Rick Steves would be proud (Barcelona style)

As Jordan keeps insisting we actually have a vacation, I agreed to be done with my city tourist sites by lunch on Wednesday.  He made me change my original plans, so I felt the need to depend on Rick. (Yes, we are on a first name basis.). This meant cramming so much into one day.   We started on the edge of town at a church that was outside the original Roman walls from the 200s.   It was truly a spiritual place, especially as the monks were practicing their choir songs.  After we sat for awhile & watched the neighborhood wake up, we had to get going for our first Rick Steves walk (he is an American EU travel writer/guide for those that don't know him).

We began our first walk with the Roman part of the city, which was named Barcino.  The neighborhood is now called Barri Gotic. The walk included the city walls, some still intact-

The churches we saw were La Cathedral of Barcelona, Santa Maria del Mar (Church of the sea- not near the sea by the way) & my favorite stop, the oldest Synagogue in Europe.  

The walk ended with the palace where Christopher Columbus returned home from his 1492 voyage.  I stood where he returned!

This was one of my favorite Rick Steves walks ever.  Then we had to kill two hours before our Picasso museum timed entry so we wandered around the neighborhood for a second time, with stops including an Irish bar & La Hacienda (Mexican).

We went through the Picasso museum, which is in chronological order. He designed the museum himself before his death.  I was glad I had seen the more famous works in Paris to appreciate this museum.  He's not my favorite artist, but he's original.

We then walked to the famous Las Ramblas, our second Rick Steves's walk.  This was the main avenue down the city.  As this picture shows, it was the entry for the Romans into town.  The highway from Barcelona to France is still used, with the layout based on the original Roman layout.

And it is a busy place full of shops & tourists.  The highlight was La Boqueria, the largest city market.  It was lively & I saw foods I have never seen.  But, I had to leave once I saw a whole skinned chicken with the eyes staring into my soul.  I made Jordan guide me out.

After that walk, we went back to our neighborhood to relax because we were exhausted.   We wanted to eat dinner but most things were closed at 6pm.  So we settled for burgers at Bar Amsterdam because our feet were swollen.

We had to be up by 8am on Wednesday to see the most famous building in Barcelona, so we fell asleep watching the BBC news.