Barcelona Excursions

[Old Traveler]

Barcelona will be the 5th stop on our Sept 2008 cruise on the Splendor. My wife and I are considering the following day excursions and would appreciate comments from anyone who has taken them.

a) Barcelona & Tapas (4 hours)

b) Codorniu Wine Cellars & Barcelona Highlights (5.5 hours)

c) Gothic Quarter City Walk (3 hours)

We enjoy walking.

[Jill SC]

The gothic quarter in Barcelona is very interesting, but you will want to take a tour that covers La Sagrada Familia.
if you like doing things on your own, the hop on hop off bus in Barcelona is very good. There is a shuttle bus from the port to the start of Las Ramblas, the main street.

[Hank]

Keep in mind that Barcelona is very tourist friendly and its pretty easy to do things on your own (and save a lot of money). This is particularly true for the Gothic Quarter which is just a couple of blocks from the Ramblas. This area is easy to walk and a guide book is a great substitute for a tour. There are also quite a few tourist kiosks and offices in the Ramblas area where you can get free maps, info, etc. Getting to the Ramblas/Gothic Quarter takes about minutes by taxi or shuttle bus (the line for the shuttle bus can be long) or for those that like to walk its about a 25 min walk (over the bridge) to the Columbus Statute at the base of the Ramblas.

Hank

[Old Traveler]

Thanks for your comments. Since we will only be in Barcelona for the day we may op for a short guided excursion and then do some walking on our own. We've been to Barcelona on a tour several years ago and I've got to try and figure our what we did there (old pictures) and what we would like to see now. While the guided tours do cost more, I've found from past trips that a good guide can really make a tour worth while. Due to my advanced age , I find it hard to walk and read at the same time.