World Cruise Day 128/152 - Barcelona, Spain Day 2 - Rambla-n on

Cruise day: 128/152

Ports days: 63
Sea days: 65
Countries: 22
Continents: 5
Ports: 46

Day number two in Barcelona.  Actually, it's an abbreviated day as onboard time was 1:30PM and we were supposed to sail at 2PM.  Except...the folks staying in stateroom 3043 appeared to be missing.  Cruise Director, Kate, made several announcements asking them to call or come to guest services, suggesting that they aren't on the ship and nobody knows where they are.  Ahh...good times.  We set sail about 2:25PM, so either they showed up or they're finding their own way to Cartagena, Spain.

With all the walking yesterday, we decided to take it a little easy today.  We took the shuttle bus into town and walked La Rambla, also known as Las Ramblas.  If you aren't familiar with La Rambla, it is a shopping and dining area that runs northwest of the Columbus Monument for about 1.2km (0.8 miles), ending at Plaça de Catalunya. It has a large pedestrian center area with a few shops and eateries as well as shops along the roadway on either side.

It was another beautiful day like yesterday with light breezes, roughly 68-degrees, brilliant blue skies, and sunshine.

We started our walk to the northwest of the Columbus Monument.  Some stands were still getting set up even though we were there at about 10:30AM.  It was a beautiful day for a leisurely stroll and taking in the sights.

Looking northwest from near the Columbus Monument

There was a lot to see wherever you looked

Every port lately - so many scooters

Even the side streets were interesting to look at

Arlona thought the lights looked like earrings

There is definite competition among American fast food in Barcelona.

Mcdonald's across from KFC

Starbucks next to Dunkin'

Mcdonald's is one shop away from Burger King

We also saw Subway & Five Guys, plus a bunch of local eateries.

Speaking of local eateries, remember yesterday's blog and Dick Waffles?  Well, there's another one on La Rambla.

They make cakes and also deliver!

We passed a museum of erotica but opted not to go in nor take photos.  You're welcome.

We passed a shop named Caganer.  I'll let you read the description.

Arlona contemplating what will fit in best with our decor...

Yes, you can buy models of people pooping. It is supposed to symbolize luck and joy.

Does he look joyful?

They are available in classic models as well as different characters, popes, Star Wars figures, celebrities, superheroes, The Simpsons, Sesame Street - you name it

At the northwest end of La Rambla, we arrived at Plaça de Catalunya where they have several sculptures and an open park area.

The flags of the European Union, Spain, and Catalonia

One of Arlona's best sculpture poses

We started walking back toward the water.

The pavement along La Rambla creates an interesting illusion of waviness - the alternating concave and convex lines make it look higher and lower, but the pavement is flat

Every 25-feet or so, one of these medallions is installed on the pavement - it marks a route that takes you through Barcelona that features many of the artworks that defined the modernism style

As we continued our walk, we found Mercat La Boqueria - a farmer's market of sorts that has been in operation in Barcelona since the 1200s.  It was crowded, noisy, and amazing.

As we continued toward the port, we ran into friends, Cheryl & John, who had just sat down for a beverage.  We joined them and chatted and people-watched on La Rambla for a while before heading back and catching the final shuttle bus of the day at 12:30PM. We logging a couple of more miles in Barcelona today.

Once back on the ship, we enjoyed a nice lunch with Cheryl & John on the aquavit deck, soaking up some sun.

Tonight, a friend arranged for a ladies' night out, so Arlona & I split up for dinner.  The ladies had the private room at Manfredi's reserved.  The boys got together and decided to also get a table at Manfredi's.  While the boys all enjoyed their dinner of steak and pasta, the ladies went all-out and along with their dinners, they split today's special, turbot - a large species of flatfish.  Arlona returned to the room raving about how good it was.

Turbot - not pretty, but really, really tasty

Arlona caught this lovely sunset view as dinner wound down

As I mentioned, we sailed at about 2:30PM today to make the 340-mile or so trip to Cartagena, Spain.

We'll arrive there on Sunday at noon, give or take.  We have an easy day tomorrow as it is only a six-hour visit in-port and we have a scenic tour scheduled.