This is the famous La Rambla in Barcelona, with our hotel directly ahead on the right. Note the human ¨statue¨of a skeleton on the left - one of at least 20 along the route. From our window on the 3rd floor we looked out over the street and watched the constant stream of people walking up and down all day and well into the early morning.

View from the top of the Castle at Alicante looking over the old city and the harbour.

A long way down!

Alicante
Thanks so much for the comments - it is great to have some feedback from friends and family.
The train trip from Barcelona to Alicante was very efficient and fast. A five hour journey through countryside and along the shoreline of the Mediterranean, electric train, morning tea and lunch included, with comfortable airline-type seats. Passed through Valencia, which of course was surrounded for many km with orange orchards as well as olive groves and market gardens. Much of the journey gave views of a surprisingly rocky white limestone terrain.
Alicante is a much quieter place than Barcelona, population about 280,000. Far less tourists, predominantly local people and easier to understand the life of the people in a smaller city. Right on the beach, so the seafood is excellent and the promenade along by the water very appealing.
Meals in Spain are an interesting exercise. Breakfast - easy. Lunch also easy if you are prepared to eat it between 1.00 pm and 5.00 pm. Dinner is another story! If you are prepared to eat Tapas, this is available at any time, but for a proper meal you need to wait for the restaurants to open at either 8.00 pm or 8.30 pm (and for some places even 9.00 pm)
The hotel here is quite adequate and surprisingly cheap. In fact, everything is much cheaper here than in Barcelona - two cups of coffee today cost only $2.70.
Today we took a cab to the top of a very high hill to explore the Castle de Santa Barbara - the only other way was to walk through a tunnel and then take a lift through the bowels of the earth more than 1,000 ft up! This castle is built on a high rocky hill very close to the old city, and was extremely interesting with spectacular 360 degree views. We walked down from there to the water - a long way but at least it was downhill!
From there we explored the waterfront and cruised around the shops, relaxing and preparing to hit the road by car tomorrow. That will be very interesting! From tomorrow, we rely on our own driving and navigation skills (with the help of the GPS in English).
More soon.
p.s. Peter - Gaudi buildings were unique and an outstanding feature of Barcelona.
LK - the 50´s and 60´s kitchens were just as we said
Bob - keep your eye on those girls! And what about the footy scores?
3WG - great to know that all is well

Barcelona
Last day today. Spent the time ambling around the city, and in particular along narrow lanes leading off the main streets. Once away from La Rambla, there are interesting sights to see and far less tourists. Also down to the wharf and the World Trade Centre.
There are many more things for sale along La Rambla than we first thought. Live lizards, birds, tortoises, ferrets, dogs, cats, flowers and plants, etc. One large beautiful bird for sale (I think it was a Macaw) cost 2,800 Euro (about $A4,500) - we couldn´t help but wonder from where it had been smuggled!
We have tried to attach some photos to the entries, but without any luck. Don´t know why.
After packing and organising our ¨things¨, we catch a high-speed train in the morning for Alicante where we will stay for two nights before collecting the hire car and making our own way for the remainder of the time. Train journey is about 5 hours. Alicante appears to be a pretty city, located on the coast. Will post our impressions when we find another Internet cafe.
Last night we had our first taste of Lobster Paella for dinner, which was delicious.
There seem to be very few English-speaking tourists, except for the occasional Americans.

