Breakfast in Barcelona

In Barcelona, hot chocolate takes on a new dimension, almost as thick as pudding.  Served with hot churros for dipping, it can be a very tasty treat, so that's what I ordered at one of the many sidewalk cafés on La Rambla.

Julie went with chocolate croissant and coffee, something I associate more with Paris, but that proved to be the better choice this particular morning.

My churros were good, but the hot chocolate wasn't on par with the first time I tried it a few years back.  It wasn't as thick or as delicious, and I admit feeling a little guilty for straying from my usual alternating breakfasts of eggs with multi-grain toast and oatmeal, which are much healthier in my mind.  Perhaps the difference in quality was more based on my subjective observation than the chocolate itself.

How did we find ourselves having breakfast in Barcelona on a beautiful October morning?

When we saw a terrific deal on Regal Princess visiting Malta, which is near the top of our bucket list, Julie and I decided to book it, despite having an already full autumn calendar.

We skipped spending extra days exploring in Barcelona and the adjacent region, despite knowing how fantastic that can be from recent personal experience.

Non-stop air from Philadelphia made for a very easy redeye flight.  Before falling asleep, I watched the highly entertaining Nicholas Cage movie, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.  When our itinerary later took an unexpected turn and we found ourselves on a Game of Thrones excursion in Dubrovnik, Croatia, we discovered that flick had been partially filmed in that gorgeous port city.

Upon arrival in Barcelona, we had intended to tour the inside of La Sagrada Familia, the famous unfinished Gaudi-designed Cathedral, but we decided to book it once there rather than in advance, just in case something came up, like a late flight.

Note to self: if you don't have it booked, it becomes much easier to talk yourself out of doing something you really want to do once you are in proximity.

We took an Uber to the cruise ship port when we arrived in Barcelona rather early in the morning.  As expected, the ship was still debarking passengers.  

Our gamble that we might be allowed to check bags early paid off, but not until an hour or so passed with us cooling our heels along with another dozen or so early birds waiting for staff to arrive to throw our bags on a conveyor belt to be delivered to our rooms.

All in all, it had gone smoothly, and we soon boarded a shuttle bus (5 euro roundtrip per person) to take us back to the edge of town.

We walked up La Rambla, enjoying the ambiance and scanning breakfast menus, finally selecting one with a view of the gorgeous Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona's opera theater.

While coffee is a stimulant, we found ourselves increasingly relaxed.  Still, we eventually started walking in the right general direction to La Sagrada Familia. 

We hadn't gotten a full night of sleep, and we decided to turn around after a mile or so to start back to the bus drop-off point to board the ship.

It had nonetheless been a nice start to what turned out to be one of the best cruises ever, partly because we didn't try to do it all but rather gone with the flow.