These sneakers are made for walking....April 30

Today was definitely a walking day.....more miles than we have put on our feet in a long, long time.

We started our day with a trip to the IKEA store, which is almost next door to our hotel, the Solvasa hotel.  So, instead of the 14 Euro breakfast offered by our hotel, we ate for about 3 Euros each, which included fresh squeezed orange juice.

Then - train and subways to meet Chris and Ken outside the Sagrada Familia, the tallest church in the world.  In a day where most of Spain was in the rain, we had a lovely, sunny, warm day.  Ken chose to go into the church (12.5 E).  As Mark and I have been in before, we opted to wander outside with Christine.  I bought Henry a Barcelona Football jersey.

In the square outside the Sagrada Familia, hundreds of people, mostly elderly women, were making lace in long tables in the sun.  It was amazing.  Dozens of bobbins and intricate designs.  We chatted to one younger woman about her work.  Evidently, it is traditional for these women (we saw one man) to come together on Saturdays this time of  year.  They were not selling their work, just working.  It was very interesting.

Then, we walked from the Sagrada down to the Catalunya Ramblas, which eventually meets up the the Rambla.  We ate at a lovely restaurant that Ken found in his Rough Guide, La Mossel.  It was really good.  Mark and Ken had lamb skewers; I had a spinach salad that was excellent.

Then, we walked down to the harbor and then, along the beach front, marina, much of the area created prior to the Barcelona Olympics - miles of sand brought in from Egypt!  We had never walked along there before, so it was interesting to see the architecture, the  Frank Gehry Fish sculpture.  But, we walked for miles, trying to find a restaurant for dinner, which we never did find.

We walked all the way to Pablonu district near Ken and Christine's hotel and ended up at a tapas bar where they had eaten before where we had a load of tapas and wine and, then, walked some more to the subway(s) and train and then the walk from the train to our hotel, getting us home by around 11 p.m.  Whew!  Our feet are incredibly tired and Mark's knees are hurting, but it was a great day with sites around Barcelona which were new to us. Basically, we walked all day!