Seniors in Spain 2018: 7/13/2018-Barcelona-Palau de la Musica Catalana, Arc de Triomf, Santa Maria del Mar, pool time, dinner at Pura Brasa

I booked this hotel CHI for our stay in Barcelona but I did not include breakfast so we need to find a place to have breakfast. Richard mentions that he saw a place across the street from the hotel that may be what we need to start our day of sightseeing. As we exit our hotel and walk over to where we can cross the street I notice how close we are to the entrance for the metro-station Rocafort. Good to know.

Breakfast. Serra Patisseries. Inside there are tables. This place sells cookies, candy, cakes, lots of pastries, donuts. Sitting at a table we look at the breakfast menu. There are 3 different choices. Richard gets the continental-cafe/coffee Americano with toast. I get the English-scrambled eggs with ham and cafe con leche/coffee with milk. Cost €8.50. Not bad and the price is good too! And it's so convenient to our hotel.

This place is right across the street from our hotel

Menu for breakfast

Richard is trying to decide what to order

He gets toast and cafe Americano which is black coffee

I get this donut and cafe con leche which is coffee with milk

Per some research on my computer I see that there is an English guided tour of the Palace of Catalan Music today at 1:00 PM. I think that's what we'll do. El Born/Sant Pere district. Palau de la Musica Catalana. Concert hall. Art Nouveau style. Modernist interior. UNESCO World Heritage site. Louis Domenech i Montaner 1905-1908. We're in luck. There are spaces still available for the English tour starting at 1:00 PM. Cost for 2 tickets $37.41. We have a 20 minute wait. There is a nice cafe here where we could have had breakfast. Oh well. Time to admire the outside facade. Tour starts with short video in the Orfeo Catala or rehearsal hall. Here in this room is the foundation stone of the building. We see the grand staircase, the Lluis Millet Hall, and finally the Concert Hall. Beautiful skylight. We are treated to a short performance from the organ. Stained glass, iron work, sculpture, and mosaic. Highly recommend you visit. The tour lasts an hour.

Cafe inside

Ceiling in the cafe

We are in the Orfeo Catala/rehearsal hall listening to our guide explain the short video we will be watching that gives us a bit of information about this place

Lluis Millet Hall-large balcony of columns decorated to showcase flowers/nature

Lovely stained glass

We're in the Concert Hall now

Sculpture and mosaic

Skylight dominates the Concert Hall

Concert Hall

Staircase

A short 15-20 minute walk brings us to Arc de Triomf. This was the main entrance gate to the 1889 World's fair held in Parc de la Ciutadella/Citadel Park. Designed by Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas in the neo Mudejar style. 30 meters tall. Red brick. Stone friezes. Shields of 49 provinces of Spain. Coat of arms of Barcelona. Repeated symbol-bats-King Jaume's lucky charm. The park is a big green space-plenty of trees and grass, home to a zoo, a museum of geology, a greenhouse.

Store with souvenirs of Barcelona

First sight-Arc de Triomf

Shields of 49 provinces of Spain above the arch and the coat of arms of Barcelona at the top

King Jaume's lucky charm

Another bat

Barcelona's coat of arms

Looking back to the Arc de Triomf

Map of the park

Now we decide to check out a church within walking distance. Santa Maria del Mar. 14th c. Catalan Gothic architecture. You can get an information brochure. I recommend you read it before you tour the church. Wish I had sat in one of the pews and done just that as I found out too late that I had missed some very important details. This brochure tells you about the history, the art, the architecture. It has a map of the basilica showing the stained glass windows, the chapels, and so much more. As it was we just wandered around admiring the beautiful stained glass windows, the majesty of the church. It was awesome and I really loved our time here. We opted not to do the rooftops so admission was €8 for the 2 of us. We spent about 40 minutes here as this is not a huge church.

We pass this on our way to the church which is located in the El Born area

Rose Window

Rose Window, 1459

Rose Window

I think we have had enough sightseeing for today. It's hot and our hotel has a pool. It's calling to us! So we slowly walk but when we see a taxi we decide............... We get back to our hotel around 5:00 PM. There's message from Dorie. She will meet us for dinner as they arrived to Barcelona today. We decide to meet at Pura Brasa which isn't far from our hotel and is easy for her to get to also. We'll meet at 8:00 PM. Time for a swim. The pool is on the rooftop and is small but good enough to cool off. Richard enjoys just sitting in the pool. The water is a bit cold for me so my time in the pool is short. I do enjoy relaxing on a lounger though!

Dinner-Pura Brasa. Dorie meets us. She took a bus from her hotel. This place is about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. It has outside and inside seating. It looks like the outside seating is full so we get a table inside. Our server Henrry is very friendly and makes us laugh. Drinks-beer for Richard, sangria for me, and red wine for Dorie. In fact she has 2 glasses because it was so good. There's a lot of items on the menu so it takes awhile to make a decision. I finally opt for the Japanese style boneless chicken with teriyaki sauce and vegetable crudities. Dorie gets European sea bass with vegetable crudities. Richard thinks he's ordered sea bass too but when his plate comes it's surprise-grilled octopus over potato Parmentier with truffle and paprika. 😱 It seems when he pointed to the item he wanted our server thought his finger was pointing to the item right below what he wanted. That's what happens when you have big hands and fingers!! He was a trouper and didn't make a fuss. Dessert-another miscommunication. We ordered tiramisu and said 1 chocolate bomb to share for 2. Our server thought we meant 2 chocolate bombs! At first we were confused when we saw the bombs but as soon as you cut into it with a fork the chocolate spilled out from inside. Thought I took a picture but guess I didn't. 😞 Good thing we managed to have room for dessert because those chocolate bombs were the bomb!! Cost without tip $96.85 Dorie just had to go across the street to catch the buss back to her hotel. She said she will send me a message via FB to let us know she got there ok. We took our time walking back to the hotel just enjoying the nice evening. By the time we got to our room there was a message from Dorie that she was back at her hotel. Tomorrow we are going to do some sightseeing together.