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2003-06-02 - Carcassonne to Barcelona Day 8 Breakfast was so good at the hotel! The bread was especially fresh and there was a wide assortment of jellies and jams to choose from, including the best peach jelly I had ever tasted! We took a tour bus up to the entrance of the walled city itself. As we entered, the streets were alive with merchants in their small shops. The castle was quite impressive. We followed a French guide through the castle to be able to see the entire castle, even though none of the tour was offered in English. Without a guide, we would only have been able to see a fraction of the castle. From the top, there was a great panoramic view of the city below. There was an amphitheatre inside the castle where Jon said they often hold concerts. We then had a little while to explore the shops on the town’s winding streets. We found some beautiful pottery – I bought a painted ceramic trivet and mom bought a pitcher. After leaving Carcassonnne, we began our journey to Barcelona. We made a little stop a little less than midway – just a little towards the French side of the border. There were a few sandwich type restaurants, a cafeteria, and some gift shops. We then continued our journey into Barcelona. We arrived around 5PM and had some free time to look around the city until dinner at 8:30. We quickly placed our things in the room. Mom, Megan, Sharon, and I headed down a side road with several shops off from the Plaza de Catalunya. We made a brief stop at the very Spanish Burger King for fountain drinks. We went to Mango, ProMod, and Zara. We walked around to the other side of the Plaza to the huge Corte Inglés. The store is massive, with 9 main floors and 2 floors below, including everywhere from a supermarket, painted wooden fans, jewelry, and house linens under one (giant) roof. I was able to make quite a dent in my souvenir shopping there. It was always quite a dangerous place for me while I was studying abroad!
Out dinner that night was excellent, in my opinion. It included an appetizer of fideus, a type of local noodles in a garlic sauce with seafood. Our main course was a chicken breast with seasoning and french fries. Dessert was something I had missed my last time in Barcelona, and it was called Crema Catalunya. It was a liquid custard under a burnt sugar crust – very similar to flan, but a bit more liquidy. It was quite good – so good that one person in our group, Brian, had four of them! I guess you could say that it got the better of him… We took the Metro to the top of Passeig de Gracia and walked our way back down to the Plaza de Catalunya, stopping along the way to see the two houses designed by Gaudí, Casa Batlló and Casa Mila. I find his architecture to be really impressive and unique (in a good way!). I thought it was interesting that they told us that his intention for the Casa Mila was to have ramps where the tenants could drive in their cars! A group of us then made a stop at the Internet Café before returning to the hotel. Via Laietana, 61 Barcelona, Spain Phone: 011-34-93- 343 55 55
Dinner: La Fonda
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