Ok, here's a more in-depth lowdown on my little trip with Big Andrew. Sorry for the delay but have had food poisoning for the past few days
We left the house at 4.15am for Manchester Airport and arrived in Barcelona around 1pm. Got to the plane doors and the heat hit you
Got through customs and, at the meeting point, there was our driver. He then led us to a beautiful top of the reange, brand new Mercedes Benz.....a beautiful machine.
We drover for about half an hour up into the hills and pointed out our hotel up on the hills. We arrived there and, as soon as we stepped through the door, someone says "Madam, it is very hot, but the champagne is very cold, drink and be happy cos it's a beautiful day outside"
Now, i haven't had an alocholic drink for about 10 years so i thought, sod it...i'll have some of that and it's free......so I did. We booked in then had a tour of the hotel.
We went down to the spa area and it was wonderful. The jacuzzi was next to the l shaped pool that turned off outside onto one of the 3 terraces, overlooking Barcelona. The steps came out right next to the bar, which is fair enough thinks me.
There were fountains all over the place, beautiful planting, loads of loungers and different places to sit and look at the panoramic views.
http://www.hotellaflorida.com/
We were then taken to our room that had 2 balconies and was entirely marble. Even the lavvie was marble which is a novelty to someone who swears by Twyfords
We chilled out for a while, then changed ready for out trip out to the San Pau restaurant.
http://www.relaischateaux.com/santpau
Now, i like my food, but we were way out of our depth here. At first we felt really uncomfortable but, after a while, we started to enjoy it. Big Andrew loved his food but, personally, I wasn't fussed. I like peasent food myself and, although this was very beautiful to look at, like a work of art, it really wasn't my thing. Plus, I have trouble getting through one course, let alone 8 of the buggers. I did appreciate the artistry and care that went into making the gorgeous food, but it just wasn't my thing at all, plus I think t he prices were astronomical. £240 for 2 of us is, i feel, outlandish when there are starving children in the world.
To be fair though, it was a beautiful site. However, the duck which I ate was so rare that it was still quacking and, according to the doctor, is one possible cause of my food poisoning.
Anyway, we got out of the restaurant around midnight, then were driven back again to the hote. Had a quick smoke then fell fast asleep.
Woke up to the sun shining through the eastern window and what a beautiful sinrise it was. Then, down to brekkie and off on our jaunt into Barcelona itself.
It was 94 degrees with about 30% humidity although I managed to cope with the heat rather well. We got dropped on on the Diagonal, the main street in Barcelona and started walking. We saw Gaudis unfinished cathedral, plus the much older one. We went to the harbour, walked along the Rambla and saw the street performers, stopped by the old cathedral to listen to a middle eastern street band who were excellent. We also went into the inner park which is a lot like the one in the centre of Paris. We stopped awhile and watched the world go by, downing loads of iced cold water we had bought. In all, we walked around 8 miles. Then, we were picked up again and went back to the hotel.
Spent some more time in the jacuzzi, had a swim, then had a light dinner on the terrace, watching the sun setting over Barcelona. Then, the fireworks started cos they'd won Euro 08...and there was an awful lot of fireworks
Then, next morning, had a good feed then were driven to the airport. Had a long delay cos the baggage handlers hadn't turned up cos they were all drunk from the night before....the plane was around one and a half hours late taking off....the pilot was worryingly named Patty O'Murphy
So, we got back home around tea time to relax. A very enjoyable time had by both of us and a glimpse into a lifestyle to which i could become very accostomed very quickly
