breakfast in the
Grupotel Gran Via - OK but we could have had more choice. Plenty of coffee though. Then we met the others and took a
Julia Tour by bus round the Green route through east Barcelona. We had good views from the upper deck but it was rather cool. Disappointed by the number of ugly apartment blocks and building sites. We noted several cranes towering over the
Sagrada Familia. We passed Park Guell and other Gaudi designs as well as the
Art Nouveau and Modernista styles along Diagonal and Gran Via.
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| Richard, Cheri and Joan at lunch |
Then we explored the Rambla and soon found a great lunch place,
Milagrito's, which served Catalan dishes with a twist. I loved the Salmorejo, Iberian pork fillet takaki and a Crema Catalana with raspberries. Then back to the hotel for a siesta.
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| A delicious salmorejo in Milagrito's |
We strolled down to the city's Arc del Triomf, built in the 19th century at the head of a tree-lined avenue. Then we met the others for a glass of cava or sherry in the bar. The hotel booked us a large taxi to a busy restaurant by the seafront called
La Fond del Port Olimpic. But Richard left his phone in the taxi.
After dinner we returned to the hotel but they couldn't contact the taxi driver. Richard spent ages trying to block his SIM card. So a frustrating end to the day.
