Fantastic time in Barcelona pre-cruise

millie

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
In September, 2017 we took the last 7 night med cruise before the western transatlantic. This was a second time on this cruise, we did it previously in June 2014. Based on our last trip in which we flew in the day of the cruise, this time we flew overnight on Thursday so that we would have 2 days in Barcelona prior to boarding.

We had arranged for Barcelona Day Tours to pick us up at the airport and take us directly to Montserrat which is beautiful. The ride there was enjoyable as well, beautiful scenery. The driver let us off and we had about 3 hours to explore and have lunch, which was plenty of time. When we were ready to leave I texted him and he picked us up right away and then drove us to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Colon which is right across from the Barcelona Cathedral. The Hotel Colon has family rooms which accommodate 4 people. On our last trip we were 4 adults. This time there were just 3 of us. We really loved this hotel. Since our last visit in 2014 the hotel added a roof top bar which has amazing views of the gothic quarter. There is also a spa up there but we did not check it out.

Check in was quick and we had a lovely superior room on the 4 th floor with a queen size bed and a single bed for our son, which he said was very comfortable. It was really two rooms, a smaller room with the single bed (it might have been a pull-out sofa, then the queen room, then the bathroom. The bathroom was enormous, with tons of towels and toiletries, including razors, and toothbrushes.

After a quick nap we went to a nearby restaurant for an earlyish dinner and then spent time wandering the gothic quarter, shopping for some souvenirs. We also went to the Disney Store (nothing special there), and ended the evening with some Cava on the rooftop bar.

We paid for breakfast with our room reservation, and the hotel has a very nice breakfast buffet on the bottom floor. The room is large with plenty of tables and a large assortment of hot and cold breakfast foods.

Everyone was well rested as the beds were super comfortable and we had a full day planned so was great. Our first stop was the Barcelona cathedral which is right across the plaza from the hotel. From there we went to the Barcelona city history museum which is right in the gothic quarter. This was a wonderful museum. You get into the elevator and as it descends instead of floor numbers the elevator shows the years as you go back in time to the lowest floor which are the Roman ruins. Fascinating and very well done. There was also an excellent temporary exhibit on the Reformation. We spent a couple of hours exploring the museum.

After that we walked to the Barcelona zoo, which took about a half an hour walk. The zoo was very nice. The weather was great, just a lovely afternoon. We bought lunch there - we each got what was described as an “American style hamburger” with fries and a small drink. The drink was in a plastic cup which you had to give a deposit of one euro each which was then returned when you took the cups back. The fries were very good but we are still trying to figure out what kind of meat the hamburger was made from. It was revolting. I couldn’t eat more than one bite, my son took two bites, and DH, who will eat anything could not eat more than 3 bites. So on the way back t the hotel we stopped at Starbucks for a snack.

Back to the hotel which has an outdoor bar on the plaza, for a glass of wine and after a short rest we got ready for the evening. I had preorderd tickets to the Palua de Musica for that evenings performance of the Gran Gran Flanenco and also made reservations for the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner prior to the show. We walked up Los Ramblas to El Cortes Ingles, the department store at the tot of Los Ramblas in the Placa Catalunya. On our last trip I discovered Lacasitos, a candy very much like M&Ms (I think better) so I needed to get some of those to take home. They come in lots of different package sizes, as well as small tubes, which make a great souvenir.

The Hard Rock Cafe is right there on the Placa and the Palua was just a short walk from there. The performance was at 8:00 and it was fabulous. The show lasted about an hour and a half with a short intermission. The theater is just beautiful. There was a very nice little gift shop in the lobby. You can have dinner in the theater complex prior to the performance if you like. There is also an inside and outside bar.

A short walk back to the hotel, lots of people around, felt very safe, and another good nights sleep.
The next morning we had another nice breakfast at the hotel and then checked out and got a cab to the ship around 11:00.
 
Thanks for your summary. We'll be in Barcelona for 3 days pre-cruise in just over 2 months so this was helpful!
 
We were also on this cruise and stayed at Hotel Colon pre-cruise. I highly recommend it as well as Barcelona Day Tours. I just booked the British Isles Cruise for September 2019 and hope I'm as happy with my pre-cruise choices. I have just started the research.
 
We booked the 7 night British Isles in September 2019 as well. Only 18 months to plan!
 



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