#2703 vacation day 4: Barcelona to the cruise ship ~UPDATED!~

Tonight I’m writing from the cruise ship. We are officially at sea right now. I didn’t even realize we were moving because thankfully the sea is very calm tonight. There is a full moon over the water and it is peaceful. We were out on deck at sunset and then went to the buffet for dinner. This ship does not have very many people on it. MT was worried that they didn’t have enough people on board to cover the fuel costs. It is kind of strange to be on a ship that seems so empty. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, especially after the bustle of Barcelona. There were plenty of people in the city!

I’m having a some trouble syncing my photos from the phone to the iPad tonight. I hope this is a temporary problem, but I may not post photos tonight. I’ll tell you what we did, though!

This morning we went to a pastelería (a pastry shop) called El Fornet for breakfast. I actually bought an ensiamada there yesterday and ate it this morning in the room - not fresh, but still delicious! - and MT decided he wanted one, too. I was still full from mine, so I got some coffee. MT loved his pastry! He got an ensiamada con crema and I thought he might lick the plate. 

It was time to leave the hotel. We took a cab to the cruise ship port, got a Covid test on the spot and were able to board the ship very quickly. Around noon, we decided to go back to the city for some lunch. I really wanted to have calamari a la romana, so I suggested we go to la Barceloneta at the beach. I wanted to find the restaurant, El Cangrejo Loco, where Lizzie, Mom, and I had lunch seven years ago. The driver dropped us off quite far from where I thought the restaurant was, so we walked for quite a way until I found what I was looking for. Unfortunately, we did not have a reservation and the restaurant was full, so we had to go elsewhere. We went down the stairs and were immediately invited into a place called La Taberna Gallega. The place was very busy, but they seated us and took our order. For my starter, I had a plate of jamón Iberco and MT had fish soup. My main course was the calamari a la romana, and MT had the seafood platter. You can see the photo of MT’s plate on IG. It was enormous and he polished off every creature on the plate! There were shrimps, prawns, mussels, oysters, clams, crab legs, and something else we couldn’t identify. He loved it!

Feeling very full, we walked back along the malecón. We walked much farther than I thought we would, all the way to the W Hotel. By then we were ready for a taxi back to the ship. I had mixed feelings about going aboard. On the one hand, my feet were tired and I was ready to relax. On the other hand, Barcelona was right there with more things to see and do. In the end, though, we were done and we went to the ship. As it is, I’ve got just under 19K steps today, just under eight miles. That’s about 15 miles we walked in the past two days alone.

Tomorrow is a sea day, so I have all day to relax and rest my feet. Hopefully I can get the photo thing worked out tomorrow and post some pics. I’d love to share them with you.

Adios Barcelona. My goodness I love that city!

Here are some pics from the day:

The beaches were packed!