Barcelona on a quick layover

Spain was not a destination, but the cheapest flight flew into Spain. So we made our layovers long enough to see and experience Spain. We flew into Madrid and out of Barcelona.

I'm so glad I gave Spain another chance. A few years ago I decided to check out Spain and flew into a southern beach town. I was not impressed at all and it reminded me of Southern California.

Our time in both Madrid and Barcelona was wonderful, with so much history, great sites to see, very friendly people and of course great food!

We found a hotel in a really nice suburb of Barcelona. It was a family neighborhood. With parks, schools, small shops and restaurant.

We went out to eat in a nice little restaurant. The hotel had a swimming pool, so we had a nice swim after dinner, and I love the tea pot in the room.

In Spain they have these little confectionary stores. They are little mini stores with mostly package stuff. But as you walk in these little stores you smell fresh bread baking. Sure enough they have an oven with baguettes, hot out of the oven. They range in price from .40-70 cents a loaf!

We had only one day to sightsee in the old section of Barcelona. We walked to the train station and took a train to the downtown area.

On the way there I had a lovely chat with a girl from Romania, who had moved to Spain. She loves it! We talked a lot about living in Spain. Rents are about $900 a month. Minimum wage is $1000 a month. She shares her apartment with 3 other people. I found that was common in several of the places we visited. Also you rarely see a single family home. Everything is apartments and condo type settings.

Such beautiful buildings! The first place we came to when wondering down the beautiful little streets was St Mary's by the sea. It was of course a beautiful church building, but there was a different feel to it. Come to find out, it didn't get built with the money of the nobility, but the common people wanted a church for themselves. It was stated in1329, finally finished in 1384!

We just loved this simple church building!

You can see although still huge, and tall, the simplicity of Constuction. We really enjoyed this church.

After leaving the church, right across the street was a little shop. June and I decided to split a sandwich and it was one of our favorites. She also got a magnificent cookie and I got a filled croissant.