BARCELONA – Spain’s most cosmopolitan city, and again, very different from the others we have visited.  Gaudi of course makes an impression – Gaudi influenced buildings appear when you are least expecting them and can be quite bizarre amongst “normal” architecture of the time.  It’s also a very European-looking city with wide leafy avenues – wide shopping streets that have a huge pedestrian avenue in the middle making for excellent shopping.  Seats under the trees in these lanes give husbands a good place to sit and reflect upon the need for another suitcase… Read More…

Today we had a most enjoyable tour of the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona.  I must say the age of these cities never fails to amaze.  NZ has such a short history which is pretty insignificant when faced with the multitude of battles, changes of power, religious oppression and sheer misery that some of Europe has been through.  Our Orange Donut Tour – led by an Aussie girl was fun and informative.

The picture above was taken across the lane from Capella de Santa Llúciainto And is on the wall of the 16th-century Casa de l’Ardiaca, which houses the city’s archives. It was renovated by Lluis Domènech i Montaner in 1902, when the building was owned by the lawyers’ college. Domènech i Montaner also designed the postal slot, which is adorned with swallows and a tortoise, said to represent the swiftness of truth and the plodding pace of justice.   As you can see the tortoise is well polished.  This is because it is said that touching the tortoise will bring good luck to up and coming new lawyers.  As it happened one of our party was an American law student so he took the opportunity.  His family is Jewish and his father especially found the tour interesting.  The Jews were persecuted in Barcelona and there is absolutely no trace of the Jewish Quarter left

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/barcelona/sights/architecture/casa-de-lardiaca#ixzz32WClcsai

We are now counting down to our last week in Spain and have left the white villages, stoney mountain sides of Andalusia that we have come to love.  I can so easily see why so many people from so many different parts of the world have made these villages their home.  The scenery is amazing.  The Spanish people so welcoming and easy-going.  All you have to do is show interest in their country, attempt a few feeble sentences in Spanish and they fall over backwards to be of assistance.   Read More…