41:22.754N    02:11.191E     Port Vell Marina, Barcelona

28^th October, 2009.

Lizzie arrived safe and sound yesterday and we duly met for a lovely reunion. We wake this morning to a beautiful sunny morning and late morning we left for Port Vell Marina, Barcelona.  We lunched on the way and motor sailed most of the way although when we first left Ginesta the wind was favourable and we had the main and genoa working but the wind soon died.  We motored past Barcelona International airport watching the planes arrive and take off over our heads.

The big harbour at Barcelona is divided into several sections. The first to be seen on entering the harbour are the cruise liners followed by the commercial port and tucked in at the end of the harbour is Port Vell Marina.

Port Vell is very convenient for visiting Barcelona as it is just at the end of La Rambla and very close to the restaurants, beach and shops. We clocked 16 miles from Ginesta to Port Vell Marina.

We had booked in advance as Port Vell is very full at this time of year.  Most people appear to have booked for the winter months and will not move now until next April time when they will head off for new adventures. On speaking to couples they winter here most years as the climate is good, Barcelona has a lot to offer and it is very easy to pop home to England and it is a good spring board for the following year’s travels.

On a recommendation we visited a restaurant two streets back from the marina and we were not disappointed.  We all had the set menu of pumpkin soup, hake, chocolate sweet, water, a glass of wine and coffee for 14 Euros each.  Best value meal we have eaten in a long time all cooked in our full view by two chefs.  The taste of each course was fabulous.

29^th October, 2009.

Jim and Lizzie visited the Cathedral and the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar in the morning before walking up La Rambla and visiting the large market to buy prawns for lunch.

I stayed at the boat as Jackie and Colin from Ewell who were on holiday in Barcelona were coming to visit before flying back to the UK in the afternoon.  Jim and Lizzie met up with Jackie and Colin on their return from the market and they all arrived together and we sat and had drinks in the cockpit in the bright sunshine for a couple of hours catching up on all the news.

After lunch Jim, Lizzie and I walked to the Torre de Sant Sebastiato to take the Transbordador cable car across the harbour up to the Mirador Hotel in the gardens of Montjuic.  After stopping at the restaurant overlooking the city and harbour for coffee we walked up the steep hill for approximately half an hour to the Castell de Montjuic which houses the Military Museum.  The views from the Castell were wonderful but the museum much to Jim’s regret is only open daily from 10 to 2 p.m. so we may have to climb the long hill again another day.  It will be worth it for the view!

After walking down from the top of the castle we walked along the promenade and arrived back at the boat in time for Jim to cook a really wonderful chicken paella.  Afterwards we ventured to one of the very nice ice-cream shops just two minutes away for Lizzie to choose her favourite flavours.

30^th October, 2009.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end and Lizzie flew back to England today but we did manage to show her the Parc de la Ciutadelia and Arc de Triomf before she left us.

We had an unsuccessful afternoon as we thought we should check out the marina we have booked three miles along the coast for the winter.  On reading the AA book later it does say try not to change Metro lines as you will expect a long walk at most interchanges and in some cases you possibly will need to find a bus or tram to connect to.  We didn’t do very well and gave up to try again tomorrow by bike. 

On the way back from Catalunya Square we wandered off La Rambla into the side streets and found a wonderful collection of individual shops selling wonderful shoes and clothes. 

31^st October, 2009.

Up early and out on the bikes to find Badalona Marina.  It was a little further than the GPS told us but we rode along the promenades between the different beach areas and marinas and finally came to Badalona.  It has everything we hoped such as a very large sea wall and if Ariel is lifted out a very secure yard which is the most important detail.  It is a quite a way from the town but there is a curtsey bus from the marina to the train station.

We rode back only to find a mixed nudist beach at Mar Bella.  Eyes right was the order of the day!

On returning to Port Vell marina Jim managed to secure our berthing for another week or so as Julie and Richard are coming out on Wednesday and it is so easy to visit everything from our berth.  Pontoon space is usually booked months in advance and with the Barcelona Boat Show coming up we are lucky.