Greek Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona to Athens

The Alleyway to our Hotel

Our infamous number 8 Graffiti door.

Gelato of every flavor.

Finally the time has come after much planning. Our 2 week Mediterannean cruise with 3 days in Barcelona pre cruise. Excursions booked, hotels booked and money exchanged to euros we have packed our bags but left plenty of room for all our souvenirs to bring home. We have a 10 hr. flight to Madrid on Iberia airlines changing planes after a  2 1/2 hour connection. Madrids airport is beautiful and wish we could visit but on to Barcelona. After a lot of looking on line for hotels we chose Ciutat de Vella which looked authentic, reasonable prices, great reviews and great location.

 The concierge desk is only open from 8:30-2:30 every day so  we need to check into another hotel which is open 24 hours and he gives us our key. Our taxi driver drops us off and directs us where to go and turn because the cars can't go down the narrow alleyways where our apartment waits. So off we go (the 4 of us, husband and 2 teens) to our next adventure. To say we were a little worried is an understatement as we are hauling suitcases (1 large and 1 carry one each)  to last us almost 3 weeks we turn down a literally extremely narrow alleyway where a homeless person is sleeping with his dog and find our number 8 next to a grafitti marked door and think this is a cruel joke. We get to a small elevator which only holds 2 people and a couple suitcases and takes us 3 trips to get to the 4th floor. But once we enter it is exactly as the pictures on the website and know all is good. Exhausted, tired and hungry we put everything away and head out to La Rambla which is right where we were dropped off from the taxi.

 Can I say "restaurant heaven"? There is so much to choose from we really don't know which one to pick. Tapas, pizza, paella and more. We all agree on Moka restaruant and get a table towards the back. I had a vegan salad w/quinoa because after eating the airline food that tasted like frozen dinners I really needed something healthy. But first we ordered the cod filet w/honey as an appetizer which was amazing. I only had one as I looked down at my phone to do something and by the time I looked up they were all gone. Wow, thanks for asking if I wanted the last one. The teens had pizza and DH had paella which takes 20 minutes to make the rice so his came last. After dinner we decided to get gelato (and yes there are no shortage of gelato eateries here with every flavor you can imagine,even a Red Bull Flavor with the can on top for decoration) and walk down La Rambla. After about an hour of walking there was a lightening/rain down pour and laughed as everyone screamed and ran for cover. We decided then it was time to go back to our secret hideaway hotel and catch up on some much needed rest for tomorrows tour at Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia.

Notice the Green Gelato with the Red Bull can flavor.