Lemon Tree

Today we made delicious lemonade out of lemons. It is Sunday and the original plan was to train to Barcelona and start seeing the sights. I had a terrible night and barely slept and Jeff slept well. We did not set an alarm and when we woke it was 10:40. OMG! We had missed the train we wanted and decided to drive instead. Tried to park at the airport train station which is supposed to be free, but never found the lot. So we drove into Barcelona which is not a car friendly city.

There are wide boulevards with separate lanes for taxis and buses which is nice. We found the main TI, travel information center, and I ran in while Jeff waited. The representative made a few suggestions and told us parking is free on Sundays. Well that is wonderful, except we never saw one available spot. We drove all around and saw the Sagrada Familia and drove up into the hills to find Parc Guell. One street was so steep that Jeff said it was at least a 20% grade and he would believe 30%. All this time we are looking for parking and really wanting to eat. At last we gave up, but enjoyed the tour. We will return sans car and will spend three nights staying in the city which will be more convenient.

So now we are really hungry and decide to take a two lane highway home and see some small towns. What a beautiful ride through wine country with grape vines growing in fields and on terraced hills. Lots of neat old stone buildings and every tiny town had an impressive church with a high steeple.

We got near to Tarragona and drove along the Meditteranean coast with cute little beach towns. The poor weekenders going north were in huge traffic jams reminding us of Jersey shore traffic. We were famished by this time and stopped at a busy McDonalds that advertised WiFi. Our luck the WiFi was not working, but we had good chicken wraps. Lots of campgrounds along the beaches and we stopped in one town to admire a Roman funeral tower that has recently been named a UNESCO World Heritage site. Finally we reached Tarragona and walked along the promenade. The town is an old walled city with magnificent views of the sea and an old Roman amphitheater among other antiquities. Beautiful fountains and statues are everywhere. We got yummy gelati and sat at an outdoor cafe watching the world go by and thought how lucky we are to experience all of this. I think a lot of Spaniards come here, but few foreign travelers.

We continued back along the dark coast marveling at the massive industrial sites all aglow. Passing through the town of Salou we saw very upscale hotels, a conference center and golf course. Lots of pedestrian streets with restaurants and shopping. Finally got to Cambrils and rode along our waterfront and home about 8:00. We are tired and happy.