Back to tourism

When traveling for weeks and months at a time and renting by the month some days you can't be a tourist. Grocery shopping, laundry, getting a hair cut, all those things you can put off in a one or two week vacation just can not be avoided as the weeks go by.

All these chores take on a new meaning in a different country. Add in not having a good command of the language and it can become an adventure. 

A subtle difference here in Tarragona is that the principle language is not Spanish. This area considers itself Catalunya with a Latin based language, and a different flag flown from many apartment balconies proclaiming a wish for independence from Spain.

An example: the washing machine in our apartment looks simple enough and has the instruction book handy. It is in the Catalan language. Google translate really tries, but the instructions were garbled. We had to fiddle with it quite a while to get clean clothes to hang on our balcony line. 

We did set aside Friday from the mundane chores and returned to tourism in Barcelona. Our first stop was the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family Church). This enormous building was designed by the artist Antoni Gaudi and construction began in 1883. The (hopeful) completion date is 2026. We arrived at 9:30am - after the 9:00am opening and found a 5 hour line. We contented ourselves with a lap around the building. It is difficult to really get a picture of this. You have to get so far back just to get in part of it.

Our next stop was Gaudi's neighborhood. Park Guell was to be a gated community for the wealthy, but failed to attract a clientele and work ended at the outbreak of World War I. The amenities were in place and it is now a park.

The hall of 100 columns meant to be the neighborhood's market. Extensive use of broken tile. 

Looking out over the city. The cranes mark the church we just left and ornate roof in the foreground is the gatehouse for the park.

Mascot of Barcelona.

The highest point in the park. OSHA would go crazy over this if it was in America.

Back at the bottom.

Last stop was placa d'Espanya, Built for the 1929 World Expo. We went to the top of what was once the bull fighting stadium, but now has been turned into a shopping mall. Bull fighting has been outlawed in Catalunya - fashion shopping has not.