Sad days Just discovered only (6-7hrs) in Barcelona with Mum - advice appreciated

I'm taking my Mum on a 2-week cruise on October 1st in the Med for her 80th birthday - she won't fly and I want to make sure she gets the most from the experience. We're on a cruise but I'm not a great one for traipsing around in large tour groups.

We were both really looking forward to Barcelona but have just found that the ship is due to sail out at 4.30 so we won't even have a full day there - very upset! Because of the time restrictions I've had a glance at P&O's offerings but they don't seem great. So please can I get a bit of advice

Mum is fitter than me (!) but we don't want to charge round filling every minute. I do, however, want to give her a chance to see a selection of edited highlights as she won't come this way again - so I'm looking for a few choice things to see and places with local "flavour"!

I'd be very grateful for thoughts and think using the metro, taxis would be an idea rather than a long walking route.

(Should we plan to go inside the Sagrada Familia/take the audio tour, as well as view from outside?)

Hop on Hop off bus. You haven't a chance to see much in the timeframe, so do the HoHo and maybe get off at one place for a closer look.

Hi!

Given your restrictions, I would simply stick to visiting the Ciutat Vella (the Old City)... there's more than enough for you to spend a few hours in Barcelona. Sadly, you're visiting on a Sunday, and while the area will be full of people strolling, the vast majority of the shops will be closed -except for some souvenir shops here and there. Not that it matters, but as in any city, when shops are open there's a "different" sensation (more cozy, more vibrant....). Restaurants and tourist attractions are, obviously open, after all, many of us residents can't visit them any other day either. Barcelonians are important "tourists" also in their own city, we do go out a lot.

This is an idea -out of many possible other things to do, of course!

> As early as you can, head to Plaça Catalunya, sort of "the center" of the city. Board a hoho bus -I personally would choose the Bus Turístic company and either the blue or the red route. A taxi from the port (*) should cost you under 25€. Either the blue or the red routes will take you across the city by some of the key sites and attractions. Each route lasts 2h-2h30'. In theory, you could hop off at any stop, visit whatever and hop on again in the next hoho... but I wouldn't do that as you don't have the time. So, when you're back in Plaça Catalunya, head south and get into the maze of El Gòtic neighbourhood walking towards El Born and Parc de la Ciutadella. Have lunch along the way, in the area around El Born there are plenty of small restaurants. You could set for tapas at Bornmouth, or a delightful menu at Llambert, two I sometimes visit myself.

>This DIY walk from Plaça Catalunya to Parc de la Ciutadella (red itinerary) will take you thru some of the most iconic places in the area: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z2FZxJpeWEpA.kwM2d8YxuELQ Simply adapt it to your circumstances, I originally prepared this map some time ago for some friends coming from abroad. It covers four of the most visited areas in Barcelona, each having their different and distinct flavour. Note, however, that these are "long walks"... in fact the red one -which is the one I'm suggesting you adapt to your needs- is supposed to take, say 5-6 hours at the very minimum, so you'll have to cut corners so to speak. For those know-it-all out there :), discard what Google Maps says... we're not running a race here, we're visiting the historic area of a city founded over 2000 years ago and which is full of nooks and crannies everywhere, curious shops, etc. so regardless the proposed routes are not "that" big when measured in miles, you're going to be stopping very often (very!) to see this or that, hence the reason, I'm estimating those many hours.

> If you decide to visit Sagrada Familia you won't be able to do this later walk as you won't have time. While indeed this church is "something unique" and very worthwhile visiting... sometimes we have to take difficult decisions, don't we?

Enjoy!

(*) Again, I will be assuming you're docking in the Moll Adossat pier in Port Vell but you should make sure about that as there are different piers and terminals in the Port Vell (Old Port) and they're far from each other. Also, note there are several ports and marinas along the coastline of the city, yet "within" the city borders, also far from each other. I've insisted often in this forum about the need to specify this because, while many of the biggest cruisers dock in this pier -which has 5 terminals stretching over a mile-, others dock elsewhere and directions on how to get here or there do change then. Barcelona is by far the biggest passenger port in Europe and one of the most important in commercial cargo, furthermore, the city has 1.6 million residents and, since this is a coastal city, sailing is very much ingrained in many residents thus there are several marinas holding boats of all sorts. This results in that passenger cruise traffic is spread across different terminals and it's not the same whether you dock in this one or in that one, as the way to get to the center changes.

Hello Enric

Thank you for such a thorough reply but before I go into it too far just need to say that I will be there on FRIDAY 6th Oct (starting Oct 1st) - it may well make a difference!

It has been awhile, but we decided on taking one of the Hop on Hop Off buses, there are a few routes. They run often, and you can pick one to fit your time. The one we took went past several buildings designed by Gaudi, and definitely we got off at Sagrada Famila. We did get off there, and visited inside too, but you will have to see what your time allows. Lots to see from the bus, with audio commentaries . Don't get off at the zoo. Not only is there not enough time, it turned out to be a bad spot to get another bus.

The general concencus on TripAdvisor (know my way round that a lot better - nothing personal!) - is that we should definitely go inside Sagrada Famalia and prebook tickets. I don't want to spend our time ticking sites off on a list but then again, sometimes it helps if you have a focus. After all, Mum's decided Rome is going to be too long a day so won't be going there - I want her memories to be of a succession of cities without specific highlights.

So question is, how to make a short sensible plan around that - bearing in mind we can't spend ages travelling?

It also looks like the hobo's don't pick up from the port, though I haven't chased P&O yet for the dock info ... yes it would help if they provided that and I only found the early leaving times from my travel agent, P&O didn't seem to have the answer!

Have you checked out Barcelona Day tours? They will pick you up at the airport, store your luggage in their van while they take you around to the sites and then drop you off at your ship. If you only have 6 hours, this might be a time saver and the way to do it.