Two Days in Barcelona

Friday 29th June 2018 - Aguila, Spain

BARCELONA, SPAIN 26th - 27th June 2018

We arrived in Barcelona on Monday, 25th June and took the Aerobus in the direction of our hotel - Hotel Abbot - which was a great little hotel with great air conditioning, clean and close to the hop on/hop off bus - BarcelonaBusTuristic.

Monday and Wednesday night we ate at Zarautz Restaurant which did great pintxos.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we caught the hop on/hop off bus. On Tuesday we went to the Barcelona Maritime Museum which had a life size replica of an old galley, the interactive display was excellent.

We then stopped at the Basilica Santa Maria del Mar and went inside to look around. The cost was five euros and we had to wait less than 5 mins before we went in - cheaper and quicker than the Sagrada Familia. The church stained windows were beautiful as well as the architecture.

Then we walked to the Gothic Quarter via the Picasso Museum, went to the Barcelona Cathedral and then had lunch in the Jaume Placa.

Then we went to the Picasso Museum - we had to wait over half an hour before we could get tickets and go in - so if you are ever going there then get your tickets online before you go, the same goes for the Sagrada Familia.  No photos allowed at the Picasso Museum but it was great to see the progression in his work from creating excellent portraits at aged 14, his ceramics and linocut prints.

We hopped on the bus to the Sagrada Familia and walked around the outside and drank some water and soft drink - it about 5:30pm by then. After this we went hopped on the bus back to the hotel.

We had tapas for dinner at Azul Restaurant.

On Wednesday we walked to the blue line bus stop and hopped on and hopped off at Parc Guell pronounced Gway where Gaudi had a house and the views of the city are great.

Hopped back on the bus and hopped of at Sarria, a suburb of Barcelona with lots of great patisseries. We only bought an apple cake but there were some superb cakes displayed - yummy.

We took the bus back to Placa Catalunya to ramble down La Rambla and back up through laneways towards the Gothic Quarter again. This was when the first photo on this blog page was taken - at Pl Reial. then we hopped back on the bus and went back to the hotel.

We loved Barcelona - the architecture, history, scenery are stunning.

I'm in London Still...

London - Saturday, 23rd June 2018

Last Wednesday, 20th June, we flew to London via Singapore. It was a long flight...

On Thursday, 21st June we went walking with Cousin Anne's walking group - from High Elms to Downe and back.  Downe is the village where Charles Darwin lived.  We didn't have time to see his house but walked passed his local church and the cemetery where his wife and children are buried.

The walk was 2 1/4 hours long though 3/4 of an hour we spent having morning tea at The Teashop where we had tea and a toasted fruit bun.

In the afternoon we went shopping at Hobby Craft where I picked up some stamps and ink for my Travel Journal.


On Friday, 22nd June, we went into London to the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. The British museum was full of historical artefacts including the Rosetta Stone.  I really enjoyed the old clocks and watches and the Sutton Hoo ship burial exhibition.

Today, Saturday - I'm meeting a friend in Camden to look around the markets and have lunch. Tomorrow, we are having a family barbecue and on Monday we are off to Barcelona.

June 2018 GPE Challenge/Inspiration

I have created a challenge per month for my Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts Facebook group.

June 2018 Inspiration is Jane Davies - Stacks of Shapes.  I tried this a few years ago and it was lots of fun. Here's a link to my blogpost from 2014. My prints are very controlled and not very loose - something which I'd like to try and change.

View Jane's video here to see how she created her gel plate shapes. I used thin cardboard to cut out my my stencils and mask and used translucent paint with micaceous iron oxide paint by Golden Acrylic to make the shapes look more rock-like.

My Jane Davies Pinterest board is here.

You will find Jane on Pinterest, Youtube, website.

Have fun.