April 5, Free and Soaring and Ending our Trip

Today is a free day for Mark and me, meaning no one is taking care of us.  No guide, no limovan, no arranged meals or agenda.  We opted to do a very “touristy” thing.  Since Mary and Peter were off doing their own Picasso themed tour, and knowing Mary didn't seem too enthusiastic for hanging 250' over water, Mark booked tickets to take cable car (gondola) across the harbor and up to the Montjuïc Castle, a fort atop Montjuïc hill.  Or at least that was the intent.  Note that Mark and I have traveled extensively over the years and almost all of it has been through our own planning, including lots of double checking schedules and venues.  Also note that after only three weeks of abdicating decision making to guides and caregivers, we failed at the rather simple task of getting from the beginning of our cable ride to where we thought we would be at the end of it.  To start off, rather than walk (yet again) between the hotel and the harbor, we hopped in a cab and gave the driver… the wrong location.  We noticed this as we passed the monument to Columbus in a direction we shouldn’t have been going.  Turns out we [think] we gave him the end point of our ride, not the beginning. 

Columbus Monument
curiously pointing to Algeria, not the New World

Our driver was very jovial and forgiving and after a spin around a roundabout or two, we were dropped off at the harbor about a half hour ahead of our ticket time.  Barcelona hosted the very successful 1992 Summer Olympics and the beach area near the boat harbor is a lasting reminder of the investment made for that event with a lovely long boardwalk and several swimming pools.  We took a brief, sunny walk on the beach and could only imagine how busy it must be in high summer. 

Sculpture honoring Olympic water sports
and Cable Car tower in back

Looking east along the beach

Mark on the Mediteranian Sea

Even with our hiccup of a misdirected taxi ride and a beach stroll, we still got to the cable car early.  No one was checking ticket times so we just got in the very short line and waited for the single, six-passenger elevator trip up a very tall tower to another short line at the top.  Soon we were on board one of the two 19-passenger gondolas, swinging out of the tower and across the harbor.  While the excursion is hardly an E-ticket ride (a Boomer reference), the views are fun and worth the 20€ price. 

Gondola across the harbor

View: Looking along the beach and harbor from the tower

View: Looking up the tree-lined "Rambles" pedestrian street

Part way across the bay, we noticed the end point of the cable car was no where near the top of Montjuïc hill and the fort.  Suspended in mid air with excellent cell service and an eSim with oodles of data, I resolved there are TWO cable car systems and we had tickets only for the first leg.  Arriving somewhere mid hill, Google Maps lead us on a 15 minute walk up to the next terminal. 

Ride we thought we were taking

Rides we took plus a walk inbetween

Spying a larger line from a distance, I purchased our tickets online (saving a whole 4€).  We stood in line for a bit, then got out of line to look for online ticket holders line (there wasn’t one), then got back in line twenty people later.  Oh well.  By this time, we were feeling like travel rookies.  However, this next ride up the hill used a string of ski resort-like, 8-passenger gondolas, and all moved quickly. 

Second gondola ride

The day was beautiful, the fort provided a nice place to walk and take in a 360° view of the city, the huge container port, and the Mediterranean Sea. 

Entrance to the Montjuïc Fort

View of the shipping port and cruise ships

Keeping in touch with Peter and Mary, we agreed a time to meet up back at the hotel then scout for lunch.  I think we were riding on a high of not eating strictly Spanish fare and Peter found an interesting little cellar restaurant where we watched our pizzas being made in the brick oven while sipping wine. 

Lunch with Peter and Mary

Oddly short door to the restaurant

Mark and I had an early rise the next day so we celebrated our last afternoon together with Peter and Mary on the terrace of our hotel.  They sipped their last bottle of Spanish wine.  Being too early in the season for the terrace bar to be open, Mark lovingly fetched a Cosmo for me and a G&T for him at the bar on the ground floor.  How he navigated elevator buttons and door handles was miraculous.  We ended our trip with the Andrades with views of people bobbing about on the roof of Casa Mila (La Pedrera) and last hugs at the doors to our rooms.

Thank you for your patience in reading my posts and I hope you enjoyed at least some of it!

C

PS  Our flights home, including a layover night at DEN were without problems.  We were tired puppies by the time we got home to new snow!