Barcelona... The Old City

So we ended up with almost 3 days in Barcelona. It was from here that we boarded our cruise, but it stayed in port the first day, so it gave us plenty of time to see the sites. It was interesting to me how the people dressed very differently than in Paris. They were much more chic...with lots of bright colors and very trendy outfits and haircuts.

The first day we went to a beautiful and famous covered market, off of one of the main shopping streets (Las Ramblas). It was almost overwhelming...there was everything....cheese, meat (some of it very questionable), candy, nuts, spices, vegetables, and fruit. They cut open fruit and sold it with spoons to eat. We bought some fruit and chocolates, but mostly just spent time wandering up and down the many aisles.

And fresh fruit juices....we find these down here in Arizona too....but they had so many flavors! The whole market was a rainbow of colors, it was really beautiful and a little overwhelming!

Hmmmm.....what to choose.....

Here are some of the questionables...sorry to anyone who is squeamish!Just behind the market is the Old City. It was amazing, and was to be the first taste of many more of these old cities. The "streets" were a few feet wide, and even with a map we got turned around over and over. It was like walking through a movie set, but it was real. People still live in these buildings and the shops are below. Sometimes a small vehicle would come down the "street" and all the people would have to squeeze over to one side. I was fascinated by the whole experience.

Connecting some of the buildings were these ornate walkways

Within the Old City we came upon beautiful courtyards, and then a large open square. In the center, overlooking the main square, was the cathedral. It was built so close to the walls of the residences, it seemed that if someone leaned far enough out over their balcony, they might just touch it.

Within the Old City was the really old city....there are actually remnants of Roman Empire walls built around the original city. Part of that original city was the Jewish Quarter....you could see along the side of the buildings where they had tried to integrate them into the old wall.