September in Barcelona Continued

Hi All,
Hope your weekend is off to a good start.  This rather long and picture heavy post is another entry on my recent trip to Barcelona, Spain. You can read about the 1st part of the trip HERE and about another trip (full of sight seeing pictures here and here) if you are so inclined. 

My son and I sailed to Spain on a cruise ship from Florida, USA. The cruise took 13 days and was a lot of fun. Upon arrival  we  stayed in a hotel near the beach, but as I had intended to rent a house for a week or so I only booked a 2 night stay at the hotel. Well as you may remb I fell, ill in Texas and everything went out the window, so I was in Barcelona and the hotel was booked up!

I used Hotwire again (thank you Lord!) and found another hotel at a great rate. This time it was located more towards the center of city, close to the train and bus stations. 

Hotel was very nice.

View from window.

Right around the corner were MANY, MANY cafes and shops. The bus stopped right there and the Metro wasn't far away.  It was an ideal location.

I took this photo because the balcony's remind me so much of the French Quarter in New Orleans.

The lounge was also open 24 hours a day if you just needed a quick drink or anything. The staff spoke excellent English.

After quickly throwing the bags down we had a snack & off we went to explore this new neighborhood. Surprisingly this area has many shops, a vet clinic (didn't bring my animals, sorry) and lots of families shopping. Oh and there are bars too. The 1st trip in 2011, I rented an apartment for 10 days and we stayed in a "hip" location (I think maybe warehouse area?) it was umm, how to say - so hip that nothing was there? 

I really like to have at least a cafe or pub within walking distances.

Meanwhile it seems all the tourists were roaming around here.

Arenas de Barcelona, a bullring - It was built in 1900 & now is a shopping area.

 "Plaza de España is one of Barcelona's most important squares, built on the occasion of the 1929 International Exhibition, held at the foot of Montjuïc, in the Sants-Montjuïc district. The square was built on a site that had been previously used for public hangings, until the creation of the now demolished Ciutadella fortress in 1715, where the gallows were moved.
Currently 1.6 million people live in Barcelona" --according to Wiki.

Junk food splurge from a small shop.

This place was only a few steps from our hotel.

(Inside of Cafe)

Birds watching us eat.

This picture is of actually of yet MORE exotic water, lol.

Took this while sitting outside eating.  It wasn't as loud or hot as you would expect eating out on the sidewalk area. Most of the cafes have at least marginal seating outside, do be brave and try it.

The food was quite good here. We ate twice or three times at this cafe. Oh and I picked up Coffee too. It was amazing!

Tapas...mmmmm

My Salad :D

One night I picked up a pizza to go for my son. That is fresh basil all over it. He said it was wonderful and he is rather picky about pizza. #ImJustGladHeAteIt 

Took this while sitting at the cafe. When I say right around the corner I mean the wifi from the hotel still worked!

About a block and a half away were 2 fruit markets.

I loaded up on fruit for us (ok me) and we were off. 
Please to enjoy more random street shots as we walked around exploring.

Window shopping   :D

And I have about 500 more pictures, but you get the idea. We actually had a nice visit in Barcelona this go round. (Being able to find food easily does really help.)  :o

We left Barcelona by train and went to Perpignan, France. You can read about our over night stay at a funky cool hotel HERE And from there went further into #France for an extended stay. So more travel post to follow shortly. 

Catch you later-