Well it was time for something different today. After our first hotel breakfast of cold meats cheese and sweet pastries, DB hung up his tour operators hat and we headed to Barcelona on an organised bus trip. Destination Camp Nou. Home of Barcelona FC to watch a game of soccer between them and RC Deportivo. I think it was similar to our A-League games and just the normal weekly game. It was a great day, obviously winners are grinners. The home team won 4-0. The crowds were amazing, it was almost a full capacity crowd. Capacity is 99,354. The chanting and cheering went for the majority of the game. Tickets cost between €59 and €750 each. As you can imagine we sat almost in the bleachers (€67 each plus the bus ride it was a total 110 each ) but the stadium seating was quite steep and our view was really quite good. I learnt a few things for next year they were very good. The crowds as we left were entertaining as they chanted and sung continuously in the stairwells which was about 20 flights of stairs. The trip out of the city took a long time as well which was to be expected. The game was at 4.15 and it was a beautiful sunny day. Lucky they eat late here as we won’t be back to the hotel till about 9.30pm. Lucky we are still flexible to change as our initial plans were to drive to Barcelona and see the city. Last time we were in Europe Gavin told us if we had the opportunity to watch an Italian match we should do it as they are so passionate about their football, so as there was one in Barcelona today we hoped that would be as good. It definitely was s great experience.
We only stopped the night in Tossa de Mar because of the rain and have now stayed 2 nights. Our dinner tonight was traditional tapas. I wish I knew they always give you a plate of olives as I wouldn’t have ordered the stuffed olives as DB doesn’t eat them at all. Oh well, 1.5 plates of olives later we enjoyed fried little fish (DB even ate some heads as well), cuttlefish and spanish omelette. It was really nice, the only thing missing was the veges.
Another great day!!
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- Approaching the stadium, Camp Nou.
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- Crowds about 2 hours before the game
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- Park up the road from the stadium
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- A short stroll to pass a little time before the game
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- This is what they do to your car if you park in the wrong place on football day
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- Camp Nou, Home of Barcelona football team
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- They even have their own branded chippies
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- Almost capacity crown
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- Flags at top of stadium
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- We climbed about 20 flights of stairs to get to our seats
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- The little boy behind me said goodby to me in English
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- Amazing experience
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- Crowds as we left. People everywhere. It took a long time to leave the city