March 31, 2023
Day 44: Arriving early in Barcelona
Bonjour to Hola
The overhead bell chimes. For us it still feels like 530 am, in reality we need to shift two hours ahead and it’s 0730. Then there’s a tap on the door. A crew member is indicating we need to be out of the cabin in a half hour. This makes sense they need to clean our cabin for those getting on the ferry from Barcelona to Genoa. We are ready just finishing our granola and yogurt.
Genevieve finds us and tells us we need to be one deck below with the walking passengers. The ferry slows, we see the port of Barcelona and after docking we quickly go to our bikes, reload and off the ferry. There is a passport check and we are waved through the area we think is customs and we are in Spain.
After cycling away from the port we say goodbye to Genevieve and Pierre. We may see them again before we leave Barcelona on Sunday. If not, we invite them to visit us in Boise. Patrick navigates us through the great network of bike paths to the hotel. It’s about 1030-1115 when we arrive at Hotel Best Aranea.
| Heart | 4 | Comment | 0 | Link |
“There’s a problem with the bikes,” Patrick says. “They don’t want the bikes in the hotel.” We are also too early as check in is at 3pm. One desk clerk is not very hospitable. Another helps Patrick with finding a place for the bikes. The garage will charge 42Euro for one day (the same as for two cars), obviously a rip-off. An alternative is to park the bikes outside at a bike parking rack; one desk clerk finds a bigger lock that we can use. We decide on this option though this makes us nervous.
The woman clerk becomes more helpful when Rachel hears her tell another person checking in that there is a secure place to leave luggage after check-out. All our bags have been stacked in the lobby without this being mentioned. Rachel asks the clerk about watching our gear if we leave and she informs us there are lockers for 2 Euro. We stuff everything into a locker and then take a walk about.
| Heart | 6 | Comment | 2 | Link |
1 year ago
“This is the beer I’ve been thinking about.” Patrick says and continues “a lager with foam in a cold glass and that bitter taste.”
We walk to the Sagrade Familia Cathedral by Gaudi and then stop for tapas and beer: tapas dishes of a German potato salad, mussels and croquettes along with a ½ liter of beer.
The next stop is the Arc de Triomf and the long boulevard eventually takes us back to the board walk to the port where we disembarked only a few hours before. Patrick walks ahead to an office to find out where the Grimaldi Ferry will depart early Sunday morning. We didn’t see it when we left the ferry because that port is to the left of where we were and another 1km.
Circling back toward the hotel we walk through the Gothic Quarter, the historic center of the old city of Barcelona. This area in particular retains a labyrinthine street plan, with many small streets opening out into squares. Barcelona streets are definitely not a grid pattern. We had exchanged dollars for Euros on our way to Morocco, but passing a Cambio we exchange more for the next stage in Italy.
When we get back to the hotel and check-in there is another clerk who is a lot more helpful. There is a storage room where we can put our bikes. Really, why did this have to be such a big deal? Clerk #1 wanted nothing to do with the bikes and did not care one bit. Clerk #2 tried to make a quick buck with the parking garage attendant by ripping us off. Clerk #3 without asking finally helped with storage of our gear so we could walk around Barcelona. Clerk #4 solves it for us. We’ll be sure to leave a detailed review on the booking site. We have stayed in so many guesthouses and hotels and this is the ugliest experience. We realize this is only one encounter but first impressions matter. Perhaps we are more sensitive to what hospitality looks like after knowing the Moroccan people, a people who would do anything to help you. The contrast is striking.
For dinner we walk to an Irish pub for excellent pub food and a pint of Guinness.
Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 1,482 km (920 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 13 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |