Re: Mediteranean cruise
We've been to Barcelona a few times and have stayed at both the Regency Colon (2 yrs ago) and last year at the Arch Las Rambles right on Las Rambles. We love Barcelona and stayed 3 nights each time in connection with a cruise. At the Arch Las Rambles we asked for a room in the back away from the noise since it's located right on Las Rambles. We found being on Las Rambles had some advantages for us since we were right on one of the most interesting streets in the world. The hotel itself was good, Breakfast was good, rates were reasonable, Staff was nice and helpful, room was very small (actually small takes on a whole new meaning) but it wasn't noisy and it was clean. This hotel couldn't be much closer to the ship yard so that was very nice for us. Our friends stayed at the Colon and we stayed at the Regency Colon on a previous visit. These hotels are a little farther from Las Rambles but you do get to see a bit of local streets on a easy walk there. The room if I remember were also small but larger then Arc Las Rambles. We do a lot of site seeing and walking and found each hotel served our needs well. BTW we didn't find the Colon Hotels wasn't any quieter then Arch Las Ramblus hotel.
A few tips in Barcelona:
1.Ask the price of the Sangria before buying it at the cafes right on Las Rambles. In general they don't show you the price outside on the menu but believe me you will pay an arm and leg for one. We had a lot of fun at the smallest bar in the world right outside the Arch Las Rambles hotel. The owner bar keep was very friendly and we had several good conversation with him. Its located on the first corner outside the hotel going away from the ocean. Its outside and there is only standing room or 2 or 3 people. Beer and wine was cheap and he even gave us free wine the our beer.
2. We found a great place for Pinchers - which are small little snacks you pick up with a tooth pick and save the picks on your plate to later pay by the tooth pick. I can't remember the name of it now right now - it was off one of the side streets between both hotels. Ask for a place that serves Pincher's. You have to stand, there are no seats and they pass the plates around with the pinchers so you can see what they look like before you try them. They are great! Its a fun and one of the more reasonable places to eat (You'll find local food expensive and you better like sea food with all the parts - we didn't)
3.Use the Double Decker bus to see the sites. You can get a all day or several day pass and they run frequent. You just hope on and off when you want. There are about 3 different routes to take and the pass lets you get on and off each bus.
4.Theres an opera right on Las Rambles that we enjoyed one night. I think we waited till after a certain time the day before the Opera and got discounted seats. I think they said after 4 they discount them and we showed up at 3:30 to ask if they were going to have any discounted seats and they gave them to us right away.
5. The Ship/Sea Muse mun at the end of Las Rambles is a lot more interesting then I thought it would be . Its worth a visit. A walk down to the pier is also interesting if you have the time.
6. Architecture in Barcelona is the most interesting in the world - you see it all from the Tour buses and then can get off and visit them on the stops.
7. One of the more reasonable meals we had was outside at the end of Las Rambles at a Hollywood Cafe. Believe it or not it was out first visit to one ever and in Barcelona the food was good and reasonable also.
Thats it > Tired of typing and have to start planning our cruise to Scandinavia and Russia from Harwich May 23 with RCL (anyone going on this cruise - We would love to hear from you ?).
If I get a chance later I'll comment on our recent Venice and Antarctica visits.
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