My current trip to Barcelona

[CWBuff]

Greetings Esteemed Members
As I have alluded couple of times in some of my recent posts I just (well.... almost 2 weeks now ) came back from Barcelona. My wife Laurie & I briefly touched upon the city as it was the embarkation port for our Nov. 2019 Mediterranean cruise. We decided to come in a bit earlier, spent all of whopping 1.5 days....and totally fell in love, vowing to return ASAP!
(fast side story to that is that now looking back - we consider ourselves very lucky and VERY BLESSED as the cruise was Barcelona --> Palma --> Marseilles --> Genoa in short touching the 3 countries that got hit hardest by COVID.... and IMHO by the end of November chances are "the Spectre was Haunting Europe"... and we came out unscathed!)

Anyways, be it that my very 1st evah Camino (Frances) got canceled (postponed till next year) this was a consolation of a sort and we jumped on it the moment it became OK to travel. With questions about Barcelona poping-up every-so-often on Forum, I though I share the experience.
Please keep in mind that it is, after all, a typical touristy week, probably not much Camino-related stuff you can get out of it, but perhaps some things one may find interested if one choses to do a pre or post Camino stop

As background info also goes - both of us are fully vaccinated.

48 hours prior to departure (EWR-->BCN United Airlines) I got onto the Spanish Travel Health website and filled out forms for both of us (me being the 'primary' contact so to speak and my wife - a companion\addt'l member). Yes - lots of these questions are geared for folks who are flying in, so I do not rightly know what to tell those of you who travelling to Spain by other means, I can only tell you 'my story'. Shortly after form was completed I got verifying email with 2 forms (1 per each of us) containing QR codes. you can save them on the phone or print them - matters not. otherwise we were not asked our vaccine status, test results or anything of the type in order to board the outbound plane.
They got scanned after we deplaned at BCN even before Passport control with nothing more but Thank you and Welcome to Spain and can be promptly forgotten from that moment on (we did held on to them until we got home, just in case, but seems unnecessary)

We did have to get tested in order to come back home. We found a Lab (Laboratory Echevarne) with reasonable cost and early Friday morning (1-day before departure) we showed up with no appointment and were done in, say, 40-45 mins. The results of the test had to be uploaded to UA app (else they don't even issue the boarding passes) and still presented couple more times back at the El Pratt (along with passports) but in the end - back home we flew (obviously )

Any place inside will require masks as well as any public transportation and some entry points (i.e Parc Guell for example - however once past them if outside you can ditch if so desired). it is totally optional outside and we saw plenty of both cases. Restaurants, cafes, etc. - you are OK massless as long as you are sitting down, food\drink or not.

The curfew was in 1:00am - 6:00am (don't think we ever stayed out that late)

So... here is my link to the trip. Its got typical touristy stuff, our hotel (ILUNION Bel Art) and some restaurants and attractions we visited. Hope it proves to be of interest to those who wish to linger in Barcelona for a bit)

FindPenguins Our Barcelona Trip August 2021

I'll be more than happy to answer any questions some may have. All the described rules are rules-du jour and for all I know they already are different now

Thanks for indulging and Buen Camino

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Greetings Esteemed Members
As I have alluded couple of times in some of my recent posts I just (well.... almost 2 weeks now ) came back from Barcelona. My wife Laurie & I briefly touched upon the city as it was the embarkation port for our Nov. 2019 Mediterranean cruise. We decided to come in a bit earlier, spent all of whopping 1.5 days....and totally fell in love, vowing to return ASAP!
(fast side story to that is that now looking back - we consider ourselves very lucky and VERY BLESSED as the cruise was Barcelona --> Palma --> Marseilles --> Genoa in short touching the 3 countries that got hit hardest by COVID.... and IMHO by the end of November chances are "the Spectre was Haunting Europe"... and we came out unscathed!)

Anyways, be it that my very 1st evah Camino (Frances) got canceled (postponed till next year) this was a consolation of a sort and we jumped on it the moment it became OK to travel. With questions about Barcelona poping-up every-so-often on Forum, I though I share the experience.
Please keep in mind that it is, after all, a typical touristy week, probably not much Camino-related stuff you can get out of it, but perhaps some things one may find interested if one choses to do a pre or post Camino stop

As background info also goes - both of us are fully vaccinated.

48 hours prior to departure (EWR-->BCN United Airlines) I got onto the Spanish Travel Health website and filled out forms for both of us (me being the 'primary' contact so to speak and my wife - a companion\addt'l member). Yes - lots of these questions are geared for folks who are flying in, so I do not rightly know what to tell those of you who travelling to Spain by other means, I can only tell you 'my story'. Shortly after form was completed I got verifying email with 2 forms (1 per each of us) containing QR codes. you can save them on the phone or print them - matters not. otherwise we were not asked our vaccine status, test results or anything of the type in order to board the outbound plane.
They got scanned after we deplaned at BCN even before Passport control with nothing more but Thank you and Welcome to Spain and can be promptly forgotten from that moment on (we did held on to them until we got home, just in case, but seems unnecessary)

We did have to get tested in order to come back home. We found a Lab (Laboratory Echevarne) with reasonable cost and early Friday morning (1-day before departure) we showed up with no appointment and were done in, say, 40-45 mins. The results of the test had to be uploaded to UA app (else they don't even issue the boarding passes) and still presented couple more times back at the El Pratt (along with passports) but in the end - back home we flew (obviously )

Any place inside will require masks as well as any public transportation and some entry points (i.e Parc Guell for example - however once past them if outside you can ditch if so desired). it is totally optional outside and we saw plenty of both cases. Restaurants, cafes, etc. - you are OK massless as long as you are sitting down, food\drink or not.

The curfew was in 1:00am - 6:00am (don't think we ever stayed out that late)

So... here is my link to the trip. Its got typical touristy stuff, our hotel (ILUNION Bel Art) and some restaurants and attractions we visited. Hope it proves to be of interest to those who wish to linger in Barcelona for a bit)

FindPenguins Our Barcelona Trip August 2021

I'll be more than happy to answer any questions some may have. All the described rules are rules-du jour and for all I know they already are different now

Thanks for indulging and Buen Camino

Lucky you, Buffy. I spent (as you mat recall) three days in Barcelona before a cruise in October 2019 right before you did...too bad our paths didn't cross as we were so close...I have often in hindsight been very thankful that my lovely trip was pre-covid.

 

[CWBuff]

Lucky you, Buffy. I spent (as you mat recall) three days in Barcelona before a cruise in October 2019 right before you did...too bad our paths didn't cross as we were so close...I have often in hindsight been very thankful that my lovely trip was pre-covid.

Well...yes, but all-in-all I'd rather walked the Frances

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Well...yes, but all-in-all I'd rather walked the Frances

I know! You are waiting for your "first" experience walking a Camino.