Spain, Barcelona – Gigamesh Bookstore

2016 Cruise – Day 3 – As I have mentioned before, we like to visit bookstores on our travels. The last stop we made in Barcelona before heading to our cruise ship was the Gigamesh Bookstore (Bailén, 8, 08010 Barcelona  932 46 63 59). We had returned to our hotel to drop off our purchases, then we headed across town on the subway.

The Gigamon was an excellent bookstore. It had a wide selection of Science Fiction and Fantasy titles (always something I look for) and a sizable collection of English language titles. There was also an area in the back of the store that seemed to be dedicated to gaming. There were displays with several of the figures used in gaming for sale.

Were I to return to Barcelona and be looking for a book, this is definitely the store I would go to.

With our time in Barcelona nearing an end, we headed back to the hotel. We were picked up by the same driver that had dropped us off on the first day. We arrived at the cruise ship dock mid afternoon and quickly completed the boarding process. We spent the rest of the day familiarizing ourselves with our ship.

According to my Apple Watch, I completed 13,279 steps. A substantial number, but nothing like we would experience later.

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Spain, Barcelona – La Boqueria Market

2016 Cruise – Day 3 – After completing our shopping we continued on down La Rambla to the La Boqueria Market (Rambla, 91, 08001 Barcelona, España). In this open air market you can find all sorts of food.

Not only can you buy fish, meat, fruits and vegetables, there are also places to buy prepared food and drinks.

We enjoyed strolling though the crowded market looking at what the many stalls had to offer. It was an interesting place to visit. Certainly far different than we are used to in Central Texas.

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Spain, Barcelona – chök the chocolate kitchen

2016 cruise – Day 3 – After visiting Late Pau Claris, we came back to La Rambla for a little shopping. We had read about the cafe “chök the chocolate kitchen” that specializes in chocolate and specialty donuts. The shop we visited is located at c/ del Carme, 3 t: +34 933 042 360 and was just off of La Rambla.

This turned out to be another wonderful bakery!

We chose a couple of their donuts as a ‘second breakfast’ to sustain us for the rest of our day in Barcelona.

As you can see from the photo above, these were not your everyday donuts. These bakeries were wonderful places to visit, but I am glad that they are so far away. Having them close at hand would be too much of a temptation.

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Spain, Barcelona – Laie Pau Claris Bookstore

2016 Cruise – Day 3 – While on our travels, my wife and I like to visit local bookstores. On our third day in Barcelona we had breakfast in our hotel then headed to the bookstore Laie Pau Claris (Carrer de Pau Claris, 85, 08010 Barcelona, Spain).

Not only was it a nice bookstore, it also had a very nice cafe where we had a cup of hot chocolate.

You can follow Laie on Twitter

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Spain, Barcelona – El Arte del helado

2016 Cruise – Day 2 – After our wonderful dinner at the Restaurant La Rambla, we headed on up the La Ramba towards our hotel. Along the way we came across the El Arte del helado. They had a wide selection and we each got a gelato to top off our evening.

There seemed to gelato or bakeries in every block. This wrapped up our second day in Barcelona. I finished the day with 16,176 steps according to my Apple Watch.

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Spain, Barcelona – Restaurant La Rambla

2016 Cruise – Day 2 – While we were walking up La Rambla, we came across the Restaurant La Rambla. This really wasn’t too far up the La Rambla from the port. The actual restaurant was quite small as can be seen above, but it, like many of the restaurants along the La Rambla, have an outdoor dining room.

While it looks pretty deserted in the photo above, it did not take long before there was a crowd.

One of the things that I tried to do at each of our stops was to try a local beer. In this case it was Estrella Damm again. It was a good beer. We had a great sampler tray for dinner. All of it was interesting and tasty.

We had a great sampler tray for dinner. All of it was interesting and tasty.We really enjoyed this restaurant and we would certainly visit it again if in Barcelona.

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Spain, Barcelona – La Rambla

2016 Cruise – Day 2 – After leaving the Aquarium, we walked up the La Rambla. The La Rambla is a wide, tree-lined street with a center pedestrian mall that runs a little under a mile from the port north into the city.

Along La Rambla can be found many restaurants and popular stores. This is a very popular, and often crowded, place to stroll the city and take in the sights and sounds. We were there many times during our short stay in Barcelona and found the La Rambla a great place to absorb the feel of the city.

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Spain, Barcelona – Aquarium Barcelona

The afternoon of the second day of our trip we walked down to the Aquarium Barcelona in the Port Vell harbor. We have visited a few aquariums in our travels (Seattle, Chicago, Corpus Christi) over the years.

We had seen it listed before our trip, but it was actually recommended as a place to see by the driver we had from the airport.

It was one of the best we have visited. In particular we liked the ‘tunnel’ shown above where you could walk through the midst of their large (118 feet in diameter, 980,000 gallon) tank.

This won’t be on everyone’s list of sites to see when visiting Barcelona, but if you like aquariums, you will enjoy it.

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Spain, Barcelona -La Colmena Pasteleria

On the second day of our trip after visiting the Sagrada Familia, we came across the La Colmena bakery, located at Plaça de l’Àngel, 12, 08002 Barcelona.

Shops like this one seemed to be around every corner. Every one had an array of enticing goodies.

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Spain, Barcelona -Basilica de la Sagrada Familia

The first thing we did on the second day of our trip while in Barcelona was to visit the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. The Basilica was designed by Spaniard Antoni Gaudi and has been under construction since 1882. Completion of the immense structure is not expected until 2026. My wife first visited in 2009 and could see many changes since then.

The exterior of the church is covered in intricate carvings that tell many different stories. The church was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI on November 7, 2010.

The interior follow the themes set outside. The columns are shaped like trees with ‘branches’ at the top to support the ceiling.

We toured through the Basilica, then ascended one of the towers. There was a good view of the city. The trip up was easy in an elevator, but down was via about 400 steps. Afterwards we went through the museum under the Basilica, which was well worth the time.

Whether or not you are Catholic, you will find the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia worth your  visit. There is a fee  (15-29 Euros) to tour the Basilica.