On Day 13 we leave Valencia after only a short visit. Lovely city and definitely an option for my future. We shall see. It’s definitely a large city, but not like Madrid or Barcelona.

About an hour and a half or so outside of Valencia, we stop at a beautiful seaside town. Oh my goodness, I fell in love with this town. It’s called Peñiscola. Our stop was about an hour, maybe a little more. We got off the bus and our Tour Director recommended we walk along the boardwalk, maybe get a coffee or ice cream. This boardwalk is much like the Boulevard in Veracruz, but smaller and not a busy road. The ocean/beach is on one side with lots of chairs, umbrellas and sun bathers. Next to the boardwalk or sidewalk is the road, and on the other side are restaurants, shops, many hotels and apartments/condominiums. The road is a quiet, small town road. No traffic to speak of, at least while we were there. Maybe during high season. The beach was crowded though.

I started walking down one side of the boardwalk or Malecón. It also reminded me of the Malecón at Marina Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta. Well, I’m sure you have guessed, I just loved it here. Not sure what it’s like to live there especially with so many tourists. I did see apartments/condominiums for rent and for sale. Some research will be done once I get home.That´s for sure!

Here are some photos of this lovely little town.

After our too short stop in Peñiscola, we were off again on the bus headed to Barcelona. We stopped on the way for a snack before stopping at a local winery outside of Barcelona. The visit included a tour of the wine cellar and wine tasting. We sat outside on a covered patio. Yes, it was very hot. We tried 4 different wines: a white, a sparkling white (my favorite) and two reds. They also served us what the the Tour Director called a “light lunch”. Individual plates wtih two crusty and yummy pieces of bread, a quarter of a very red and juicy tomato, salami and cheese. Olive oil was available on the side, of course. The wines were then served while we enjoyed our lunch. It was a quick stop, but a great break on a long bus ride today.

We arrived in Barcelona in the early afternoon. We quickly stopped at the hotel, dropped off our bags and got ready for a quick bus ride around the city and a visit to Park Güell (pronounced gway). In Mexican Spanish it’s pronounced like “güey”. The Spanish-Catalan local tour guide was suprised when I told her about the Mexican word and it’s meaning. She had no idea. 😆 Speaking of the local tour guide. I guess I knew, but forgot that Barcelona is in the Catalan region of Spain. They have their own language or dialect. They speak Catalan, and the best way I can describe it is like a mix between Spanish and French. Most of the people especially in the tourist areas, speak Spanish and English, so speaking either was not a problem. But it was interesting to say the least.

OK, about Park Güell, all I can say is INCREDIBLE! It’s just something out of this world really. It’s a very large park of sorts with many “pieces” of art throughout. Here’s how the “Introducing Barcelona” tourism website describes it: Park Güell is an enormous garden started in 1900 with stunning and distinct architectural elements designed by the renowned Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí. The Park is named after Eusebi Güell, a rich entrepreneur and count that had a great passion for Gaudí’s work and who became his patron. Here are some pictures of the Park. You can see Gaudi’s influence in the beautiful tile work on the bench, the stairway and in the home that is found in the Park:

Honestlly, I didn’t know much about Gaudi, other than he was the original architect for the distinct and amazing Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. Our local Tour Guide was very helpful in educating us about all things Barcelona like the Sagrada Familia, Montserrat and Park Güell. She was a fountain of information and a lovely lady. As we drove around the city on the two days we were there, she would point out architectural wonders some by Gaudi. Here are two examples of homes that is now a museums on the main boulevard in the city:

After the visit to the Park, we drove around a bit and stopped at the Marina for dinner. We were on our own but we all ended up in the same restaurant although at several tables. We were a big goup. This is a beautiful area. Also reminded me of Marina Vallarta and even a little bit like Marina del Rey in the Los Angeles area, not too far from my parent’s house. We had a lovely dinner with Sangria, of course. We had just enough time to walk a little bit afterwards to see the beach and boardwalk. Very, very nice.

It had been a long day, so when we arrived back at the hotel around 9.30 – 10.00pm, we all went up to our rooms to rest for the night. We had an early start the next day.

Day 14: it’s our last day in Spain. We depart tomorrow. 😥 Wow, huh? I can’t say that it went fast. It really didn’t. But we did do a lot in those 13 days.Today is going to be a long and very full day. We started early. The bus left the hotel in Barcelona at 7:45am for the 1.5 hour ride to Montserrat, just outside of Barcelona. I had heard of this place and seen pictures over the years.But it was a sight to see. Really incredible. It started out as a monastery with a building that was constructed in 1400 against the large rocks in the mountainside. The actual Basilica was built in 1700. It is just beautiful. The views are spectacular.

