Cataluña National Day

September 11 is The National Day of Catalonia, also known as the Diada, a day-long festival. We had the day off, and spent most of it lounging around the apartment. It was pouring rain, so I did laundry and baked cookies. The sun came out in the afternoon, so we decided to go for a walk. We haven't made it down to the waterfront since we moved here. We were clearly not the only ones with that idea! Lots of flags, people in "independence" t-shirts, etc. There was a stage set up at the bottom of La Rambla, and lots of people gathering in various places. But they were very friendly and peaceful - more of a party than a protest. 

As we were walking along, we noticed a giant yacht
in the harbor, towering over everything. Turns out it's the Maryah,  #37 on the list of largest yachts in the world. According to one website, its amenities include a dance floor, movie theater, beauty salon, and underwater lights. It has 27 state rooms. The interior photos are stunning. It's owned by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. Because of course it is.

After that distraction, we headed over to the Barceloneta neighborhood, which is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, dating from the 18th Century. There were a few stalls of food and drinks (like a farmer's market) so we got some garlic-flavored olive oil, and some excellent cheese for John. The streets in Barceloneta are narrow and the buildings are short. We were headed towards the beach on the far side of the tiny triangular piece of land. When we visited Barcelona in 2016 with the family, we went to one of the seaside restaurants for paella for dinner on our last night. (We couldn't remember exactly which place.) 

We stopped for a drink in a touristy beach restaurant - fresh OJ for John and lemonade for me - and then my hubby the oceanographer had to go say 'hello' to the water. Unfortunately, the beach (and the water) in this area are not the cleanest. But he felt better after seeing it. :)  We found our way to a bus stop and waited for the bus that *should* have taken us up to a stop 2 blocks from our place. Unfortunately, our bus was either super late or not running because of the holiday, so we hoofed it back to the metro. There was more police presence in and around the metro than I'd ever seen before. 

On the way home we stopped at two of our favorite stores, Leroy Merlin and Media Markt. We go to these two places so often, pretty soon they're going to call out our names when we walk in the door (like "Norm!" from Cheers). 

Total steps for the day ended up being over 12,000 for me, and over 10,000 for John. Phew!