Last of Barcelona before meeting in Malta

I was given a new room overlooking Placa Catalunya yesterday so it was a nice view to wake up late to 🙂

With a night flight to Malta, I had time to kill before going to the airport.  I thought I’d make the most of my stay by visiting Gaudi’s Park Guell (pronounce Park Way).  I hadn’t expected to want to visit this and when I arrived after a 45 minute bus ride through the city streets, I realised that tickets were sold out.

Fortunately there was still a fair bit of the park that was available for free.  And I was still able to get a glimpse of the masterpiece architecture a little below.  It was a cool drizzly day which was quite a pleasant change from the hot and humid.

Text continues after this gallery.

By the time I was done and bussed back into the city, Barcelona was back to its sunny demeanour and I kept myself cool until taking the bus to the airport around 1800.  With a strike by security screening staff, it took an hour to get through.  I was pleased when I got to the very nice lounge and had a couple of glasses of wine and got chatted up by a Belgian guy.

Vueling’s 2130 departure time came and went.  It wasn’t until around 2200 that we were told of a delay till 2245, which meant that we would be boarding soon after the announcement.  Some people had already been queueing for an hour.  It turned out that the Captain had been delayed on an inbound sector on which he had been passengering.

I landed around 0030.  Kim had been waiting 2h+.  His flight had been delayed for the same amount of time, so things didn’t work out too badly.  The hotel taxi took us to Merisi Suites where we spent our next three nights.

It was a very old building with walls and ceilings made from large blocks of stone.  The tables are dusted with flecks and flakes of stone falling off so it’s best not to leave food open on the table too long unless you want extra calcium.