A Fine Lunch, A Wander, And Our Friends Arrive

The original lunch plan had been to get sandwiches and have a picnic in the park.  After all that walking around, however, Carol wanted a proper restaurant lunch.  I couldn't blame her, so we decided to walk towards the Cathedral.

In a stroke of genius, I remembered Els Quatre Gats (the four cats) was not far from the cathedral, so we headed there.

Yes, the restaurant is touristy, but the food IS good, and having a meal in such an amazing Modernisme building is pretty cool. We have eaten here all three trips to Barcelona (2009, 2019, and now 2022).

The bar at The Four Cats

Dragon above the doorway

After lunch, we wandered around the area around the old cathedral, including stops at a beautiful fountain that used to mark the outskirts of town.  It was the last fountain for watering your horses when leaving town to the north.

The fountain

A window display in the

store next to the fountain

From there we wandered into the cathedral square, by the old city gates (which has mostly been rebuilt) as well as the "Barcino" sign, representing the old Roman name of the city.

We walked over the cathedral, which had no line to get in.  It's November, so it made sense, compared to the often long lines back in Sept/Oct of 2019.  It made more sense when the guard said entry tickets were 15 Euro.  Three years ago there was no charge.  I'm guessing the new fee is COVID-related, but 15 Euro is kind of steep.  If they were looking to make up for lost revenue, setting the price at 5 Euro would probably entice more people to come.

Besides the high cost to get in, we also figured that as soon as we bought tickets, we would get the WhatsApp text from Jennifer that they were in the cab on their way from the airport.  

And, literally as we walked toward our next stop, we got the text.  

We quickly hit the Roman columns, the martyr's square, and the very cool mailbox, all pictured below.

The remaining Roman columns.

A spire on the old cathedral

Killed by Napoleon's French army.

Every mailbox should have three

birds and a turtle on it.

From there, we walked back up the road, through Plaza Catalunya, past Casa Battlo, and to the hotel, where we met Don and Jennifer and took them to the apartment.

Casa Batllo at night, from the

Hotel Majestic's rooftop bar.

Although it is a tad unfocused,

this picture of the Casa Batllo 

balconies shows off my Zoom

 lens, as it was taken from

the same spot the above pic

was taken.

After they freshened up, we headed to the Hotel Majestic rooftop bar, across the street from our apartment.  It affords fabulous views of the city, and is an enjoyable place to hangout.

Then we walked the 15 minutes to dinner at La Mala Vermut & Tapas, a locals small place.   Barcelona is famous for Vermut bars (or used to be), as we never found one in our month here in 2019 (we weren't looking every day, but we did strike out the night we went to find one I discovered on the internet).  

I had never had Vermut before -- it was fun to try, but it won't be added to my drink list.  The tapas were good, and the atmosphere of the place was better.  It was a good first day.