Mallorca to Barcelona - 1st October 2009

Don't know what you were doing on the first day of October but I bet we were having more fun! We left Mallorca at 9am in sunshine and on a flat sea, but we weren't too sure what the trip would hold once we were out of the shelter of the island. The forecast was looking good, but as we left there was a gale warning for the following day, northeast of Menorca, which wasn't such good news. We then followed the coast up to Andratx, passed between Dragonera Island (yes, it does look like a dragon) and Mallorca and then branched out into open sea. The swell was non existent and waves were minimal as we set off into the great blue yonder. From there it was five hours until we reached the coast again but what a great five hours they were. The sea just got calmer and calmer and by the time we were approaching the Spanish mainland, you could almost see your reflection in the surface. Whilst we were still an hour out we had the most amazing dolphin encounter - a small school of 7 or 8 joined us and then held a competition to see who could jump the higest out of the water. The prize went to the one which kept doing backflips - not just once or twice which we would have found difficult to believe we'd seen, but eight or nine times...quite extraordinary!
Port Vells in Barcelona was rather nice, full of character and very welcoming. It was fun coming in as we passed several huge, towering cruise ships and amused ourselves by waving at the passengers and seeing how many waved back. Most of them did!
We spent a day in the city, almost walking our feet off but loving every minute of it. No, we didn't get our pockets picked in Las Ramblas,which we felt was quite an achievement in itself! Barcelona is lovely, beautiful long tree lined avenues, good shops (although sadly I only got to go in one) and spacious parks, and the Gaudi Church is something else. Last evening we dined at one of the many restaurants alongside the port, watching the street traders watching for the police and all packing up and disappearing within 30 seconds when they were given a tip off! We were sad to leave the city, but we're heading north again and with little wind forecast for the next few days, conditions are too good to stay still for long.