September Mediterranean Magic Trip Report updated 10/25/2017 - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Almost forgot about your TR as I'm on so many of these! Nice arrival in Barcelona and what a lovely dining area in the hotel, which is so compact, isolated and private, which is my type of place!
It's easy when I don't update too often
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Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Remind me again what hotel you used? Looks like lovely weather.
Hotel Colon - it was lovely!
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Originally Posted by chezp
The hotel lobby looks wonderful.
It was both cozy and elegant!
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Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
I really really hope you enjoy Barcelona!! That is one of my favorite cities and I wish I lived there!!
So sorry guys - serious photo issues make this a total bummer to get together I'm going to try to get better!
Day 1 - Okay we have time to kill
So we greatly debated before this trip whether or not to buy tickets in advance for La Sagrada Familia to go inside the basilica this afternoon. We ultimately decided against it because we weren’t sure what would happen with the flight and everything. (We were looking into 1pm tickets - this is important for later)
Since our room wasn’t ready, we decided to venture out and over to the basilica anyway because it’s supposed to be so beautiful! We got directions and headed out to the Subway to hop a ride.
It was a lovely walk!
We found the station alright, but buying tickets was something we probably should have done more research on… we couldn’t figure out what we needed and the agent working there didn’t speak any English. We thought we were getting somewhere (she had to point out the “English” option on the screen), but then the machine didn’t take my card and we couldn’t figure out why! We originally thought it did charge the card and didn’t give us tickets because we had gotten so far in the process. So we spent probably a good 30 minutes here trying to figure it out and she was on the phone with someone and opened up the machine and everything.
Eventually we got it all figured out and were on our way. Thankfully the route was easy enough, keeping us on the same line! It was an uneventful ride but of course, always makes you feel like a “real” traveler taking public transportation in a foreign country! We emerged and had to ask directions but eventually got on the right path.
At this point it was about 11:30 I believe and our tummies were getting rumbly, so we started thinking about a lunch stop. Thankfully we were in an area with a lot of options - however they all looked closed or deserted! We wanted something “local” and eventually came across a tapas bar with Tripadvisor approval and other people dining inside, so we popped on in.
The service was wonderful and they thankfully had an English menu and our server really worked with us on some of the details and was very patient with our horrible lack of Spanish We decided on some sandwiches and sangria!
Somehow we got talked into this wonderful lava cake!
After our delicious lunch we were only a few blocks from the Sagrada Familia Basilica and were there shortly, right around 1pm. The next tickets to go inside were for after 2pm and we just didn’t see ourselves lasting that long today. It was a bummer the timing would have worked out perfectly had we gotten advance tickets, but ultimately we could not have known it would work out that way and I think we made the right call to play it by ear. We took in the exterior and did a walk around before heading back to the subway station to head back to the hotel with fingers crossed that our room would be ready when we arrived once again!
I'm looking forward to seeing Sagrada Familia again next year, and comparing the pictures to my pictures from 2012 or see if I can spot any differences since it's still in a constant state of construction.
Lunch looked good!
Wow, things must've changed since we were last in Barcelona (2010 I think) - then, everyone spoke English and I could barely get a word of English in anywhere...
Shame about the Sagrada Familia tickets. Yes, it's amazing inside, but I think the most amazing bit is outside.
Colleen - I'll be intrigued to see your photos, as I think I've got some dating back to 2007, so there should surely be some change in 10 years? You'd have thought anyway....
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La Sagrada Familia is so cool!! We were there in 2011. I think it will be in a state of perpetual construction like Cinderella's Castle!! I hope you get to see the inside someday as it surely is amazing!! I hope you enjoyed your lunch. It looks wonderful!!
Lunch looked very good! Too bad you couldn't make the tour. That was certainly frustrating with the ticket machines!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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I'm looking forward to seeing Sagrada Familia again next year, and comparing the pictures to my pictures from 2012 or see if I can spot any differences since it's still in a constant state of construction.
Lunch looked good!
Oh that would be cool! Lunch was just what we needed
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Wow, things must've changed since we were last in Barcelona (2010 I think) - then, everyone spoke English and I could barely get a word of English in anywhere...
Shame about the Sagrada Familia tickets. Yes, it's amazing inside, but I think the most amazing bit is outside.
Colleen - I'll be intrigued to see your photos, as I think I've got some dating back to 2007, so there should surely be some change in 10 years? You'd have thought anyway....
I think it was just a smaller station? We didn't run into huge problems with it but we noticed in Paris the English was much better. We will have more photos of Sagrada coming up in a later installment!
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Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara
La Sagrada Familia is so cool!! We were there in 2011. I think it will be in a state of perpetual construction like Cinderella's Castle!! I hope you get to see the inside someday as it surely is amazing!! I hope you enjoyed your lunch. It looks wonderful!!
They were saying it would be done in 10 more years!
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Originally Posted by KMB733
Lunch looked delicious! Sorry thing didn't work out for La Sagrada Familia. At least you got to see the outside!
It was a good little adventure!
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Originally Posted by SuperDave
Lunch looked very good! Too bad you couldn't make the tour. That was certainly frustrating with the ticket machines!
We made it back to the hotel with much less trouble and were happy to find that our room was ready! We got our key (which is an old school heavy key, and only one!) and headed up to the second floor to find our room and were followed shortly by bell services with our luggage!
We never really established what that second thing was… but it was so close to the toilet I hit my knees on it
This was a “double” room...
Once we got our luggage and I took the room pics, it was time to lay my head down and rest I know you are NOT supposed to do this to counteract jet lag. But I wouldn’t have functioned otherwise. The important part was we did have plans for dinner tonight which we did get up for. After a little lay-down (I think we found the only english channel on TV, CSI re-runs, for the background) we got up, changed and refreshed and headed out for the evening.
Views from our room!
Adorable little balconies on the rooms
Tonight we were headed to Las Ramblas, a street that reminds me of the Champs Elysee in Paris and it was walking distance from our hotel! We got directions and dropped our key off (you pick it up when you get back) and headed on out right on time.
I'm still looking at your hotel as an option, but currently we have a reservation at Hotel Barcelona Catedral. It's on another side of the cathedral from yours. We looked at some right on La Rambla, but I worried it could be loud at night.
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Nice photos and glad you got some rest from the jet lag! I try to avoid it when I can if possible as that's what you should do, but not always easy! The other unfamiliar device in your bath (is that the correct term) is a bidet and are quite common in hotels and homes throughout Europe! I've come across them during my many hotel stays in Europe over the years!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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That is one of my favorite cities and I wish I lived there!!
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Nice arrival in Barcelona and what a lovely dining area in the hotel, which is so compact, isolated and private, which is my type of place! 
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Too bad you couldn't make the tour. That was certainly frustrating with the ticket machines! 
The other unfamiliar device in your bath (is that the correct term) is a bidet and are quite common in hotels and homes throughout Europe! 
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