Overnight to Barcelona

After the wonders of the Alhambra on Monday, we said goodbye to Granada late that night, taking an overnight train (called the "trenhotel") to Barcelona, a trip of 11hours. In the photo below, if you remember that Dan is over 6 feet tall, you'll have an idea of the space we shared for the night. When we got up in the morning, the train was right beside the sea, rolling north to Barcelona. We arrived at the very busy station, which is much nicer than it was when we were in Barcelona in 1992.

After breakfast in a cafeteria, we took a walk on the Ramblas, a very busy street with the cars on the side and zillions of pedestrians walking down the middle. In addition to the many sidewalk cafés along the street, there are small stands selling souvenirs, flowers and seeds, and funny pictures of your face, drawn while you sit in front of the artist. You can also buy birds, ducks, and rabbits to take home as pets.

Our favorite area near the Ramblas is the Boquería market. It's even more crowded and noisy than the streets, and the foods for sale will blow you away. There are candies, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, nuts, spices, juices, cheeses, and more. Every possible color, texture, smell, and taste is jammed into the market for shoppers to buy. I didn't buy anything, but I did take away some photos to show you a tiny bit of the fun.