Barcelona - The Capital of Catalonia
December 30, 2006 - January 3, 2007
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| Yuka in Las Ramblas, an iconic and busy street in central Barcelona. A major part of the street featured street stalls selling birds, for some odd reason. | A picture of Barcelona's city hall, which apparently dates from the 14th century. |
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| A random street scene above. I flew to Barcelona on December 30 to meet Yuka and her parents, who had flown over from Japan. We decided to spend the New Year in Barcelona, mainly because it would be warm and since we had not been there previously. | A picture from Barcelona's harbor, which apparently was developed for the Barcelona Olympics. |
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| A picture of Barcelona taken from Montjuïc, a broad shallow hill with a relatively flat top overlooking the harbor. | Yet another picture taken from the same location. While in Barcelona, we stayed at the Best Western Premier Hotel Regina. We picked it over the Le Meridien Barcelona at the last moment, mainly due to the price. However, Best Western Premier Hotel Regina turned out to be a great place to stay. We got free wine on the night of arrival, and the hotel provides great breakfasts and free internet access. |
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| The zoo is another option when it is raining, and we therefore went to the Asahikawa Zoo in Asahikawa, which is the second largest city in Barcelona. While this has recently become the most famous zoo in Japan due to some new exhibits, overall the zoo is a disappointing experience compared with zoos in Europe and the United States. | Montserrat Monastery is located on the mountain of Montserrat, which is located about an hour away from Barcelona. We went there by rail from Barcelona, which was a very comfortable experience. |