This is a little town of its own. Although down the mountain is the actual town of Montserrat The locals can reach the monastery and it’s grounds by way of a train, walking (!) and once up a ways, there’s also a small train that takes you to the peak, merely for the views. We skipped that. Our bus driver managed the narrow road up there with ease. Having left Barcelona so early, today we were the first group there. Getting tickets in advance is a must (the same as Park Güell). And our Local Tour Guide took care of that for us.

Well, on this campus you will find a large and beautiful gift shop, a couple of cafes, two hotels, a mini-market and also a retreat center. There are local merchants that set up small stands selling local cheeses and other items. It was just really impressive. The highlight of the tour was going inside the Cathedral and seeing the famous Black Madonna. It is a sculpture located up a small flight of stairs behind the altar. The story goes that she “turned the color black” because of the prolonged exposure to candle smoke (or a varnish related chemical reaction). In any case, it was lovely to see. And so much history in one place. When you exit the Cathedral, against a large rock are several carved out shelves of sorts for candles. On the other side of this you can buy the candles in large and medium glass jars. There are some tall receptacles where you can drop your coins to pay for the candles. As you probably guessed, I did buy one red candle and lit it for all my family and friends (present & past).

We had some time to explore the campus on our own and buy souvenirs and a coffee or beverage, and to take pictures, of course. We left here around 10:20am and headed back to the hotel to pick up a couple of travelers who chose not to take this tour. Then we were off to see more of Barcelona and specifically the marvel that is the Sagrada Familia Basilica.

The Basilica has been under construction for 140 years. Today on our visit many parts of the church are covered, have scaffolding and I think I counted 2 cranes. Our Tour Guide told us the last time the completion date was updated, they said it should be ready by 2033. Can you imagine? Most of the work is done off site and the pieces are brought to the church to be installed. And most of the work that is left is on the exterior. Even the main entrance is not yet finished. We enter through a side door. The original architect was, of course, Antoni Gaudi. After visiting the Park Güell and seeing some of his other works in homes and buildings throughout Barcelona, you can quickly recognize his signature style.

The inside of the church is almost finished. It is just magnificent. The stained glass throughout really takes full advantage of the sunlight that peaks through, coloring parts of the inside of the building hues of red, green, yellow and blue. It is more modern inside. This is not your great-grandfather’s renaissance cathedral. Did I mention that it was magificent? I can’t think of any other word to describe it.

After the guided tour, we were left on our own to see more of the church, shop and have lunch. Surrounding the Basilica are many cafes with sidewalk dining and lots of souvenir shops. One fellow traveler and I found a nice place to have tapas and make a few stops at some shops. We then got back on the bus for another driving tour and returned to the hotel around 3.30pm. I, along with some other travelers, decided to walk about 3~4 blocks to an air conditioned mall. DId I mention how hot it was today? Oh my goodness. It was very hot. It was a nice mall with some familiar American stores but plenty of Spanish and European ones, too. I spent about an hour there and then walked back to the hotel. I was exhausted. You can see by the number of steps at the bottom of this article that today was by far the most steps I walked on this entire trip.

And lastly, we met in the hotel lobby at 7pm for our final goodbye dinner. We boarded the bus one last time for a ride over to the restaurant. Well, it wasn’t without incident. As we were driving over, we saw one street after another was closed. Detours everywhere. Traffic was terrible. Well, little did we know that this afternoon/evening was a PRIDE parade. Our amazing driver did everything he could to try to get us over to the restaurant. But it wasn’t to be. He ended up stopping where he could and dropped us off about 1/2 mile to the restaurant. So off we went walking amongst the parade revelers. At one point, we actually had to cross a street right as the parade was going by. So we cheered and raised our arms to fit in, and got to the other side of the street.😆

We finally made it to the restaurant where they had tables reserved for us. It was a nice dinner. Our Tour Director took lots of pictures of each couple/individual. I’m hoping I can include some here once he sends them over. We finished dinner and walked back to the bus. Not so far this time and away from the parade. Many of us stopped at the hotel bar for one last sangria together and to say our goodbyes.

It was sad to say good bye to this great group of people. Many of us promised to stay in touch and we exchanged emails, cell numbers and social media accounts. We did get a picture of almost all of us except maybe a couple of people that went directly upstairs after arriving back from dinner. Although it was my camera with which I asked a young man to take our picture, I don’t seem to appear in any of them. I’m hidden behind another traveler. No worries. you all know what I look like. HAHA

So that about wraps up my European Tour. What a great time I had. Yes, very tiring at times and rushed at others. Not enough time here, too much time there. But no specifics, because it’s not really a complaint.

Tomorrow is my real last day in Spain, so there will be that Blog to read. Until then…..

Day 13: 11,727 steps. Day 14: 18,701 steps.