Day 9 - Barcelona

Today is the National Day of Catalonia, a public holiday. It is a day-long festival in Catalonia and one of its official national symbols, celebrated annually on 11 September. It commemorates the defense against the siege of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714 and the subsequent loss of Catalan institutions and laws. Whole it seems a bit weird to be 'celebrating' this loss, our guide yesterday said the Catalans look at it as a low point that they can only improve upon. It's a day for Catalans to protest for their desire to be recoginsed as independent from Spain. This is the Catalan flag (the yellow flag with 4 red stripes). As you will see in later photos, the addition of a triangle, signifies the desire for independence.

We found a cafe for breaky that turned out to be owned by some Australians, that served real (Melbourne) style coffee! That is, made with real milk, not UHT 😂, and some breakfast.

It's laundry day too - unfortunately it still needs to be done, even on holidays. We had a quick visit to Our Lady of Bethlehem Church across the road from the laundry while we waited.

A walk towards the beach for lunch at another Jo recommendation - La Cova Fumada. We pass through the Place de Sant Jaume, the city's political centre almost since its inception. The square is the site of the most important buildings in the lives of Barcelona and Catalonia: City Hall and the Palau de la Generalitat, so they are flying their colour's today.

We went past the marina and some big expensive boats.

We arrived at 2.15 and it's closing at 3 today because of the public holiday and this is what we find - all these people waiting to get a seat! Most places don't take a reservation, so you've just got to try your luck - our luck's not very good with the Jo recommendations 😂.

We continue on a few blocks to the beach, for Ade to swim in the Mediterranean Sea and we saw some America's Cup action!

Some warm weather Policia.

We wander back and find a very rowdy, over filling bar called Bar Leo and head on in! It's run by Leo, an old and very short (I even tower over her!) lady.

Ade gets amongst it and manages to get some drinks and food - it's so noisy! It was a very authentic experience!

We managed to find ourselves a rally on the way home and got amongst it - 'In, in-de, in-de-pendance'.

Someone might've had an afternoon siesta - who was not me!

We had another unsuccessful attempt at tea and ended up at Guell Tapes where we had some cava sangria, some tapas, a paella and a Catalan Creme (creme brulee).

Tomorrow is a big Gaudi day, so an early night - 10.30.