Traveling Disers are lost and adrift somewhere?

[castlegazer]

AWESOME! I don't think Ed's been getting enough crap lately. He pays you all off with jewels and you all ignore his habits like flashing his thong at passers bys.

So DHB, you and can go here and relax and sip drinks until the rest of the get their stuff together.

OH WAIT! I just saw Ed's post, NIIIIICCCCCE!!!!!! I forgot about our staff!

 

[deadheadbelle]

Thanks Ed! Sorry for yelling, as my niece used to say, "it because I hungy". Woo Hoo!

What's that hottie gonna cook up for us tonight? I am Starvin' Marvin.

I think I'd like some margaritas on the rocks with EXTRA salt to start things off.

 

[edcrbnsoul]

OK we dont usually change countries until Monday but what the heck,
WELCOME TO BARCELONA SPAIN!

Barcelona is a very tempting city. Once you get there, you are immediately conquered by the large terraces in the sun, the beaches and the hills covered with vegetation which seem to overhang over the city.

Markets with colourful stalls, tapas bars, bullfight … Here, all contributes to create an environment full of entertainment.

After 1992, the Mediterranean atmosphere is stronger than ever. For the Olympic Games, the four kilometres of littoral were emphasized. Very modern districts like the Olympic Port were born. The city is open to the sea.



Dominating Barcelona, the large statue of Christopher Columbus makes us think of the time of the big discoveries. Barcelona was then a great commercial power. The Generalitat Palace is one of the sites of that flourishing time. While strolling in the old part of the city, you will discover the richness of Barcelona’s Romanesque and Gothic inheritance. It is very impressive the number of churches, big or small, chapels and convents.

Barcelona surprises because it is full of contrasts. Is it really a city or “the truth overlaps the imaginary” wrote the poet Pierre Lartigue. By using polychrome ceramics, brick and iron, the modernists architects, among them Gaudi, modelled the city in a very strange manner. They have given the city a ferial dimension. Picasso, Miro and Tapies were artists under the spell of the city.

The charm of Barcelona is indefinable. One oscillates from the astonishment to the admiration. “The city of the prodigies” written by the Catalan writer Mendoza, can offer a first approach to Barcelona. Also follow the traces of Pepe Carvalho, the orphan hero by Manuel Vasquez Montalbán. In love with the city, it will be an excellent guide for you.

 

[suzannen]

Well since we're back in a city with restaurants, you guys wouldn't mind if borrowed Chef to wander around Barcelona with for a while, do you?

I really need to get his recipes from some of those delicious dishes he served us last night.

 

[edcrbnsoul]

Um ya Recipes sure thing whatever you say

 

[travlnman1]

Castlegazer....from Barcelona can you take us over to Mallorca for a quick visit? My Aunt and Uncle live there half of the year and I've never gone to visit! I want to know what it's like.

 

[edcrbnsoul]

Good Morning all we sailed into Barcelona this weekend and after partying this weekend maybe we should actually visit the city

Our itinerary begins at Plaça Catalunya, the city’s nerve centre. Heading downwards, we enter the Portal de l’Àngel, a busy shopping thoroughfare which leads to the city’s historic district. The Carrer del Pi will bring you to Plaça del Pi, an enchanting square where the church of Santa Maria del Pi (14th-century Gothic) is located. On Sundays, artists and painters converge on the square to exhibit their works.

A medieval street (Carrer de la Palla) takes you to the Cathedral, the Gothic Quarter’s most spectacular monument. Stop to have a coffee or cold drink at one of the pavement cafés in the square, while you observe the magnificent façade. Be sure not to miss the Gothic cloister in the Cathedral.

Building work on the Cathedral began at the end of the 13th century and ended six centuries later. The oldest part of the Cathedral is the doorway of Sant Iu; the façade, which was completed in 1890, is the most recent. Important features are the high altar, the 15th-century bell tower and cloisters, the choir stalls, the pulpit, the crypt of Santa Eulàlia (one of Barcelona's two patron saints), and the doorway of La Pietat (entrance to the cloister). The Gothic building is located on the site of an early-Christian basilica (4th century) with three naves, of which the baptistry is all that remains (it was destroyed in 958).

 

[edcrbnsoul]

On the right-hand side of the square, as you skirt a fragment of the Roman wall, Carrer del Bisbe brings you to Plaça Sant Jaume, the political hub of Catalonia. On one side of the square you will find the seat of the Catalan government, the Palau de la Generalitat, and on the other, City Hall.

In Placa del Rei, a captivating setting for lovers of the medieval world, you will find the old royal palace, the Palau Reial Major and the Great Hall, or Saló del Tinell. A visit to the Museu d’Història de la Ciutat reveals the remains of the Roman city of Barcino, excavated under Plaça del Rei.

La Rambla

This unique, lively and colourful boulevard runs from Plaça de Catalunya down to the port, lined with newspaper and book stands, and interspersed with bird and flower stalls. Thriving commerce has its focus on one of the side streets, the Portaferrissa. The route features buildings of great architectural value, such as the Betlem church, the 18th-century Palau Moja and the Palau de la Virreina, where temporary exhibitions are held.

 

[deadheadbelle]

Thanks for bringing us to Barcelona, another place I've never been. So beautiful. What's for breakfast?

 

[suzannen]

Originally posted by edcrbnsoul

This unique, lively and colourful boulevard runs from Plaça de Catalunya down to the port, lined with newspaper and book stands, and interspersed with bird and flower stalls.

Ed, I love this photo! This may show my naiveté, but when it says "bird and flower stalls," do they actually sell birds here?

