Barcelona, Spain

This was the final Port for the Norwegian Cruise Lines 'Epic' repositioning cruise from Port Canaveral, FL to Barcelona with various stops along the way. We had decided to spend some additional time here after the cruise, for several reasons, ie; I had been here repeatedly while in the Navy and was interested in seeing how the city had evolved. Celeste had not previously been here, so both of us were looking forward to doing some exploration of the city.

A quick Barcelona History Lesson: Barcelona is 5,283.5 sea miles from Port Canaveral and 153 sea miles from Palma de Mallorca. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan. It is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is 512 metres (1,680 feet) high.

Founded as a Roman city ( known as "Barcino"), in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona continued to be an important city in the Crown of Aragon as an economic and administrative centre of this Crown and the capital of the Principality of Catalonia. Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. Particularly well known are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean are located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments.

Barcelona is one of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair and cultural centres, and its influence in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. It is a major cultural and economic centre in southwestern Europe, 24th in the world (before Zürich, after Frankfurt) and a financial centre. In 2008 it was the fourth most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union and 35th in the world with GDP amounting to €177 billion. In 2012 Barcelona had a GDP of $170 billion; and it was leading Spain in employment rate in that moment.

Click here to go to the Barcelona Wikipedia Page to read more about the city & it's history.

• The only city in the world awarded a Royal Gold Medal for architecture by Royal Institute of British Architects.
• Barcelona is considered the “best beach city” in the world by National Geographic, but their beaches weren’t used for leisure until 1992.
• Home to the busiest pedestrian street in Spain - Las Ramblas.
• The City is older than Rome - but nobody really knows how and when Barcelona was founded.
• It is one of the world’s major cities where smoking cannabis is legal.
• It is the most visited city in Spain.
• It is the most populous city on the Mediterranean Sea.
• Host to the biggest and busiest cruise port in Europe.
• Has the first beach ice bar in the world.
• Home to the largest football stadium in Europe.
• Contains 68 parks, and is home to the largest metropolitan park in the world; El Parc de Collserola.
• Has more than 20 Michelin-starred restaurants.
• Is among the world’s most bike-friendly cities, with more than 180 kilometers of bicycle only lanes.
• Antoní Gaudí was not the original architect of Sagrada Familia, that was Francisco de Paula del Villar.
• Barcelona was the first city considered by Gustav Eiffel to be the home of his tower. It was declined by the Barcelona officials at the time due to not fitting the city’s landscape.

The Norwegian Epic arrived in Barcelona harbor very early at approximately 5:00AM. Our game plan was to wait until the last possible minute to disembark and let the crowds diminish. We had a hotel room reserved at the Alexandra Hilton Hotel, so there was no need to hurry. However, even though Norwegian had originally indicated that we could depart the ship as late as 11AM, the "Freestyle Daily" ship's bulletin made it clear that everyone had to disembark no later than 8AM - so our "remain flexible" rule was followed (ie; don't panic, find a new plan & go have fun!).

I had visited Barcelona numerous times while in the Navy, and Celeste had never been there. However, in the years since I had last been here, the city had grown considerably and in fact the harbor had been extensively expanded since my Navy days. The port area where my ship used to tie up had been converted to a marina (and other facilities) named.

 Barcelona Harbor Quick History Lesson 

The Port of Barcelona has a 2,000 year history and is of great contemporary commercial importance. It is Europe's ninth largest container port, with a trade volume of 2.3 million TEU's in 2006. The port is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona. Its 7.86 km2 (3 sq mi) are divided into three zones: Port Vell (the Old Port), the commercial port and the logistics port (Barcelona Free Port). The port is undergoing an enlargement that will double its size thanks to diverting the mouth of the Llobregat river 2 km to the south. The Port Vell area also houses the Maremagnum (a commercial mall), a multiplex cinema, the IMAX Port Vell and an aquarium.

 The above information was extracted from Wikipedia

Barcelona Harbor

Image # 1 (left side) gives you some idea of the size of the Barcelona Harbor, it is comprised of; an industrial/commercial (freighter/cargo ships) area, a large area devoted to Cruise Ships, and a marina area for smaller vessels.

Barcelona cruise port is currently ranked the largest Mediterranean cruise port with turnaround operations (roundtrip itineraries) and the World's 4th busiest port.

The building in the lower center of image # 1 (left side) is the Barcelona World Trade Center, shown in image # 2 (right side).
NOTE: Images are the property of Cruise Mapper

The building had a "street fair" kind of thing going on near the entrance, where groups of people were forming "human pyramids", throwing people into the air and catching them, vendors were selling souvenirs, etc. Our goal was to purchase tickets and go inside the building - but watching these groups perform was entertaining!

The Sagrada Familia is one of the world's largest Church buildings: from the entrance to the apse it is 90 metres, the five naves are limited by a 60 metre long and 45 meters wide transept. The four side naves are 7.5 metres wide each, the main nave is 15 metres - exactly twice as wide. The vault of the main nave is 45 metres high, and the side aisles are 30 metres high.

The interior columns are inclined and utilize "tree like branches". The weight is routed directly over the pillars in the ground - all this without bearing facade or exterior buttresses. The result of this ingenious solution is spectacular: the pillars and arches supported by them transform the interior of the temple into a stone forest of palm trees, lots of light streaming in through large windows and the vault.

Our morning's first adventure was a walk to the Casa Batlló, tt was designed by Antoni Gaudí (the architect of the Basílica de la Sagrada Família & the mosaics of Park Güell), and is considered one of his masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times after that. Gaudí's assistants Domènec Sugrañes i Gras, Josep Canaleta and Joan Rubió also contributed to the renovation project. The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality.
Click here to view books about Antoni Gaudi on the Amazon Site.

La Rambla

Our hotel was just a few meters from the Rambla de Catalunya, which as you walk towards the harbor, eventually turns into La Rambla the famous shopping district. The street name change takes place at the Plaça de Catalunya, and then La Rambla continues all the way to the Mirador de Colom which is adjacent to the Harbor.

The tree-lined central promenade of La Rambla is crowded during the day and until late in the night. Its origins as a watercourse are reflected in the paving design, which appears to ripple like water. Along the promenade's length are kiosks that sell newspapers and souvenirs, other kiosks selling flowers, street traders, performers, and pavement cafes and bars. Several notable sights are also located within the promenade, including a mosaic by Joan Miró and the Font de Canaletes, a fountain and popular meeting point.

Along the Rambla are historic buildings such as the Palace of the Virreina and the Liceu Theatre (Liceo in Spanish), in which operas and ballets are staged. The La Boqueria market opens off the Rambla and is one of the city's foremost tourist landmarks, housing a very diverse selection of goods.
Click here to read a good Wiki Article about this famous area.

Image property of Sergil via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

We saw dogs everywhere we went in Barcelona, sometimes in groups, most often singly. There was even a dog park next to the Sagrada Familia. Obviously people in Barcelona are fond of dogs, and because we are too, we decided to show these images!

Because we continually saw dogs everywhere we went, we took the time to look up the statistics. As you can see in the graph, dog ownership in Europe (according to STATISTA.COM) is very popular and Spain ranks considerably lower than we expected, especially since we were seeing so many dogs everywhere we went!

Click here to go to the STATISTA.COM page to read more.

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