One night in Barcelona

We were up at 5:00am Friday morning! Probably could have slept until 5:30am, but this way we didn't have to feel rushed. We were outside at the corner waiting for our pre arranged taxi driver at exactly 6:30am.

But he wasn't there!

I was not surprised either way. I figured there were 50/50 odds. But we hadn't allowed much time to waste, because our flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30am.

So I gave him five minutes. And when he still wasn't there, we flagged one of the many taxis that were zipping about. And we saved money by doing so!

Our driver spoke no English or Spanish. I said "aeropuerto", figuring he would get the idea, and off we went.

Then, he made the turn for the bus station! He had obviously seen our bags and figured we were traveling, but how he didn't understand "aeropuerto", we don't know. After all, in French it is simply "aeroport", although we didn't know that at the time.

Anyhow, after some laughs and gestures, I finally said "avion", the French word for plane. And he got the idea. Off to the airport we went!

I had read online that it costs a flat rate 120 dirhams to take a regulated taxi from the airport to the city. So when the prearranged taxi had said he would do the opposite trip for 100, I figured that was okay. But this guy had put the meter on when we picked us up, and we made the detour to the bus station, and the total on the meter was only 40 dirhams ($5.65 CAD, $4.40 USD) for the entire 12 km (7.5 mile) trip. Taxis sure are cheap in Morocco! I gave him all of the Moroccan change in my pocket since it was of no value to us once we left the airport. He was a happy dude!

Boarding our Vueling flight to Barcelona.

Vueling is another European discount airline. We paid 46 euros ($66 CAD, $49 USD) each for the hour and forty five minute flight from Tangier to Barcelona.

The plane left a few minutes late, and arrived a few minutes early! Great flight, with no problems at all. Very tight on the legroom, but we had an empty seat in our row, so lots of room otherwise.

And we're off! This guy had us going what felt like straight up!

Also, the plane was really new. I had seen a stamping plate on the entrance door when we boarded and it had said date of manufacture October 2016.

Arriving in Barcelona.

We arrived at 11:10am, which was the local time in Barcelona. We lost an hour along the way because of the time change from Tangier.

And then we got to the lineup for customs. Yikes! This was going to take a while. Maybe just because of the Easter weekend, but it took an hour and a half to get through the lineup to customs! Really bad planning on their part. There were only four border officers on duty to process a whole pile of arrivals. People were not happy. The last time we saw something like this was in Houston in 2014. I can't stand that kind of stupidity. 

Anyhow, we still had a valid T10 transportation card from when we were in Barcelona in January. So we took the train to downtown and walked the 2 kms to the AirBnb booking we had for the night. Nice enough small, old, but recently renovated 3 bedroom apartment. The guy lives in another apartment in the same building, but rents out the rooms in this one. There is a couple from Finland here as well, but the single bedroom is empty. Pricey, at $66 CAD for the night, but it's only for one night.

We went for a walk to find a restaurant with a patio. After two weeks in essentially alcohol free Morocco, we were due for a beer and a glass of wine!

What a meal!

They had a special...the 1/2 chicken dinner meal, with drink included, for €6.90 ($10 CAD, $7 USD)! Yep, including my beer and Ruth's sangria. What a deal!

Stuffed, we wandered back to the room and relaxed for a couple of hours.

Our host had told us about a fountain show at a nearby plaza. It turned out it was 3 kms each way, but that's nothing...so off we went. The show started at 9pm, and was supposed to last one hour.

Renovated bull ring in Barcelona. Now a shopping complex.

Big statue.

Getting close to the fountain show.

 Wow! What a show!

And there sure were crowds of people!

The fountain show and lights were fantastic.

Crowds.

Lights.

Fountain.

Great show. We walked back to the room, had a glass of wine, and hit the sack.

Today, we fly back to Canada. Our flight leaves Barcelona at noon. We fly to Montreal, and then a connecting flight to Ottawa. Should arrive in Ottawa around 5:10pm if everything goes according to plan!

So, we'll spend the next week and a half or so visiting with family and friends in and around Ottawa... and then fly back to Saskatchewan on the 27th. Then May 1st, it's back to work for five months...

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Another quality pair of binoculars on at a great price...

Bushnell Legend L-Series 10x42mm Binoculars

And in Canada... a good deal on T-fal's top of the line cookware...

T-fal Ultimate Dishwasher Safe Cookware Set, 14-Piece