Tanger to Barcelona By Ship
We acknowledge that our carbon footprint hasn’t been great during our almost two years of travel. Still, when possible, we’ve been trying to avoid planes, and instead default to trains or ships.
To travel between Tanger and Barcelona, we booked a cabin on a Grandi Navi Veloci ship. When the vessel was originally constructed, it was probably designed to feel like a cruise. However, most of the cruise elements seem to have been gutted, at least for this journey. The two pools were empty, aside from cigarettes butts. The beauty salon had been converted into storage. Many other rooms were just blocked off and closed, or converted to prayer rooms. Continue reading “Tanger to Barcelona By Ship”
Books I Read About Morocco While In Morocco
Barcelona: If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is
We’ve been in Barcelona, Spain for just over a week… and like Stockholm and Taipei, we’ve quickly fallen in love with the city, for very similar reasons as we did the first two. The food quality is amazing. Public transportation is widespread. Kids are welcomed and integrated into everyday life.
Part of my birthday lunch at Teresa Carles, entirely vegetarian and probably our favorite restaurant thus far in Barcelona. Continue reading “Barcelona: If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is”
Flamenco
Our friend Carly is visiting and offered to babysit, so Brian and I went to see a flamenco show on our own. (Honestly, I think Theo would have LOVED the show, but it’s challenging to coordinate evening activities around his early bedtime, so we were super-grateful for the babysitting.)
Barcelona isn’t “the place” for flamenco in Spain, and the show we saw was marketed for tourists… but we thought it was amazing! For most parts, one dancer would take the floor, while other dancers and musicians would clap the beat and cheer them on as they danced. There was so much energy and camaraderie between the dancers and musicians.
Peratallada – Good Wine and Healthy Cats
Peratallada is a beautiful, almost eerily well-preserved stone village in Spain. To me, it also felt very empty. Often, as I was walking (sometimes, tripping) over the lovely cobblestones, I’d be entirely alone. When I did pass other people, they would almost always be other tourists.
Park Güell
Park Güell is probably one of the most famous (and most photographed) works of Gaudí. We had fun exploring with our good friends Jess and Steve!
Mopping Yet Another Porch
Mopping is exciting enough to Theo that it can be used as a reward for completing other, less exciting activities. Would we take advantage of this? Well, maybe.
Stumbling Into Yet Another Holiday: The Festival of San Juan
A nice thing about traveling is that we often stumble into unexpected holidays. Last week, it was the night of San Juan, which, as Theo’s preschool administrator explained, was a pagan holiday celebrating the coming of summer until it was Christianized. From what I can gather, name aside, it’s largely turned back into a celebration of the summer solstice in Barcelona. Festivities include jumping over bonfires on the beach, drinking, waving around torches, and setting off lots of fireworks.
Our neighborhood of Gràcia, is not on a beach, but they compensated with a parade of dueling drummers, horses, and lots of torches.
Continue reading “Stumbling Into Yet Another Holiday: The Festival of San Juan”
Snack at the Park
