“Where ya going?…”

We thought we’d forgo the usual end-of-year Caribbean cruise this year. We’re back on the Continent to actually spend time in a city that we promised ourselves we’d return to after our brief visit in 2018.

There’s a little bit of irony about this choice. After the Big Birthday Cruise of 2000, we initially kept taking Caribbean cruises with a goal in mind: to check out different ports of call with a plan to come back for an extended stay some time in the future.  Well, we’ve sailed to just about every island in the Caribbean at least once (Cuba, we’re coming!) and yet, we’ve never booked a vacay on any of them.

But after just one eight-hour visit to Barcelona during a Meditteranean cruise, we’re back! And with no agenda.

Of course, for any visitor to Barcelona, the first box to tick on their must-do list is seeing Gaudi’s Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. So too was it with us in 2018. In fact, we booked a local guide for a walking tour of the city for the three of us (Rob’s mom joined us on that trip) which included entry tickets to the basilica.

Here are a few photos from our visit in 2018, mostly because I would be remiss not to include la Sagrada Familia in a Barcelona travel blog. BTW, the church building is scheduled to be completed as Gaudi envisioned it by 2026. 🤞

NOTE: I used a little Photoshop magic to remove some of the scaffolding from around the building.

So, as far as Sagrada Familia is concerned, it’s “Check! Been there. Done that.” and we avoid the hassles of a No. 1 tourist mecca to concentrate on the real city…and the many other attractions we missed five years ago!  Oh, and the food! We are really anticipating a gastronomic adventure.