Catching up with old friends in Barcelona

Barcelona Port

After double and triple checking the weather, we departed for Barcelona on June 2nd.  It would be an overnight sail with the expectation that we would arrive early in the am on June 3rd.  Barcelona is a big city and a big port.  Twenty to thirty miles out we started seeing considerable ship traffic.  And not just commercial ships but also several pleasure boats.  There were quite a few sailboats trying their best to make some headway with less than five knots of wind.  It was clear that they were just out sailing, not destination bound.  

Barcelona port entrance

 It was still dark as we approached Barcelona so we waited outside the port for enough light to enter.  There were several cargo ships at anchor and several coming into the port - time to stay alert!  

Me and my friend, Brenda - Barcelona Cathedral

As in much of Europe there is no shortage of beautiful cathedrals in Barcelona.  But the most iconic cathedral is the eclectic Sagrada Familia.  It is doubtless the most unusual cathedral we have ever seen.  The four of us walked to the Sagrada Familia, but did not go inside due to time constraints.  Michael and I had scheduled a tour of the cathedral for the next day, but sadly our friends cruise ship was only in Barcelona for a brief period so they did not see inside the church.  That is the way with cruise ships, they prefer that you spend the majority of your time on the ship.  

Sagrada Familia

 Sagrada Familia is the largest unfinished Catholic Church in the world.  Construction began in 1882, yet some question whether it will ever be finished.  There are serious obstacles in the path of completion, one of which is the inconvenient fact that there are now apartment buildings in the space where the rest of the spires are to be built.  The folks that live there are not agreeable to having their homes torn down to make room for the church's completion.  To say that the church is controversial would most certainly be an understatement.

Sagrada Familia

 

Even if you don't care for Antoni Gaudi's design that mixes Gothic and Art Nouveau styles, the attention to detail is admirable.  Some call the church "hideous" and some think it is "genius".  I think everyone can agree that it is in a class all its own.  Gaudi wanted the inside of the church to look like a forest - the pillars are to represent trees.  And he wanted a lot of natural light via the stained glass windows.  

Sagrada Familia

 

The inside of the cathedral for us was jaw dropping.  Definitely a must see if in Barcelona.  If it is ever finished we will make a return trip!

 

La Rambla

  Michael and I walked and walked and walked all around Barcelona.  After our second visit to Sagrada Familia we decided to stroll down La Rambla.  An iconic pedestrian street that was the site of a terrorist attack several years back.   Barcelona has been on my bucket list for some time - we were very happy to spend a few days there.  The weather was nice.  It was crowded but not Venice crowded.                                   

La Rambla

We have to arrive in Gibraltar by June 26th and still have a few places we want to visit along the Spanish coast.  And... Barcelona is very expensive - we can't afford to stay at the marina too long and there are no suitable anchorages (unless you are a cargo ship).  So we will be moving on to Valencia which should be our last overnight sail.  After that it will be short hops down the coast.  Looking forward to some more leisurely sailing😀.
 

 

Leaving Italy...

Mahon Harbour

 We were very sad to have to leave Sardinia so soon.  There is never enough time it seems.  I will refrain from complaining about the Schengen restrictions yet again... I have complained enough.  Much as we would love to linger longer in Italy, we are now headed to Spain.  From Sardinia to Menorca, the closest island in the Balearic Islands of Spain, is another overnight sail.  The trip started out fine... but as the night wore on the weather took a turn.

Mahon, Menorca - Spain

Being very sensitive to lightning following our near direct lightning strike, we became very alert when we started to see lightning off in the distance.  We turned on the radar to locate the storm cell and then we promptly diverted our course.  No way were we going to sail through a storm with lightning after just getting Talaria repaired a couple months earlier.  

 

Mahon, Menora

Diverting would mean we would get in later in the day, but still on the day we intended.  In the end, we went about five miles around the storm and when we saw a path to get back on course we took it.  For sure, we got rained on but we avoided the lightning, so although wet we were happy.  By the next afternoon we spotted Menorca and started in the harbour entrance at Mahon.  The small island of Menorca is not the most popular but definitely the closest from Sardinia and the first opportunity to check in to Spain. Although now short on time we lingered a day to have a look around the town of Mahon before heading to Barcelona.

Mahon Harbour

A high school friend that I have not seen in 10 years is on a cruise and will be in Barcelona.  Since we are in the area we decided to try and make it to Barcelona while her cruise ship is in the port.  So we can't linger in Menorca too long, but plan to stay in Barcelona for a few days.  

 

Island of Menorca

On the day we set out to leave there was a fellow in a kayak beside Talaria.  We were motoring out of the harbour and he was just out kayaking.  He started talking to us about coming from the US and then asked if we were heading to the next island, Mallorca.  After we told him we were heading to Barcelona he said "be careful, there will be heavy storms".  Now mind you we are very diligent about checking the weather, but I had not checked the local weather forecast.  Instead I used a weather app we use often called "Windy".  Windy was not forecasting the storms at the same intensity as the local forecast. 

Mahon, Menorca

 We were thinking "how did we not see that?"  So... we decided to at least get to the other side of the island.  Initially, we were going to go to a marina but there were visible storms in that direction. Instead, we made the decision to just stop at an anchorage that looked okay.  It was raining but the storms were all ahead of where we were stopping and not moving our direction.  Several other folks had the same idea.

Anchorage - Menorca

 The rain finally stopped and it was a quiet night.  Early the next morning we pulled the anchor and set sail for Barcelona with blue skys.