Tuesday 15 November 2022
Today was the historic/gothic quarter day, although we kicked off by visiting the Mercat la Boqueria, the famous market on Las Ramblas. Like markets the world over, this was a cacophony of sights, sounds and smells. We bought ourselves some breakfast and wandered around enjoying the hustle and bustle. I was there when Caitlin landed in Bangkok airport so in between the salami and cheeses I was giving her advice (or that's what I called it) on navigating one's first arrival in Asia.
This is a beautiful, tiled pharmacy!
Next up was a visit to the old 'antic' hospital, Old Hospital de la Santa Creu, which housed patients from the 15th to 18th Centuries, closing when the Sant Pau one was built (see yesterday). A beautiful, quiet courtyard.
JC has a knack of sniffing out old sites, and mentioned the Monastery of Sant Pau del Camp which was a short walk away. It is one of Barcelona's oldest surviving churches and parts of it date back to the 1st Century.
A bit foot weary, we plonked ourselves in the vibrant Plaça Reial where the great excitement was me finding a place that served black tea with milk.
Once rested we headed for the Cathedral. It's not the most awesome one I've seen, not helped by the the scaffolding both inside and out, but, again, the audio guide brought it to life.
We went up onto the roof terraces which were fun (and windy). We could even spy the Sagrada from our vantage point (to the right hand side of the horizon on the portrait image below).
The cathedral cloisters contain numerous graves acknowledging the many craftspeople that worked on this building. There is also a tradition of keeping 13 geese in there too - the number 13 being the age at which, according to tradition, Saint Eulalia was martyred.
Last for today was a walk around the back streets of the gothic quarter. We found ancient tombs, the city walls and numerous quiet plaças but the light faded, as did our energy, and we flopped back into a tapas bar to end our day.
No comments:
Post a Comment