Barcelona, Spain – November 28, 2013

Stephanie and I do not think we ever welcomed sleep as much as we did last night after the long travel day, aggravating lost luggage and  a cold day in Barcelona.  Actually, after making it through about 7:30 PM last night, we were no longer as sleepy and stayed up until about 11 PM.  However, although we were not sleepy, our bodies and minds were tired.

We did not get an early start, certainly on purpose, but were out and on the go by about 9:00 AM.  Prior to getting ready, we had checked on the status of our lost baggage claim on the KLM website.  The online status had not been updated since yesterday, so we decided to place a call to the KLM baggage claim phone number.

We were informed that our baggage was in Barcelona, and should be delivered by 11:00 AM, which was good news    We left the room and ate breakfast at a nearby coffee shop, which was nice and relaxing.

We did not have much of  plan today, thinking we would walk around some and eventually get over to the Sagrada Familia Basilica.  We had some issues purchasing a ticket for the metro, we wanted a two day pass, and were trying to purchase it from a machine.  Like some of our past experiences in France, Spanish ticket machines do not like U.S. credit cards either, they require a PIN in order to use the card.  Of course, rarely do we need a PIN in the USA, so I have never set one up for our main travel card, a Capital One MasterCard.  Thinking we could purchase the tickets from a person at a ticket counter, off we headed to one (or so we thought) in the metro station,  The lady was more than helpful, except she wanted to show us how to use the machine, the only way to purchase a ticket.  After explaining our plight, she finally understood, but indicted tickets must be purchased from a machine, and if using a credit card, a PIN must be utilized.  We used cash…..

After finally getting our tickets, we headed for the metro line and got on the underground train  that we thought was the best choice to start our journey.  Unfortunately, we did not see the looping route for the initial ride, and ended up going in the opposite direction that we needed for the shortest route.  Eventually, we got to the second metro rout connection and got on the train heading to the Sagrada Familia.  Then we heard an announcement in Spanish on the PA system, and everybody proceeded to get off of the metro train at the next stop.

Apparently there was a issue with the train, and we had to get off before our intended stop.  It was apparent that we needed to walk to the next station and make our connection “manually”.  After looking at the city road map, we headed the several blocks to the next station.  Once there, whatever had caused the problem on the metro we were booted off of must have been cleared, and we proceeded on to the Sagrada  Familia stop on the same line that we had gotten off of about 20 minutes earlier.  We never knew what the issue was.

Nothing like taking the long route, it had been well over an hour to make what should have been a 15 minute journey.  We took a few photos from the outside, and contemplated skipping the visit to the inside of the Basilica due to the long line, especially since we had done the interior tour of the Basilica in 2008.

We reconsidered, and got in line, and after about 20 minutes, we were at the ticket desk attempting to purchase tickets with our Capital One MasterCard.  The ticket attendant requested a passport or other picture ID to match the credit card, which of course we did not bring, never having had to produce identification on the past for any credit card purchases.  Stephanie had her drivers license, but not her credit card, so again, having no luck with credit, we used our cash once again.

Things were starting to get aggravating.  I guess there must be a lot of credit card theft in Barcelona, making  credit card usage much harder that we had experienced in previous travels, except for France.   However, once inside the church, we were so glad that we had persevered and had gone in, the interior was so much more completed than it had been on our last visit five years previous.  The inside actually was mostly finished, and looked like a church.

The altar was completed, and the pipe organ was actually in place.  The interior tower cranes were gone, and pews were in place.  It was an impressive sight.  We headed to the park north of the church and took a few pictures from that angle, which is of the oldest side of the building.

After that, we thought we would head back to the hotel to check our our luggage delivery, which was supposed to happen before 1:00 PM.  When we asked at the front desk, we were told that a call had been received from the company delivering our bags, but it would be between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM before they arrived.  This was not acceptable, so up to the room we went for another call to KLM.  We are not exactly sure what had happened to the bags, but at least they were in Barcelona, and were indeed scheduled for delivery, just not as quickly as we had been told.  Not being able to get any farther with the KLM Customer Service, we hung up and headed back out into the city for some lunch.  We got a nice pizza, appetizer and wine from a small restaurant, and it was quite good.

After lunch and a visit to the bank for additional cash from the ATM, thanks to metro  and Sagrada Familia ticket purchases, we headed back to the hotel to once again check on our luggage.  Halleluiah, they were here.  It was such a relief.  Based on examination of the airline luggage tags, we are not sure that our luggage ever left South Carolina with us.  It is our belief that the standby flight was the culprit of our luggage problems, and that our luggage was not ever in Amsterdam when we initially asked at the Barcelona Airport.  The luggage tags were showing that our luggage went from Atlanta to Barcelona, with a connection through Paris at the Charles deGaulle Airport.  It is our belief that they were misplaced after we did not make the stand-by flight to Atlanta, thus causing the long delay in them getting to Barcelona, and then to our hotel.  There was no mention of any connection through Amsterdam on the luggage routing tags that were on the bags, and we certainly did not connect through Paris.    A firm letter to Delta will be in the works once we arrive back home, if not before via email.

After making sure all was intact in the luggage, we headed back out to walk around the city.  It was getting darker and all of the Christmas lights were coming on.  We took some pictures and walked around the Las Ramblas and Gothic areas, visiting the Barcelona Cathedral.

The Cathedral was pretty inside, but with all of the yellow colored sodium lights, the colors were not very pretty.  We went over to the Placa Catulana area of the city, and there were a lot of Christmas lights hanging above the streets, and apparently things were being set up for a festival this weekend.  Vendors were setting up their tents, and there were stages being prepared, and a dance troupe was practicing some ballet on a stage set up on the closed streets.

After eating some dinner at a ham sandwich shop, specializing in the special dried hams, priced from 35 euros up to about 400 euro. each  They had a sandwich special, and we also ordered a plate of cheese.  It was pretty tasty, and since we were tired, it was nice that it was located near the hotel.  Even though we had been walking a lot prior to this trip, the all day walking was definitely taking its toll.  It was time to head back to the hotel for the evening.

We will spend the morning visiting a few more sights before checking out of the hotel and heading to the port.  Hopefully we will have some time to add a few pictures from today.