Day 36, Sunday, July 1 – Barcelona to Malgrat de Mar, Spain
Monday 2 July 2012
Hazy and humid this morning as we wound our way out of Barcelona into a stiff headwind, catching a few last glimpses
of the city’s sites.
On our bus tour we had seen this office building from a distance, but our route out of town had us pass right by it.
Within the hour the hazy sky turned cloudy and saved us from the sun and 20 plus degrees on the thermometer. Grabbed our first opportunity to ride the beach road;
it was enough turn in the road to put the wind at our back. We sailed through small towns with the smell of seafood cooking in every one;
saw some very interesting architecture,
picturesque beaches
and even got a glimpse of a castle;
a truly beautiful ride.
We saw a lot of bikers on their Sunday ride and got a lot of enthusiastic waves and shouts.
At 11:00, as the climbing began, the wind switched to in our face,
but the towns continued to be interesting
and the scenery 
fabulous.
After an hour of small ups and downs, we once again dropped down to the beach
with hundreds and hundreds of people walking the sidewalks. With the overcast skies, they’d vacated the beach and were window shopping. By noon and almost 40 miles, we were faced with the decision to ride 25 more miles (over mountains and into the wind) or stay put. Not quite sure of which road to take and exactly how bad the hills were, we checked in; a great decision given the thunder/ligthening storm that blew in an hour later…..it was wicked.
We saw a brief break in the sky and took a stroll down the tourist trap streets of the town, like walking down Atlantic Avenue.. The wind was blowing and it was cold, something we had not felt in several weeks. We retreated to our room and watched as the storm got a second wind and seemed to come from every direction.
Big game tonight, European Football Championships between Spain and Italy. It was pouring as we went downstairs to watch the game in front of the big screen TV, along with the entire hotel.
We only lasted for the first half, but knew that Spain won based on the yells and fireworks for hours afterwards.
Bobby Says:
I hate it when Big Breakfast Sunday gets lost in the excitement. No food or drink today?
Jerry and Lori Says:
Any time I can put calories in my belly on this trip I do….Sunday or not…most days I have no idea what day it is. That might be of course due to age. Something you are very familiar with. We were so depleted of energy today after doing 53 miles of hills…mountains ….in almost 7 hours of saddle time…we both became quite dizzy….life is good….
travis Says:
So glad you braved it and spend TWO days in Barcelona and used multi modes of public transit. As great as biking is, you get an entirely different perspective and experiences when traveling the way you did (even with its difficulties – and you got too be part of a wedding). Really enjoyed your aerial pics and descriptions. This is the first mention of rain that I recall on this trip. Very fortunate with the weather. According to wiki, the bullet shaped office building is the Torre Agbar, it’s 38 stories (3rd tallest in Barcelona) and inspired by Monteserrat and Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. It is covered with LED’s that put on quite a display at night. Can’t wait for your next post. Travel safe.