Changing Rooms (Towns and Countries)

Yesterday leaving Fumel in what promised to be a glorious day…

Kevin dropped us to the train station for our first leg to Agen (45minutes)

As we had nearly an hour changeover, we took a stroll (towing suitcases) into town…

Kind of cute, but we didn’t have much time to dally as our next train from Agen to Narbonne left at 11.30am…this one 2 and a half hours…then jumping on the TGV at 2.30pm from Narbonne to Barcelona (crossing into Spain) and we arrived around 4.30pm .. to a madhouse…Bolt app didn’t work, Uber wanted ID number (which was buried in my bag somewhere) so we lined up with the masses for a black and yellow Barcelona Taxi! Arriving at our boat accommodation around 6pm and $60 poorer!

This is our one…aptly named Carter! And these are our neighbours!

Think we’ll be safe!!

Only downside is the loo! Only for number 1s, no toilet paper and we are guessing hasn’t been emptied all summer, as when we flush the pump the liquid disappears then refills with 6months worth of combined stale urine!! After battling with it last night and (not) stomaching the disturbing odour we have decided for us overnight a bucket is a better option!

We do have a swipe card for the port bathrooms, a five minute walk, where we can shower and do our ablutions…you get what you pay for!!!

Everything else is great…three cabins,

Kitchen

And a great outside lounge area

And the location is fabulous….not that anyone is very social…living their lives of the rich and famous..

Our little boat is the fourth one in from the pier in the forefront of this picture!

After the day of travelling we had an early night (10ish) and a reasonable sleep apart from the toilet aroma!!! This morning was unrushed as we settled in and then we started walking…

Over this bridge that spans the marina and 14 meters high..

With a great view of the inside marina…

Outer marina and breakwater…

With the dry dock and repair yard on the south side…

A huge structure of solar panels on the down side of the bridge.

Then we meandered on…. La Sagrada familia basilica our target for the day…trying to avoid trains or buses and travelling by foot…

Today was a national public holiday and the streets we took were very quiet, most things closed…however first coffee bar we came across almost an hour in, we stopped at!

The cardinal (George) rule, never eat at a cafe that has pictures!!! We were ok….the coffee was great, cheap and the toilets clean!!! (And we didn’t eat!)

Google walking maps took us towards our goal…

Some amazing architecture in this city..,

La Torre Agbar…Barcelonas equivalent of the sky tower (Auckland) …and mixing the new with the old…

Apartment building

The monumental Bullring of Barcelona and finally we found the tourist population at La Sagrada Familia Basilica – designed in 1882 – work began in 1891…and as you will see from the following images it is still a work in progress in the 21st century!

The cranes are still working…

Looking up at the first towers

And from the front….best I could do with tourists and buses…blocking the best views…I would say social media is flooded with images of this structure as people were taking selfies, posing, and pics with their cup of drink….etc…

We didn’t feel the need for an inside tour, queues long and we have seen some magnificent churches on our journeys!

A bite to eat and we started on the walk back…realising we may have taken on an overload of steps today…over 20k….footsore, even the hint of a blister and the old knee injuries telling us enough is enough!

We thankfully returned to our world of Aston Martins (yep two of them) and super-yachts … and our loo bucket!!!