It was hazy, humid, and VERY hot in August of 2018 when we spent several days in Barcelona before embarking on a Mediterranean cruise. Hot as in the temperatures were approaching 100°F.

After a good night’s sleep, my son Danny, two of our friends, Jessie and Mickey, and myself spent a day touring. We’d bought tickets on the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus which had three different routes meeting at various spots. I found this to be completely worth it as it took us to various places in the City. The nearest embarkation point wasn’t too far from our hotel, at the statue of Christopher Colombus and the Maritime Museum. The ticket to ride came with headphones to plug into the bus’ narration in many different languages. This worked out great for this day. We got to see many of the sights around Barcelona.

One thing we saw that we had wanted to do was ride the cable-car that we saw stretched across the port near the World Trade Center. Despite asking for directions, we never managed to get there. Our first inquiry sent us far away from the port to another mountainside funicular that was actually closed that day. It was okay, because we found a great dessert restaurant where we ate what we thought would be a snack, as we wanted to have lunch where that cable-car traveled.

We tried again and ended up in the park where the 1992 Olympics were held on a different cable-car. If we had gone another stop, we would have found what we were looking for. After a day of being in Barcelona, we were tired and hungry. We had plans for that night at Casa Batlló.

Casa Batlló is one of the homes designed by Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona. You can see his mark all over Barcelona when you visit. The home is pretty spectacular to tour, especially with the audio guide accompanying you. I really found out how useful these guides are on this trip. There is also a Gaudi gift shop.

We were there to see a Beatles cover band play on the rooftop. What a night it was! We were served champagne and other drinks on the rooftop and enjoyed the performance.

We were really hungry after the show and drinks, so we finished this day with food across the street from our hotel. We ate Paella and had more to drink before calling it a day.