Ian : So, the next part of our tour of Barcelona ...

We thought we'd take the cable car from the Barceloneta (a little fishing village to the south of Barcelona's medieval centre) up to Montjuïc for some excellent mid-afternoon views of the city. When we arrived, there were 25 - 30 people queueing for tickets. Not bad, we thought, probably a 30 minute wait.

However . . .

45 minutes passed, we had almost reachedthe little ticket booth and the lone seller closes the window and takes the lift to the top of the tower, from where the cable cars leave. There are only two cars that go back and forth on two lines.
Eventually, after 20 minutes, he came back and opened the window to sell more tickets to the devoted fans waiting patiently in our very English way. We get our tickets and we thought, Great, we're on our way!
We made it up to the top of the tower and got out to find another queue up there. &*^%^&! It had been quite sunny when we started on our adventure and now it was getting colder and also windy up the top of the tower.

Another 50 minutes of looking at Barcelona from our lovely high vantage point through filthy window glass and with everyone just about losing the will to live, we clamber (shivering) on board! (M: I had taken a jumper with me; it really wasn't that cold.) Here are the photos:

We never found out what the big copper fish-shaped building was.

from the cable car tower looking north over Barceloneta (shivering & grumpy)

Michael: That is the world famous Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. Naturally, there will be more pics of this later on.
Michael: .. and of course that's Columbus, on top of a tall column, pointing towards the new world

Michael: Us at the pavilion at Parc de la Ciutadella

Michael: I simply had to have a section about the food. Have to say we really enjoyed our food experiences in Barcelona. There is something really great about eating a traditional meal at its source. The simplest foods can be special. For instance, take pa amb tomàquet, the Catalan national dish. It is simple in concept: toasted bread rubbed with garlic and tomato, dusted with salt and drizzled with olive oil. This would probably taste quite ordinary at home; in Catalonia, it's an experience. We also discovered Rioja, a collection of smooth drinking Spanish red wines. Excellent with pretty much any meat dish, of which there are PLENTY in Spain. The Catalan version of sangria was quite spicy, I found - almost like cold mulled wine with fruit in it. Fortunately the weather was warm enough for us to indulge!