{"id":568,"date":"2016-05-20T14:20:08","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T20:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/?p=568"},"modified":"2016-05-21T09:13:05","modified_gmt":"2016-05-21T15:13:05","slug":"hello-from-barcelona-spain-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/?p=568","title":{"rendered":"Hello from Barcelona Spain (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tHello from Barcelona Spain (Part 1)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tFriday evening &ndash; May 20, 2016&nbsp;&nbsp; (Fourth post of this travelogue)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWell, Pat is batting a 100% on the Airbnbs.&nbsp; Our apartment in Barcelona is great (see photos).&nbsp; We even have a wonderful private patio with lots of plants.&nbsp; Both apartments, so far, have had washing machines and that is helpful.\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Airbnb-Barcelona-1-Large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Airbnb Barcelona 1 (Large)\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-569\" height=\"225\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Airbnb-Barcelona-1-Large-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Airbnb-Barcelona-Kitchen-1-Large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Airbnb Barcelona Kitchen 1 (Large)\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-570\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Airbnb-Barcelona-Kitchen-1-Large-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Airbnb-Barcelona-Patio-1-Large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Airbnb Barcelona Patio 1 (Large)\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-571\" height=\"225\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Airbnb-Barcelona-Patio-1-Large-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAs was the case with the last apartment we are in the middle of the older part of Barcelona, experiencing the lifestyle of folks in this area.&nbsp; Here is the link to the map of the location of apartment:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/Carrer+del+Comte+Borrell,+43,+08015+Barcelona,+Spain\/@41.3770909,2.1604851,17z\/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x12a4a260dd68c2a1:0xeb883a6875c3d464!8m2!3d41.3770869!4d2.1626738\">link<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t[[editorial note: &nbsp;5\/20\/2016 Neither the map link above nor the map below are working correctly. &nbsp;I am too tired tonight to resolve the issue.]]\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t[[Editorial update: &nbsp;5\/21\/2016 &nbsp;I have now corrected both the link and the map]]\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n\t{google_map}41.376963 2.162601{\/google_map}\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tToday we bought two day pass on a &ldquo;hop on hop off&rdquo; bus that lets us tour the city.&nbsp; There are two of these systems in Barcelona.&nbsp; We used the &ldquo;Barcelona Bus Turistic&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barcelonabusturistic.cat\/en\/home\">link<\/a>.&nbsp; As you can see from the picture they are modern double decker vehicles.&nbsp; They have ear phones with tour information in several languages.&nbsp; We stayed on the lower level (AKA handicapped level {grin}- but not really).&nbsp; One of the sites was the historic bull fighting stadium that has now been converted to a shopping mall (see photo).\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Barcelona-Bus-Turistic-Large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Barcelona Bus Turistic (Large)\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-573\" height=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Barcelona-Bus-Turistic-Large-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Old-Bull-Fighting-Stadium-Large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Old Bull Fighting Stadium (Large)\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-574\" height=\"242\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Old-Bull-Fighting-Stadium-Large-300x242.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe main event on this tour for us was the cable car ride to Montjuic Castle <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Montju%C3%AFc_Castle\">link<\/a>.&nbsp; This is a majestic castle overlooking all of Barcelona.&nbsp; It was built in the mid 1600s.&nbsp; The cable car ride takes about 8 minutes and is spectacular.&nbsp; I have included a few pictures from taken from the castle.\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Riding-the-Tram-to-the-Castle-Large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Riding the Tram to  the Castle (Large)\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-578\" height=\"225\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Riding-the-Tram-to-the-Castle-Large-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Long-View-from-the-Castle.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Long View from the Castle\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-576\" height=\"225\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Long-View-from-the-Castle-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Pat-and-Jim-at-the-Castle-Large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pat and Jim at the Castle (Large)\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-577\" height=\"224\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Pat-and-Jim-at-the-Castle-Large-300x224.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Selfie-at-the-Castle-Large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Selfie at the Castle (Large)\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-579\" height=\"225\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Selfie-at-the-Castle-Large-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tDining in Spain is strange.&nbsp; We are told that folks eat their main meal in the early afternoon and then they have lighter meal after 9:00 PM.&nbsp; That would explain why all the restaurants are closed when we try to eat at our normal time.&nbsp; In Barcelona we don&rsquo;t have a great place to buy our breakfast sandwiches and get coffee.&nbsp; So, we went to the small grocery store (there are many within a block or two of where we have stayed) and got some cheese and ham.&nbsp; BTW, these stores are not much bigger that a two car garage.&nbsp; I then went to a great bakery (no coffee) and got a baguette (a roll that is about a foot and half long) and a big loaf of bread (they sliced it for me).&nbsp; The rolls and bread in Europe are absolutely out of this world.&nbsp; We were so tired from our trip today that we made sandwiches for dinner and will have them again for breakfast &ndash; can&rsquo;t wait.&nbsp; I can go to a small bar for a cup of great coffee in the morning.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThat is all for this blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello from Barcelona Spain (Part 1) Friday evening &ndash; May 20, 2016&nbsp;&nbsp; (Fourth post of this travelogue) Well, Pat is batting a 100% on the Airbnbs.&nbsp; Our apartment in Barcelona is great (see photos).&nbsp; We even have a wonderful private &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/?p=568\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":587,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568\/revisions\/587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}