Post by Ella
Yesterday, after arrival and check in, we headed for the Gothic Quarter which abuts a bay on the Balearic Sea. We are staying in the neighborhood Eixample. Straight down our boulevard to La Rambla where we joined mobs headed towards Rambla de Mar.
I was unrealistically hoping that the crowds had died down for the winter. Nope. Just as packed as Paris. Continual jockeying for position on the wide sidewalks, darting through openings, bumping into people suddenly stopping for a selfie does take away from the joy of new discovery. Awareness shifts to the immediate group of people around me rather than the surrounding uniquely Barcelonan features. No, I can’t (or shouldn’t) complain. After all, I am contributing to the human traffic jam.
Aside. Our street is Carrer d’Arbau. Carrer is Catalan for “street”. Most Barcelonans are bilingual in Catalan and Spanish. More and more are fluent in English according to the tourist office web site.
Here are a few photos.
