I got up around 9:00 am, which is late for me; I had a relatively good night's sleep. I went to get breakfast in the hotel restaurant & was immediately unimpressed by the person letting me in.

Walking around Barcelona.

I was at the start of the queue & he let every Spanish person behind me in before turning & asking for my room number. When I told him, he told me breakfast had not been paid for. I explained that we had a deal & that it was included in the price. He disagreed again & told me to pay at the lobby desk. I refused & made him check again. To his surprise, there was another sheet of paper under the one he was reading with five or six names on it. He then let me in.

I soon wished he hadn't. The bacon was all fat, the cheese was sweaty, the slices of cheap ham had bone pieces in them, the yoghurts were furry & everything else looked too unappealing for me even to try. I passed Paul on the way back to the room & he was soon back with me & we decided to look for somewhere else to stay.

We got a bus at the beach end of the Poblenou Ramblas. We walked around for a while, deciding where the restaurants & bars we were recommended were. We walked away from the statue of Columbus towards an obviously new shopping centre built over the water. We entered a bar called 'Tapas Tapas' where we thought we would get good Tapas. I enjoyed mine but felt it was expensive. Paul who is not a fan of prawns ordered a Tapas of dried prawns & squid which he did not like, I know I was surprised too. 

We left the restaurant & went to look for a shop I could buy some cheap sandals in. We soon realised this would not happen as all the shops were expensive boutique shops charging extortionate prices, so we walked out & headed back towards the Columbus statue & Las Ramblas.

We walked through Las Ramblas but only saw tacky tourist shops, junk stalls in the market, & overpriced tapas bars & restaurants. Paul decided to look for a new hotel & we looked in one, but it was an extortionate price & I wanted to look in the room before saying I would pay extra to move to Las Ramblas, which I did not like. We were taken to a room that was not much bigger than the one we had & had no extra amenities. I think Paul was upset when I said I wouldn't be moving as I wasn't paying the extra money for a room, which was not a lot different from the one we had.

We walked more around Barcelona, through the 'Parc de la Ciutadella' & then went on a cable car up to   Montjuic Castle near Barcelona harbour. Strangely, it cost more to go up to the castle on the cable car, €7, than it did to go into the castle, €5. The castle was quite interesting & had great views of the surrounding areas. We stayed in the castle for a beer, which was great in a nice setting in an outside bar in the castle.

After leaving Montjuic Castle, we walked to the cable car on the other side of the castle. This one leaves the castle & goes down over the docks & then down to the pier & beach area. I decided to go down on this cable car, but Paul preferred to walk down. We arranged to meet back at the hotel & I jumped on the last cable car leaving. This was a much better cable car ride than the first & the views of the docks & beach area were great.

When I got to the bottom & the pier area, I headed for the beach & walked along the beach, knowing that I would soon have to come to the Poblenou Ramblas. After walking for a while & watching the girls playing netball on the beach, I decided to head to the main road to catch the bus as my feet were aching. After about 15 minutes a bus came & I jumped on it, the first person I saw at the back of the bus was Paul. Of all the Metro trains & all the buses in Barcelona, he had to get on mine.

We walked back to the hotel, had a quick wash & went out to try last night's restaurant again. Paul ordered Chicken, & I the rib eye with the peppercorn sauce again. I was served a huge T-bone but this time I ordered a rare one and got it how I liked it. Whilst drinking a beer there, we heard a marching band go by & ran outside to watch, but it was only one band, not a parade. We finished our beer & headed back to the rabbit hutch as we had a trip to Montserrat early the next morning.