Blame the Pope

Being Sunday morning there were very few noises drifting up from the street 5 stories below when we arose to the wake up call of the phone buzz. The sky was threatening to be clear and blue as the sun started to illuminate it from below the horizon. Once again we were up early as pre-planning had set our course months ago. It was fascinating to see the streets of this thriving metropolis almost empty as we headed over to the Familia for the second day in row. Happy to find a cafe on the way for a cheap yet fabulous breaky of coffee and croissants.

On our bike tour yesterday it was highlighted that the Pope has recently visited the church and officially given it the title (and honour apparently) of a Basilica... something akin to a cathedral (apparently). Whilst this probably has Guadi grinning in his crypt below the joint it also has other implications. Such as Sunday morning mass. Who'dathunk it? Obviously not the tour company who happily took the tour money and calmy waited for all the suckers to get up early on an Sunday morning only to be turned away. And so annoyed a little with the Pope and a bit more with his desciples (the tour company) we headed off downtown to checkout the free museums in the old quarter. The day was showing signs of being the typical mederterainian weather that made the place so likeable over the thousands of years. Empires have fought each other just to have holiday homes here. Today you could see why. Once seamlessly commuting to the area we then practiced our well honed skills of wandering around in circles trying to find non-descript places based on half remembered snippets of information. Snapping every possible photogenic angle possible. And yes...that means pretty much everything. Some success.. first into the Santa Maria del Mar (along with some dirty looks from a family obviously there to christen their child) .

Pleasant coffee breaks. And some frustration in trying to locate the old Roman ruins. Figuring it was all closed we headed home to spend lunch on our elevated balcony where one way you can catch a glimpse of the a sea and the other the mountains with a smattering of terracotta tiles and shuttered windows in between. A couple of hours in the local laundromat ensued. No stress just a very entertaining time with a old Latino woman who was asking everyone how the system works. Over and over again. By now the day was seriously feeling summery and so we did what we had to do and go and have a siesta, with the warm winds and the quiet sounds of the Sunday afternoon street drifting in through the open shutters. Refreshed we ploughed into the afternoon throngs and proceeded the "get confused looking for places" in the twisted cobblestone streets of the old town again. By now we had a SIM and internet access and an app and and an electronic map. Still managed to stuff it up. All good fun though. Eventually we found the ruins under the town. These were quite simply amazing. Not only in their age (2000 years according to the lift that took us there) but also the effort and cost to expose them to all and sundry to explore. And yes, we got in for free.

We were literally walking around underneath the plaza where above a few hundred years ago the Spanish Inquisition was pouring hot oil out of the gargoyles above onto the heathens whilst the royalty watched on from the top of the steps which is now the exit of the museum. Time for a sesh of tapas and wine (and beer). It was memorable however learnt a lesson in ordering as tapas can just be a variety of cold cuered meats. Not to everyone's palate. Based on a snippet of information we had one last foray before retiring for the night. Back on the ever efficient met we went up to a local (very famous) hill which had some sort of water light show going on. Based on the Waltzing Waters from the Tatra Hut in the Dandenong Ranges they got this idea of throwing water around and lighting it up from underneath and corriographying it to music. Unlike the hut this was seriously attended. There were hordes of people there and they kept swarming in. We snaffled a great spot just near the exit at the bridge and so had a great view as well as really entertaining time watching the security guards keeping the exit clear which inadvertently kept our view unobstructed.

Leaving early to avoid the obvious jam when everyone else did we navigated the PT back home sank into another blistful sleep (obviously assumed given the timing of these words being constructed).