2013.08.04 – Munich (Germany) – Basel (Switzerland.)

We woke up early today as we wished to catch the 10:30am train toward Basel. Before leaving the hotel, we enjoyed once again the excellent courtesy breakfast buffet. Our nearby subway station remained closed as result we had to take the bus to the train station. Being Sunday, the streets were fairly quiet. We waited for our train for about 45 minutes. We enjoyed the comfortable train ride. Along the way, we heard Walter’s frustration with German life as he sat our table in our carriage. Later we bid him farewell as we took different train connections. We arrived in Basel near 4:00pm. We had a very short and costly taxi ride from the train station to our hotel – La Balade. We challenged the driver honesty and we sought support for the hotel agent – but to no avail as we had to dish out 15 euros for our taxi ride. The experience was not a very good start to our short stay in Basel. After settling into our hotel room, we ventured out on mostly deserted streets of Basel. We had supper at pub-like restaurant. We took advantage of the free transit card to enjoy travelling across the various neighbourhood on the tram lines. Basel appeared very strange to us as it was partly Swiss-German, French, etc. We did not bother changing any Euros into Swiss Francs given that we were leaving the next morning. It was also strange to be staying at hotel that did not have any on-site reception desk as the access to the hotel was controlled by our room’s card.

2013.08.05 – Basel (Switzerland.) – Madrid (Spain)

We checked out of our hotel around 9am. We again took advantage of the free transit pass to get to the EuroAirport, a shared facility between Switzerland and France. We were expecting a large airport but in fact it was quite small. We checked in our bags with EasyJet and waited for our flight to Madrid. The seating on the plane was as expected – quite narrow. Nonetheless the flight did go by fairly quickly. In Madrid, we managed to get to our Hotel Ganivet by using a bus from the airport to a subway station and then the subway brought us very close to our hotel after a dozen or more stops along the way. The Hotel Ganivet was modest but it had everything we needed – good size room, stable WiFi, free water, easy subway access, friendly staff, etc. We booked our train tickets to Bilbao for next afternoon as this would give us a bit of time to explore Madrid. For supper, we attempted to stop at a restaurant recommended by the hotel reception but unfortunately the restaurant was closed for vacation. We were told that we had to get use to the fact that in Spain the restaurants started to open their doors quite late – well after 8pm. We had a long walk in the old town where we came across the plaza Puerta Del Sol. The city centre was very vibrant. We concurred that we could have stayed another night in Madrid. After giving up our attempts to find tapas and further discovering that our recommended restaurant was closed on Mondays, we settled for supper at the nearby “Taverna Saint Miguel”.

2013.08.06 – Madrid – Bilbao (Spain)

We checked out of our room and left our bags at the reception desk in order to pursue our visit of the city over the morning. We had breakfast at a small cafe a couple of blocks up from our hotel. We walked to many of the old town sites of interest but unfortunately due to our time constraint we did not have time to visit any of the building’s interiors. Although it was very sunny it was not overwhelming hot. We walked for a long time and took rests here and there. After visiting the Plaza Mayor and Puerta Del Sol one last time, we went back to the hotel to retrieve our bags. We took two inter-connected subway lines to get to the train station. We noticed that the honour-based public transportation access experienced in Germany gave place to a controlled access gates/turnstiles in Spain. Our train tickets were validated before boarding and our bags were inspected at a security check point. The five hour train ride to Balboa was smooth. We had some good baguette/subs on the train for supper. Although the seats were OK, we were surrounded by some noisy families with kids. We missed the more upscale German train experience. At the train station in Bilbao, we took a taxi to our four star Gran Bilbao Hotel which appeared some distance from any subway stations. Our taxi driver was much friendlier than the one in Basel. Our hotel was bustling with visitors on tour buses. The hotel’s WiFi was very weak and not accessible from our room – somewhat frustrating for a four star hotel.

2013.08.07 – Bilbao (Spain)