Barcelona
Took a bus trip around the south section yesterday pm, which was another great way to learn about the city.
The port accommodates even very large cruise ships, and we watched one leaving as it turned 360 degrees with barely metres to spare at either end as it virtually turned on the spot.
The 1992 Olympic Games made a huge impact on the city. The Olympic village was constructed near the waterfront which had previously been a very poor area with no properties taking advantage of the potential beauty of the port. After the Olympics, this area was transformed into an expensive up-market area for those who are affluent enough to afford it.
There are 13 km of excellent beaches to which the Barcelonians can go, some suitable for wheelchair access so the disabled to swim.
On a nearby hill (which is quite high) is the location of the games venues and stadium built for the Olympics. The pool overlooks a spectacular view right over Barcelona - a beautiful and breathtaking sight.
This is a city which has a great vitality and buzz, with green trees lining many of the streets and a bar or restaurant every 50m or so. There are many famous buildings designed by Gaudi, the famous architect who mastered the¨triumph of the curve¨. His most famous construction (which was his personal lifetime obsession) was the Sagrada Familia cathedral which was commenced in the late 19th century and is still under construction. It is being completed using donations from churchgoers, devotees, and ticket revenue from visitors to the cathedral.
Many artists and famous artisans spent time in Barcelona, including Picasso in his youth.
Chupa Chups were invented here, and are now made all over the world. If you cannot identify a Chupa Chup, ask any child!
Coffee is very good, tea barely passable so far.
Tourist (local?) dress is varied. There are the colour-co-ordinated expensively clad ¨glammed-up¨ females looking for recognition, contrasted by the scruffy neutral look of the backbacker types. Many of the latter have rings and spikes protruding from their faces, and some cannot be identified as either male or female.
This is a city to walk, wearing comfortable footwear. No-one seems to wear socks, and thongs are common.
Surprisingly there are many McDonalds, Kentucky Fried, and Starbucks coffee shops.
With so many museums and cathedrals to visit, the choice is difficult. We chose the History of Catalunya Museum (this is the Catalunya area, which considers itself to be more or less autonomous and has fought hard for centuries to retain their own separate language and traditions).
The museum was excellent, and difficult to leave. The deciding factor for departure was a kitchen from the 1950´s and 1960´s, which was decidedly much too close to country Victorian homes in our youth. If our youth is now represented in a museum, it was definitely time to leave!
During the Black Plague, the population of Catalunya halved - from 500,000 to 250,000 in 180 years.
More soon.

Monday September 17 at Barcelona
Very long trip total hours door to door 32 hours. Slept the leg from Singapore to London, but still very tired.
Luggage made it from Melb to Barcelona, but not on carousel upon arrival. Interesting process - the handling is outsourced to another company, and you must pay to collect. No instructions or directions anywhere, so found our bags by trial and error.
Barcelona is full of tourists by the thousands - play find a local!! It has a very happy environment, with everyone obviously on holiday. All shapes and sizes and obviously a diverse range of countries, and very few seem to speak English.
Lost optical sunglasses at the airport (negligence due to exhaustion), but fortunately found them again.
Our hotel is on La Rambla, a wide street with a centre promenade, renowned for human "statues", stalls, restaurants, and entertainment. Great fun to walk along and peep at the people. Took the tourist bus today around the North of the city - good thing to do on the first day in a new city to get a feel for what is important to go back and explore. At 9.30 am it was easy to buy a ticket and hop on the bus, but on our return at 12.00 the queue was 1 km long! Obviously the time to do things is in the morning when everyone is still recovering from last night!
Our observations from the open air bus was of thousands upon thousands of multi-story apartment blocks, many very old but renovated and a good standard.
It seems that the information we had been given is correct - to find a restaurant open for dinner before 8.00 pm is etremely difficult if not impossible. So if you wish to eat earlier it must be "tapas" - small serves of various different entree style foods eg sausage meats, omelette, fried aubergine, mushrooms, shashlik, etc.
There are 8 universities in Barcelona, and 100,000 people fit into the football stadium.
There are bicycles for hire on racks around the city. Apparently you pay for 1 month, and then can ride anywhere and leave it anywhere in the city in one of the special racks which give access to the lock with a dedicated card. Very good idea.
Traffic is hectic, but buses and taxis have special lanes so it is easy to get around. There is a widely available network of bicycle lanes on the inside next to a central garden or walkway on the major routes around the city, which makes cycling very safe.
Seafood seems to be excellent - we will try some for dinner this evening.
There is much to see and do, and only two more days here before we catch the train to Valencia.
People do not seem to queue as readily as we are accustomed in Australia - they push in from the side or pretend there is no queue at all. Sometimes one must take a ticket with a number, but there is no sign or indication that this is required eg at the railway station.
Having fun. Weather warm an balmy, and hot in the sun during the middle hours of the day. About 28 degrees today.

Itinerary for Spain and Portugal

Depart: 15 Sept.2007 for Singapore / London and Barcelona (4 nights). Train to Alicante
(2 nights) and then hire a car for the remainder of the trip. (23 days). We then stay at the following places for 3 nights; Granada, Seville, Evora (Portugal), Obidos, Coimbra, Porto, North Coast of Spain, San Sebastian, and finish in Bilboa on the 15 Oct.2007.Arrive home on the 17 Oct.2007.