Barcelona Revisited

Did you know they serve sangria all over Spain???? For some reason I didn't recall that until I saw it on a menu. They went well with tapas!! Must also say we were hugely disappointed in the long awaited paella. Fact is, the paella from the Spanish restaurant in Wrocław is far superior. It is doubtful the seafood was anywhere near as fresh here in Poland though. I suspect we found the only restaurant serving a bad batch of paella in all of Barcelona but it was certainly memorable - in a terrible way!!!

Not sure how to approach writing this entry so may have to rely on the tried and true method of writing thoughts in no particular order. Not the most eloquent but effective none-the-less. Here goes....

1) We flew on RyanAir which is an Ireland-based low cost, no frill airline. They offer a base rate and you can pay for additional services. In many instances you can fly for little or nothing - in fact - some legs are no charge. So how do they make money? Passengers are not assigned seats. If you want to guarantee a decent seat you pay up front for preferred boarding. Since we relish leg room we added on preferred boarding. Because we were going to be gone for a week we also paid extra to check two bags. Should your checked bag exceed 15 kg (kg x 2.2 = pounds) you are charged an excess fee for each ounce over 15 kg. This also applies to your carry-on - which can't exceed 10 kg. Please note one carry-on means one carry-on. A purse counts as one!! I managed to sneak on a small plastic bag on my return trip but was prepared to place the contents in my purse if pressed. I was also ready to wear an extra set of clothes if my check-on bag exceed maximum! Passengers are allowed to purchase hot or cold food, snacks, drinks and water. The flight attendants also peddle RyanAir trinkets and last, but not least, lottery tickets! With add-ons our tickets ended up being around $400 (total for both of us) with almost half from additional charges. Oh well...who can say they flew to Barcelona for $400???

2) Polish passengers still thoroughly amaze me when it comes to flight etiquette. On our return flight there were two additional passengers opting for priority boarding. The first passenger selected the aisle seat in the LAST row of the plane and the other sat in the middle seat of the fourth row!! Evidently it is important to be the first off the plane here in Poland. I certainly wouldn't want to miss my bag circling on the baggage claim too many times!!! Oddly enough the last seats selected were the exit row seats we in America are willing to pay top dollar for!!! At one point two folks sat across from us but when told they were in the exit row they literally shot out of their seats. I guess we didn't need to spend the extra 50 euros for priority boarding!! Another thing you can expect when flying with Polish passengers is a near standing ovation when the plane touches down. If not instructed to remain seated I'm sure everyone would be on their feet applauding as the plane taxis. This was not a fluke...it has happened every flight I have ever taken. Oh well...at least they are truly appreciative!

3) The language barrier in Spain was not a problem except when I was trying to get two policemen to respond to someone who had taken a very nasty fall on La Rambla. I thought they understood me when the repeated the word "fall" but it came down to an international game of charades before I had them heading in the general direction. I guess with throngs of people on La Rambla it was hard to figure out what I was actually pointing to.

4) Speaking of La Rambla...they actually sell birds on the street. Parakeets, canaries, chickens, turkeys...you name it. The people who buy them must not be flying on RyanAir!!

5) Travellers are always warned to keep an eye on their belongings but I found the warnings to be even more pronounced in Spain. I started out cautious and soon became more lax until we saw someone have their backpack stolen in broad daylight! The visitor was sitting on a bench with his backpack sitting right next to him when someone swooped in, grabbed it and ran! Kind of ruined my lunch (ok...only until the food came)! What a way to have a vacation ruined, huh?

6) Loved, loved, loved the beach! Deep blue, Mediterranean waters. We spent the better part of two days enjoying the water and the people watching. We watched some guys para-surfing. What a cool water sport!! Basically, a surf board and a parachute. Catch the wind and go!!! If I wasn't so gravitationally challenged I would be interested in trying it! They really whipped through the waves!

7) Yes, there are nude beaches. What shocked me though was the older man riding his bike down a public boardwalk buck naked! Obviously, he was headed to the nude section of the beach but couldn't he have put on a pair of pants to get there? Where did he put his apartment keys???? Like Craig said, he didn't have to worry about a bike lock because no one would want to ride on his vacated bike seat! Not sure what was worse. The naked elderly men or the men wearing thongs! There really should be age restrictions for public sun bathing!

8) Speaking of nudity...the Olympic pool (1992 Olympics) opens the outdoor pool for nude swimming one day per week!! Guess they all want the opportunity to show their Olympic pride and raise the flag for their country!

We saw so many incredible sites, in fact too many to begin writing about. I will post a few pictures (I took 250) and will try to get a slideshow together so I can really highlight some of the sites. Enjoy...we did!!!

Craig is back at work with a nice tan and sangria-charged attitude. I hope this break holds him over until he can get back to Minnesota for the holidays!