Retirement trip - Day 25

 Another day wandering around Barcelona. Sunday seems to be 'street market day' here as there were numerous that I came across. Some sold books, records and CDs, some antiques and decorative objects, but 90% sold old clothes and household items. I was going to take some photos but my camera developed a fault. Some months before the trip the camera had problems extending and uncovering the lens. It also had a problem with the buttons sometimes sticking, so I sent it to the manufacturer's service department.  They replaced the switches but said that parts were no longer available for the lens, so they had cleaned and lubricated it and it seemed to work. (It's only about 5 years old!) Today the lens wouldn't extend so I had to use my phone. For some reason it gave a yellow cast to the pictures, so I've converted them to black and white.

At the poorer end of this market the sellers didn't have stalls, just a sheet on the road.

There were a pair of tricycles with home made wooden speaker cabinets and sound equipment setting up. 

I continued wander around until I came to the Palau Güell. This is an amazing town house designed by Antoni Guadi for a local business man and his family. Unfortunately most of the photos I took indoors didn't come out, but those taken outside or on the roof did. Website

These are the chimneys of the building.

I continued wandering around and made my way to the beach. I stopped for a rest on a bench and tried my camera again. No improvement so I pulled at the lens and it extended. When I switched it off it retracted, and when I switched it back on it expended. I seem to have corrected the fault, but I'll find out how long for!

The day was a bit overcast and there had been the occasional spot of rain, but there were still quite a few people on the beach.

There is a cable car that crosses the harbour and goes to the park at Montjuïc. I had thought of taking it, but decided to walk instead, a bad decision as it turned out.

Another street market near the harbour.

Monument to who English speakers call Christopher Columbus.

I walked past Palau Güell again and took a better photo.

Walked through Las Ramblas, it has a main street where the centre is taken up with stalls and restaurants, a couple of squares, and a lot of small, narrow streets full of shops and restaurants. Some of the shops sell genuinely interesting crafts, but a lot just sell the same tourist tat. I counted four 'official FC Barcelona regalia shops' in one street alone!

A Scottish/Irish pub - just like the real thing!

Saw this interesting shop, now a money changing place. Can't imagine you'd get a good exchange rate there, why not go to a bank?

Eventually I got too tired to walk to the park and headed back to the apartment. Saw this interesting building on the way.

Tomorrow I'll be leaving Barcelona and be back on the road!