Chris & Darryl's Trips: Trip to Greece & Spain

We really made the most of today. The skies were blue and the weather was fantastic.

PS there are a lot of photos for today!

This magnificent building was near our Hotel. It housed a Restaurant and other businesses.

We took a bus to the Fernicular to the Parc d'atraccions Tibidabo, which was perched high on a mountain. Apart from the Amusement Park at the top, there is a spectacular Cathedral, Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor.

We'd arrived so early in the morning that there weren't many people around, but there were still a few 'street performers' to entertain us

A memorial to Hilary and Tenzing surprised us

Darryl on the balance board

Great views of the city of Barcelona from the top

This is a ride - there is a plane at the end of that crane!

Gran Hotel La Florida

We had lunch at this cute park where the tables are ants carrying leaves

The Cathedral had some really spectacular stined glass windows

Coming back down the mountain in the Fernicular

I am really impressed at the bike lanes, safely protected from traffic

A nice change from overloading the plate with 'cheap' chips

Darryl enjoyed his meal

And I enjoyed my meal and the wine

I was intrugued by this building of mirrors and weird unsupported shapes

Picasso Lane

Gorgeous tree-lined streets

This is the entrance to the Born Centre (El Born). It is an amazing place. In the past there were markets here, the Central Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable market of El Born, which was Barcelona's first example of Iron Architecture. The area had fallen into disrepair and in 1971 some of the surrounding buildings were been demolished, but the locals wanted this particular building to be saved and restored. In 1979 it was restored and opened as an exhibition hall. By 1996 plans were made to house the Provincial Library, but when excavations were undertaken the subsoil archaeology from the 1700s, in excellent condition, began to be revealed. In July 2003, the Library plan was abandoned in favour of conserving this excellent archaeological site. It is also free to view.

This really gives you a good idea of the size of the market building, and of the excavations

A sketch of what they 'think' it looked like

Even the ceiling was magnificent

This whole street was grafitti - even some vehicles - I only found out later the whole thing is a tourist attraction

Amazing architecture

These are quite spectacular retaining walls along the road coming down the mountain

In the late afternoon we headed for the Natural History Museum. (Sorry, there's a lot of photos here too). On the plus side, you get to see a lot of the things that I am passionate about.