A garden walk and a "sweet" walk.

Today was our last day in Barcelona, so of course we slept late to take advantage of our last day of vacation, and also to prep for a sleepless night ahead of us (we have to get up at 3am tomorrow morning to catch our plane...)  We left the apartment and went to lunch at Casa Tomasa in El Born.  It had a nice outdoor terrace, but they actually charged more for the meals on the terrace than to eat indoors!  Being the cheapskates we are, we opted to eat indoors despite the lovely day.  :)  Casa Tomasa was another welcome chance to eat a few greens; I had a tasty strawberry and salmon salad.

Tower of the cable car Transbordador Aeri.

After lunch we decided to ride the cable car from La Barceloneta to Montjuïc to get a lovely view of Barcelona.  We didn't realize that this would take a LOT longer than expected.  First, we waited at the bottom of the tower - there were only about 30 people in line, so we expected it would be a pretty short wait, but we had to stand there for about a half hour.  Then once we got up to the top, we had to wait for another 45 minutes before even getting on the cable car!  It only holds about 15 people, and it moves ve-e-e-e-eery slowly...

Once we got on the cable car, it did provide lovely views of the city, despite the fact that I had to have my face almost directly in some German guy's smelly armpit.  From the cable car we had beautiful views of land and sea, and I could see all the way to the Cathedral, and even beyond to the spires of La Sagrada Familia!

Beautiful Barcelona as viewed from the cable car.

That boat in the picture was seriously HUGE - the mast was probably 3-4 stories high!  The wide angle lens makes it look small.  :)

Barcelona!

At the top of Montjuïc, we decided to do the "views and gardens" walk from the Lonely Planet.  Lonely Planet unfortunately didn't tell us that the art museums on the walk are all closed on Mondays... The various gardens were lovely and green, though I bet they are a lot nicer in the summer when the flowers are in bloom.

The view of Barcelona from Montjuïc.

Inside one of the gardens of Montjuïc, with the Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya visible above the trees.

Walking in the Jardins de Laribal.

Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya - the end of our walk through the gardens.

Finished with our garden walk, I picked out another tasty looking walk from Rick Steve's book - "a short, sweet walk." :)  This walk starting from La Rambla was a tour of some sweet and calorie-laden Spanish delights.  We started out at Casa Colomina for some turrón, sort of like fudge or nougat made with almonds, honey and sugar.  We nibbled on the turrón as we headed for La Pallaresa Granja-Xocolateria for churros con chocolate - yummy, deep fried tubes of dough which are then dipped into a cup of hot chocolate so thick it is a step away from being pudding!  Rick Steves books tend to be great at getting us off the beaten path, and this place was ALL locals - not a single tourist in the place besides us!  At this early evening hour it was packed - not a single empty table, and the servers could barely squeeze between all the crowded tables.  Perhaps this is why the Spanish can eat their dinner so late - they have churros at 5pm as a snack!  :)  Our last stop was the Fargas chocolate shop for more delicious homemade chocolate truffles.

Gavin enjoys some churros con chocolate at La Pallaresa Granja-Xocolateria.

Having had three desserts first as our "appetizer," we then headed out to dinner.  (yes, we are a little ridiculous with the eating on our vacations...)  Gavin picked a place recommended on Yelp called Il Mercante de Venezia, a nice, quiet Italian place that was a welcome change from seafood and tapas.  We had a lovely dinner with delicious red wine, then headed out to take one last romantic evening walk in Barcelona, heading back to the apartment early to pack and get ready for our 3am walk up call.  Tomorrow we say adiós to Barcelona.

Port Vell at night.