I also second travlnman1's suggestion of hitting Mallorca sometime, I think I do need some new pearls.

 

[TLinden16]

Hello all. Finally caught up with you (thanks a lot for trying to ditch me in that alley, Ed). I jetted back to the States for a weekend in New York to see three plays, and had a wonderful time. Blew Hugh Jackman kisses from everyone.

Karen

 

[castlegazer]

Goodmorning everyone!!!! Spain - NICE!!!!

I have been absent due to work travel. Had to be down in CT for four days. It always stinks, stinks, stinks to work over a weekend. But I am back now - exhausted, but back.

Did someone call for breakfast?

 

[suzannen]

Had a heck of a time finding this thread today. I've just come back from the doctor's and been diagnosed with shingles. I'm going to the pharmacy to pick up some anti-viral prescription now.

I don't have much of an appetite, so I'll pass on any dinner, but would try to join in on any tours if we're still in Spain. (Is that where we are?)

 

[edcrbnsoul]

Sorry folks Capt. Ed has been shirking his Duties, IRL been having classes at work. So no time to research Spain, I'll try harder tomorrow promise.

 

[deadheadbelle]

Originally posted by suzannen
Had a heck of a time finding this thread today. I've just come back from the doctor's and been diagnosed with shingles. I'm going to the pharmacy to pick up some anti-viral prescription now.

I don't have much of an appetite, so I'll pass on any dinner, but would try to join in on any tours if we're still in Spain. (Is that where we are?)

OMG! I'm so sorry. I hope the meds work quickly & that you feel better soon. Prayers & PD on the way!

 

[castlegazer]

Oh Suzannen! This is one of my biggest fears. Hopefully it will get under control very fast with the meds! I have never had chicken pox, my mother tried to expose me as often as she could while I was little to no avail, and I fear getting Shingles now as an adult. They have to take extra precautions for me while I am pregnant too.

Get better SOON!

I am over loaded at work too - so sorry traveling fans. Ed and I are being kinda bad lately. I am trying to wrap up for my vacation coming up on Saturday.

So since everyone experienced my angst about what to do about vacation - should I take a big one like a cruise or just do something small - I need to tell you all what we decided to do. We will simply be going up to Maine for 10 days to hang out with the in-laws at the beach. I booked my husband and I into a very very nice inn for one night and we will eat dinner at a Michelin star rated restaurant that night too - this will actually be our first night away alone since my son was born 2 1/2 years ago (a wee bit overdue if you ask me). I came to the conclusion that I just wanted to relax and having the in-laws around gives me some extra help to be able to relax with my husband. I also wanted to travel heavy - bring my scrapbooking stuff and try and get some done, bring some big toys for my son to play with, and to spend some time cooking. Sounds wierd, but I never get to really cook as I get home so late at night so its always ready meals. I actually like to cook. So all in all it works out great to be able to go so close and to just be somewhere where we all relax and also have fun. I hope I don't want to kill my mother-in-law by the end of it, but hey, its a free place to stay.

So I will also be able to check in from time to time as we will have a lap top up there. But overall, I will be on vacation next week through Labor Day.

OK, so anyone know where we are today?

 

[deadheadbelle]

I think we are still in Spain.

Your vacation sounds awesome to me! Have a great time. When is your baby due?

 

[edcrbnsoul]

Good Morning travelers and welcome to Mallorca

Mallorca lives with an for the contrasts it offers: from the excitement of the cosmopolitan city of Palma to the seducing, idyllic landscapes inland. The largest of the Balearic Islands ("Mallor" - which means "largest" - ca, as opposed to "Menor" - the smaller one - ca) plays a leading role in the international tourist industry. For twenty three years now this island has even seduced the King of Spain.

Far from the popular tourist resorts there are countless corners where you can spend a holiday among pine and palm trees. The Queen of mass tourism also offers wild mountain landscapes unknown to the majority of people (Puig Major, 1443 metres). There are numerous trekking and cycling routes between Manacor and Llucmajor, which, in February, the month which anticipates the outburst of spring, draw the hiker into an immense white sea of seven million blossoming almond trees. In May it's the red poppy fields' turn.

The sheer northeastern coast between Banyalbufar and Pollença, before the awesome grey cliffs of Formentor and its lonely white lighthouse, already charmed the Fenitians, Romans and Arabs. Tourism three thousand years ago.

The island's history has influenced the worldly, welcoming and tolerant character of its inhabitants. Mallorca, which is at the same level as Rome and the same longitudinal degree as Paris, became fashionable when a so-called Frederico Chopin came seeking the Mediterranean climate to cure his ailing lungs in 1838/39. He moved into the Cartoixa, in the green mountains of Valldemossa, with his lover, the writer George Sand, and a piano.

The novel, A Winter in Mallorca, by George Sand became a bestseller and its title is still used as a slogan for the cultural events that take place on the island in winter. Chopin's Cartoixa has become an attraction for over 160.000 tourists every year. To this day, there is a red rose on the piano where he composed the "24 preludes op.28".

 

[castlegazer]

Well, travlnman1, I think you have your answer - ITS GORGEOUS!

I will work on some gastronomic delights for us. Hold on DHB, I can hear your stomach from here.

 

[deadheadbelle]

Originally posted by castlegazer
Well, travlnman1, I think you have your answer - ITS GORGEOUS!

I will work on some gastronomic delights for us. Hold on DHB, I can hear your stomach from here.

Thank you! Whatever you choose, I would like an alcoholic beverage served with it. I think this is a Bloody Mary morning.