Bar(th)elona

Andorra is located in the Pyrenees mountains, nestled between France and Spain. 

We spent a month in Barcelona…one night.

We journeyed from our month-long trip in France back to the airport in Barcelona. It was cheaper to fly into Spain and drive over the border into France. We went by way of the Pyrénées on the way in and hugged the Mediterranean coast on the way back. Complete with the Andorra mountain range in the distance. We noted the lenticular clouds floating above the range and determined the factors involved with these special formations. They are otherworldly because we see them less often than the cirrus and nimbus formations. They are often round or oblong and sometimes tubular shapes with the middle thicker than the edges, which give way to a halo effect from the sun shining through. We chased these clouds on one of our drives through the countryside while climbing hills in search of castles. The hundreds of photos still can’t express how they look in real life.

This particular drive back into Barcelona was presented with the same mystical cloud formations, and this time they settled above the Andorras in the distance, leaving enough cracks of light to shine down on the range, showering them in a gorgeous sea- and sky-blue silhouette of the 2,942 meters (9,652 ft) high ridgeline. Stunning to say the least, and spectacular that while driving 120 km an hour, I was able to capture the scene out my window and snap shots while passing trucks, trees, and signposts! I think it’s quite stunning and may not have gotten this perspective and the gorgeous colors otherwise.

As we came over the hillside on the highway, we saw Barcelona sprawled out in a large and wide scene, but hardly a typical skyscraper structure that one would recognize for a city landscape. Our route must have been on an alternate side of the city, which is the capital of Catalonia, the second biggest city in Spain, and the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union. Apparently, the city has one of the largest numbers of skyscrapers in Europe. Astonishing (perplexing) that we didn’t see one. The largest building we saw while exploring there at the beginning of the year was La Familia Sagrada, a modern cathedral started in the late 1800s, standing at a height of 172 meters (564 feet). Fascinating building, surrounded by 4- to 8-story buildings arranged out in a circular pattern around La Sagrada. When raised above the city, you can see the terrific pattern and how each block contains its own center, with some interesting developments in the middle, i.e., a soccer field or playground, etc. The whole city is fascinating, including its history of the Catalonia’s.

Meanwhile, we were passing by this smaller, more quaint part of the city, much of which is built into hillsides, to get to the hotels and condos that reside just south of the airport and on the beach. Although I had seen images of the resort and knew that it was a classy place, I had no grand expectations other than it would be a lovely place to stay for one night before departing Europe. We pulled into what would be the equivalent of South Beach in Miami. A small unassuming frontage with large oxidized metal structures with the word “Tropical” cut out of patina copper and a white backdrop, which would be illuminated at night.

The sun was getting low when we arrived, and our sunset-chasing moment was coming close. We knew the sun wouldn’t set over the water, which makes the “moment” even more critical. We got to reception, who checked us in pretty quickly. We had to sign a “rules of the hotel” document, which was a hasty glimpse, and the first blush review seemed basic: no smoking in rooms, quiet times, and clothing requirements within the perimeters of the hotel. No big deal. Quick scratch of a signature, and our front desk host turned into bellhop. The bags were still rolling in from the car, and when he questioned how many bags, his eyebrow hit his hairline when our reply was 8 bags. He let out a sigh when we reminded him that we traveled Europe for 5 weeks and had to return the car that night, so all the bags had to come to our room.

We were delighted with the entryway. Having to bypass the wide spiral staircase, the wonderful green grass texture welcomed us as the elevator door opened on our floor. We walked toward the low-lit corridor only to have the high ceilings with motion-detection lighting reveal beach sand sandwiched below a quartz glass flooring suspended over undulating beach glass, giving a smooth but exciting approach to our accommodations. We opened the door to a gorgeous warm cream and beach wood-toned decor, with huge windows elegantly filtered by a sheer curtain shading the bright ocean blue light from streaming into the room. I had to quickly deliberate my first move—either capture the virgin room before we crammed in our luggage, which would quickly explode and spew their contents into this pristine environment, or run to the sliding glass door and the breathtaking view from our generous balcony, complete with its own mini pool. The balcony won out, with the airbrushed pink and blue sky meeting the aquamarine-colored ocean and its fluffy, pink-tinged surf rolling onto the beach. I didn’t want to move and lose the light, but the urge to plunge my feet into that soft sand and surf and capture as much of the sunset as possible won out. As I ran through the room, shooting some of the features on the way to the door, I was again greeted by the beach sand floor and green grass walls.

I knew that we were only here for one night, so I would not be able to just breeze through the hotel without absorbing the details of the interior design of the lobby, bar, dining area, patio, and pool as the sun set another night. With the room left to its own devices, I quickly scurried to the wide-open doorways that led to the pool, private chaise lounges on the private sands, and then to greet the surf where it met the beach in a warm frothy, ever succeeding graze and then back to frolic with the glassy waves and endless sea. I delighted in the colors basking over the landscape and, armed with my camera, moved quickly to find the sun, which was peeking around some of the low trees and buildings, getting ready for its departure but not without a huge encore of orange and red bursts splaying out across the sky, turning it into a pink lemonade cocktail. (An amber-colored bourbon Manhattan, complete with the cherry and orange twist). We stayed with our toes dipped in the sea foam bath until the brilliant hues turned to darkness, giving way for the next act—the moon and starlight.

Back to the room for a quick change, and as predicted, the light was no longer cascading into the room, and the photo opportunity was gone. Thank goodness I had snapped a few before rushing out. We changed into our linen whites, apropos for beachside dining, and returned to the open-air dining room, where we could watch the tiki lamps flicker on the beach and glint off of the tops of the surf, which continued to do its job. Ebb and flow.

The menu came, and our server was gracious enough to speak English after noticing we had flipped to the version of the menu that we could read without the use of Google Translate. As usual, the offerings were outstanding, but the gazpacho soup cocktail stood out as unique, and it was the first thing delivered to the table. Well, after the wine, of course. And our last dinner in Europe 2024 was playing out to be a memorable one. As we were reminiscing about the journey and the drive from Gruissan to Barcelona, the conversation shifted to how many bags we had managed to take and accumulate on the trip. The adoption of one extra suitcase due to the wine we collected on the tours from Bordeaux to Roussillon, which butts up to the Mediterranean Sea. The dialogue recounted our 8 bags, the expression on the host’s face, and the document we had to sign. The words I had skimmed over suddenly came into clear view in my mind. As I glanced over to see yet another “adults-only” sign near the beach entrance, I nearly spit my wine out as I said the house rules out loud: “For your safety, shoes and clothing are required when entering the resort.” We put two and two together, and both of us split our sides laughing at the realization that we brought 8 suitcases into a clothing-optional resort hotel!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 And now we felt completely overdressed for dinner.

Luckily, the other guests were fully clothed for dinner and cocktails, and the poolside and beach had become too chilly for anyone to attempt to go topless. No dinner and a show for us, but we giggled our way through dinner and resorted back to our room to finish up the evening and our last hurrah of the adventure. The heated pool on our private balcony awaited, and this was probably the closest we’d get to “clothing-optional” for this long overnight stay in sexy, sultry Barcelona.