Touring Old City Barcelona

 Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Our tour today wasn’t until 4pm when we would meet our guide near the old city of Barcelona for a two hour tour. 

When we checked into our hotel our room was ready - and what a beautiful, classy hotel: Hotel Casa Fuster! It was built in the early 1900’s by a man wanting to provide his wife with the most beautiful house in Barcelona - no excuse for money here. It became several other things over the years but eventually found its way to a hotel group who purchased it and its elegance continues. We have a junior suite with a sitting room, bedroom, bathroom with double sink, shower and jacuzzzi. Robes and slippers, mini bar (not included), closet space, and beautiful windows overlooking the street. We had some lunch in the cafe located in the hotel, which is more of a fancy sitting room, with comfy chairs and couches and small tables. This has been a very nice place to relax and finish out our trip - yes we are tired and ready to come home, but we are also enjoying Barcelona.

We met Alex (near the Hard Rock Cafe as instructed) and enjoyed a wonderful walking tour of this area of Barcelona. Originally, this was Barcelona. Where our hotel is located is relatively newer when they expanded the city. But we were shown remains of Roman walls and temples, beautiful churches. Shops and restaurants abound as we walked up and down the many streets and alleys - no cars allowed in this area which makes it quite nice. As it was Valentine’s Day we saw many couples, holding hands and holding flowers. Lots of young people too. I hope to get back there briefly if time permits on Friday. 

Alex, our guide, is actually Italian but he has lived in Barcelona for 35 years now. He has also lived in Germany and New Zealand among other areas but is now very happy living here. He will also be our guide tomorrow when we head to Montserrat.

By the end of our tour we were tired - lots of walking today - so we took a taxi back to the hotel to refresh and then found a restaurant nearby - of course it was Valentine’s Day and no, we did not have a reservation but we were able to sit easily at the bar (with all the single ladies) and had a light tapas meal and a glass of wine/beer.

Really liking the city of Barcelona, but that’s wrap for today,

Betsy