We woke up to a cloudy sky this morning. We ventured out to find the closest subway station which was 10-15 minutes walk from our hotel. We bought a subway day pass for each of us. We rode almost to the end of the subway line in order to see the oldest trans-boarding bridge in the world. We had breakfast shortly after exiting the subway. We experienced crossing the bridge at a cost of 1 euro for the three of us. As we arrived on the other side, it started to rain. We took cover in a nearby cafe. Later, we took the subway again to visit a large shopping mall in the suburbs. After walking a fair distance from the subway station, we discovered that the outlet shopping mall was very disappointing and a complete waste of our time. Back on the subway, we stopped to visit the old town “vasco viejo” – unfortunately it was the siesta time and most of the stores were closed. We opted to visit the exterior of the famous Guggenheim Museum. After taking a few pictures, we went back to our hotel for a rest. In the evening, we sought some TripAdvisor restaurant recommendations to try out a Spanish specialty – the paella. We discovered that the recommended restaurant was closed in August for summer holidays but an alternate location was listed on the door. We made our way to this other restaurant just to face yet another closed door. In desperation, Victoria pressed a door bell and suddenly we are welcomed into the restaurant. There was only one other table occupied in the place. The restaurant was very elegant and our waiter provided us with excellent service. We totally enjoyed our Seafood Paella for three. It was dark by the time we left the restaurant. We lost our directions on the walk back to the subway station but with the help of a local we were quickly sent back on the right way. Back at the hotel, we prepared for a very early wake up to get to the airport.

2013.08.08 – Bilbao – Barcelona (Spain)

Our alarm clock woke us up this morning. We checked-out of the hotel and then we awaited for the city bus at our door steps. Jenny was not thrilled to take the bus to the airport as it was raining. We boarded the bus by 6:30am and we arrived in the downtown area shortly after. It rained heavily while we waited for the airport bus. Jenny was re-assured when other folks showed up for the same airport bus. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Just when we thought the airplane seats could not get any smaller, Vueling.com managed to do it. The short one hour flight represented less than half the time we waited at the airport. It was still better than spending an entire day on the train. In Barcelona, we took a local train and a shuttle bus between Terminal 1 and 2 to get to our hotel. The train route was a bad choice as the ride was slow ride and the wait time was long. To further complicate our trek to our Bed and Breakfast, we waited a very long time for a city bus (14) after realizing that we had been waiting on the wrong side of the street. We finally arrived at our B&B around 1:00pm. We were nicely greeted by our host Rosa. She shared with us a lot of visitor information about Barcelona. We decided to try our luck at tapas at one of the few cafe/restaurant still opened during the afternoon siesta period. We walked a long way from our B&B to the end of the Las Ramblas pedestrian street and back to our B&B. The street was without any doubts the main tourist strip. The walkway was flanked by numerous restaurants, the occasional Gaudi architectures and stunning living statue performers. We opted for a quick and cheap supper with sandwiches from a Carrefour grocery store.

2013.08.09 – Barcelona (Spain)

In the morning we took it easy as we were hanging around the B&B for Jack and Jessica to arrive from London. We had breakfast on-site at the B&B. Jack and Jessica arrived around 12:00pm. Everyone was happy to see each other. After they settled into their room, we all headed out to explore Barcelona. We bought a T-10 bus pass which allowed us to share the ticket for two trips each. The bus brought us to the Plaza Catalonia where we started our walk on the Las Ramblas followed by the waterfront and Barcelona’s beach area.

On our return walk, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch with some sangria. The restaurant owner was very pleased by our visit. Back at the Plaza Catalonia, we returned to our B&B. Our host had given us earlier a good restaurant recommendation for supper. After a short rest, we headed out in search of the restaurant (El Glop). With the help of Jack’s and Jessica’s smart phones, we managed to find the restaurant. We all enjoyed very much our meal experience there. On the way back, we stopped at an ATM machine to buy our tickets for tomorrow’s visit of the Sangria Familia basilica. It had been a nice family reunion day!

2013.08.10 – Barcelona (Spain)

This morning we stopped at a nearby bakery for breakfast on our walk to the Sangria Familia church. We arrived 30 minutes before our scheduled visit time. We walked around the outside of this huge church still under construction. We were relieved to have reserved ticket as the regular waiting line was quite long. Our guide provided us with some very insightful information about the church – an amazing Gaudi architecture. After our visit, we grabbed some sandwiches and fruits at a Carrefour grocery store and we had a pick-nick under the shade in a park facing the Sangria Familia church. We lingered in the park a bit while Victoria was excited to greet and hold a small kitten. After a good rest, we planned to visit the large hill that hosted the 1992 Summer Olympic. We boarded the city bus “50” which was meant, according to our travel guide, to bring us near the station site. Unfortunately we discovered at its final stop that the bus failed to bring us close to our destination. After reviewing our public transportation options, we took the subway and a short trip up on a funicular. At the top, we walked further up the hill to a nice lookout area that provided us with some great views of the Mediterranean sea and the city below. We visited the Olympic stadium on the way down the hill. We stopped for some ice cream break nearby a museum. We boarded the subway again and we rode back to our B&B. After a short rest, we headed back to the same neighbourhood as yesterday in search of a different restaurant. Unfortunately, we failed to find a new restaurant and ended up going back to the previous evening’s restaurant El Glop.