Rita Crane Photography: Spain / traffic / fountains / Placa Catalunya, Barcelona
After a harrowing experience driving the freeway from French Catalonia just north of the Spanish border and into Spanish Catalonia, we parked in an underground garage (very) glad to leave the car behind!! We emerged into the bustling center of town...hungry and slightly disheveled. (Try driving 95 mph - 152 kilometers an hour ... along a crowded freeway with trucks passing you on the right and left going 100 mph - 160 kilometers an hour!!! Sure to drive up the blood pressure! I had to pry my hands off the seat belt and many times just shut my eyes. .... and no i wasn't driving but often couldn't even WATCH!!)
Ah.....but Barcelona had its magic!! And I had come here for a day trip to see the work of Gaudi (next photo to be posted tomorrow). And now there was lunch!! served on the top story of a department store ... a cafeteria style buffet with a great bird's eye view of town. Perfect!! Here's an interactive photo map of Barcelona if you like: www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/maps/barcelona-map.html
About Catalonia here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia
About Northern or French Catalonia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Catalonia
and this is a map that shows which parts of historic Catalonia are now in France: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Catalonia2.png
Rita Crane Photography: Spain / traffic / fountains / Placa Catalunya, Barcelona
After a harrowing experience driving the freeway from French Catalonia just north of the Spanish border and into Spanish Catalonia, we parked in an underground garage (very) glad to leave the car behind!! We emerged into the bustling center of town...hungry and slightly disheveled. (Try driving 95 mph - 152 kilometers an hour ... along a crowded freeway with trucks passing you on the right and left going 100 mph - 160 kilometers an hour!!! Sure to drive up the blood pressure! I had to pry my hands off the seat belt and many times just shut my eyes. .... and no i wasn't driving but often couldn't even WATCH!!)
Ah.....but Barcelona had its magic!! And I had come here for a day trip to see the work of Gaudi (next photo to be posted tomorrow). And now there was lunch!! served on the top story of a department store ... a cafeteria style buffet with a great bird's eye view of town. Perfect!! Here's an interactive photo map of Barcelona if you like: www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/maps/barcelona-map.html
About Catalonia here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia
About Northern or French Catalonia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Catalonia
and this is a map that shows which parts of historic Catalonia are now in France: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Catalonia2.png