Barcelona

When I arrived in Barcelona at 7.00 pm, after 6 hours on the train from Burgos, I discovered there were still demos going on over Catalan Independence. The taxis would not take me to Passeig de Gracia because the streets were closed off. They told me to walk! I said I don't know the way! Finally I went into a big hotel near the station and asked for their help. They advised me to take the Metro which was pretty hot and crowded. I was feeling pretty fed up and wishing I'd stayed on the Camino. I finally got to my hotel, Hostal Oliva, checked in and heard from an American family with little kids who HAD walked all the way. These demos will really affect tourism in Barcelona: it's been going on for a month!

I spent Sunday morning at the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, most of the time in the Romanesque galleries. These contain frescoes, wood carvings, altar fronts etc which have been rescued from early medieval churches in the Spanish Pyrenees. I am blown away by it all. I have so many photos that I'll have to post them separately when I have more time. All can be seen at the museum's website: MNAC.

I arrived back at Divinus, the tapas bar near my hotel, and was enjoying a sangria when an American couple started talking to me about where I'd been. They said: you speak good English. I replied: I speak better English than you!!!

View from my room in Hostal Oliva down to Passeig de Gracia

The following pics are from Montjuic with incredible views over Barcelona:

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These next pics are from the collection of Spanish Civil War posters: