Lago Avandaro at Valle de Bravo, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Playa del Carmen on December 17th!

Saturday, April 15, 2017

One night in Barcelona

We were up at 5:00am Friday morning! Probably could have slept until 5:30am, but this way we didn't have to feel rushed. We were outside at the corner waiting for our pre arranged taxi driver at exactly 6:30am.

But he wasn't there!

I was not surprised either way. I figured there were 50/50 odds. But we hadn't allowed much time to waste, because our flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30am.

So I gave him five minutes. And when he still wasn't there, we flagged one of the many taxis that were zipping about. And we saved money by doing so!

Our driver spoke no English or Spanish. I said "aeropuerto", figuring he would get the idea, and off we went.

Then, he made the turn for the bus station! He had obviously seen our bags and figured we were traveling, but how he didn't understand "aeropuerto", we don't know. After all, in French it is simply "aeroport", although we didn't know that at the time.

Anyhow, after some laughs and gestures, I finally said "avion", the French word for plane. And he got the idea. Off to the airport we went!

I had read online that it costs a flat rate 120 dirhams to take a regulated taxi from the airport to the city. So when the prearranged taxi had said he would do the opposite trip for 100, I figured that was okay. But this guy had put the meter on when we picked us up, and we made the detour to the bus station, and the total on the meter was only 40 dirhams ($5.65 CAD, $4.40 USD) for the entire 12 km (7.5 mile) trip. Taxis sure are cheap in Morocco! I gave him all of the Moroccan change in my pocket since it was of no value to us once we left the airport. He was a happy dude!

Boarding our Vueling flight to Barcelona.

Vueling is another European discount airline. We paid 46 euros ($66 CAD, $49 USD) each for the hour and forty five minute flight from Tangier to Barcelona.

The plane left a few minutes late, and arrived a few minutes early! Great flight, with no problems at all. Very tight on the legroom, but we had an empty seat in our row, so lots of room otherwise.

And we're off! This guy had us going what felt like straight up!

Also, the plane was really new. I had seen a stamping plate on the entrance door when we boarded and it had said date of manufacture October 2016.

Arriving in Barcelona.

We arrived at 11:10am, which was the local time in Barcelona. We lost an hour along the way because of the time change from Tangier.

And then we got to the lineup for customs. Yikes! This was going to take a while. Maybe just because of the Easter weekend, but it took an hour and a half to get through the lineup to customs! Really bad planning on their part. There were only four border officers on duty to process a whole pile of arrivals. People were not happy. The last time we saw something like this was in Houston in 2014. I can't stand that kind of stupidity. 

Anyhow, we still had a valid T10 transportation card from when we were in Barcelona in January. So we took the train to downtown and walked the 2 kms to the AirBnb booking we had for the night. Nice enough small, old, but recently renovated 3 bedroom apartment. The guy lives in another apartment in the same building, but rents out the rooms in this one. There is a couple from Finland here as well, but the single bedroom is empty. Pricey, at $66 CAD for the night, but it's only for one night.

We went for a walk to find a restaurant with a patio. After two weeks in essentially alcohol free Morocco, we were due for a beer and a glass of wine!

What a meal!

They had a special...the 1/2 chicken dinner meal, with drink included, for €6.90 ($10 CAD, $7 USD)! Yep, including my beer and Ruth's sangria. What a deal!

Stuffed, we wandered back to the room and relaxed for a couple of hours.

Our host had told us about a fountain show at a nearby plaza. It turned out it was 3 kms each way, but that's nothing...so off we went. The show started at 9pm, and was supposed to last one hour.

Renovated bull ring in Barcelona. Now a shopping complex.

Big statue.

Getting close to the fountain show.

 Wow! What a show!
And there sure were crowds of people!

The fountain show and lights were fantastic.

Crowds.

Lights.

Fountain.

Great show. We walked back to the room, had a glass of wine, and hit the sack.

Today, we fly back to Canada. Our flight leaves Barcelona at noon. We fly to Montreal, and then a connecting flight to Ottawa. Should arrive in Ottawa around 5:10pm if everything goes according to plan!

So, we'll spend the next week and a half or so visiting with family and friends in and around Ottawa... and then fly back to Saskatchewan on the 27th. Then May 1st, it's back to work for five months...

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Another quality pair of binoculars on at a great price...


And in Canada... a good deal on T-fal's top of the line cookware...





12 comments:

  1. We bet we know two excited grands who will be waiting to welcome you home tonight!! ;-)

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    1. Yep, we do too, and they were excited to see us! We were just as excited to see them too! :-)

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  2. Welcome back to Canada , Look like you will be having some cool weather for a while yet.

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    1. Yeah, but we think the worst is over and the snow is gone so we won't complain too much! ;-)

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  3. Love that area of Barcelona. We walked around there during our recent stay - albeit during the day! Still gorgeous and not nearly as many people. (Also, it's maybe a 25 minute walk from the Barcelona Sants train station.)

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    1. We didn't walk around this particular area when we were here in January so I guess next time we visit this area will be on our list to visit. It looked really pretty. We didn't mind the crowds, it sort of added to the festive feel and watching the fountain was wonderful.

      Yep, it is about the same distance from Sants station as our apartment was, we were just in the opposite direction. All we had to do was walk straight down the one road. It was a great location.

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  4. Wonderful last night stay in Barcelona. You both had an awesome time and experience in Spain and Morrocco. I bet you cannot wait to get back and see family and friends. Hope your weather in Ottawa is better than what we are getting in Alberta! We are getting a winter storm with up to 25 centimeters of heavy wet snow! Have a safe flight and welcome home!

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    1. It was an excellent last night to the end of our winter travels! We had a fantastic time and lots of adventures this past winter.

      We are definitely looking forward to seeing our families, especially the grandchildren as well as our friends.

      Sure hope that when we make it to Saskatchewan at the end of next week that winter will be finished with! Hope you wintery weather doesn't last long.

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  5. Seen a fountain show once in Tunisia with music. It was really spectacular. Have a safe trip home. xx

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    1. We saw a great one in Las Vegas as well. These fountain shows are fantastic and it amazes us with the technology that goes into them.

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  6. Thanks for bringing us along for your trip through Europe and North Africa. I learned a bunch. Welcome back to this side of the pond.
    Shawn
    ktmissouri.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for following along with us on our travels. We really enjoyed sharing our adventures with everyone.

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