Spain/Morocco 2011:
Day 13 - Barcelona, Spain

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Spain/Morocco 2011: [Day 1 - Barcelona, Spain] [Day 2 - Barcelona, Spain] [Day 3 - At Sea] [Day 4 - Gibraltar] [Day 5 - At Sea] [Day 6 - Funchal, Portugal] [Day 7 - Tenerife, Canary Islands] [Day 8 - Arrecife, Canary Islands] [Day 9 - Agadir, Morocco] [Day 10 - Marrakech, Morocco] [Day 11 - Seville, Spain] [Day 12 - At Sea] [Day 13 - Barcelona, Spain] [Day 14 - Andorra]

	Thursday, November 3, 2011: We were awoken by the sight of lights shining through the break in the curtains and went out to see what it was. It was the aptly named Costa Luminosa. Someday, we'll have to give the Costa cruiseline a chance.
	We had our breakfast in the deserted pool area, and watched as the crew opened the heavy retractable roof.
	We had a late disembarkation time slot, so we went to our usual table in the library and used up the last half hour or so of our prepaid Internet time.
	The luggage hall was nearly empty when it was our turn to leave, ...
	... and the line for the taxi stand was long.
	After a half hour wait or so (Maersk!), it was our turn for a cab.
	We took a taxi to Barcelona-Sants, thinking that the bus station would be somewhere inside. Incorrect. After a lot of looking around, we finally asked someone who directed us outside to an adjacent street, which would be to the far right of this photo. See our photos from the next day to see where it is.
	Here's the bus station -- a long buiding about the size of four mobile homes stretched end-to-end. That's Barcelona-Sants right across the street behind it. There's a restroom here and some vending machines outside. This is where to purchase tickets ...
	... for the DirectBus to Andorra. Buses leave from the airport first, then leave from here 30 minutes later. There is room under the bus for your luggage (no extra charge), there is a tiny bathroom onboard, and the seats are very comfortable. On a Thursday 11:45 departure in early November, there were less than a dozen people on the bus.
	The drive to Andorra is very pleasant and scenic. It was raining during our drive, the first real rain we had seen on our entire vacation.
	We passed through small Spanish towns.
	Here is our mighty bus reflected in the window of a car shop.
	The deciduous trees were starting to change color and some had already dropped their leaves.
	The drive took us through rolling hills for the first two hours until it started to get mountainous.
	This well-behaved river was the end result of a dam slightly further up river ...
	... and here is a glimpse of part of the lake formed by that dam.
	We had purchased an international roaming plan for our phone, so we were able to check the weather in Andorra. Rain was forecast for the next five days with the exception of Friday morning. Perfect!
	The rain, low-hanging clouds, and occasional patch of sun made for some surreal scenery.
	We're here! Country #65, and the sixth of the eight tiny countries in Europe (if you count Gibraltar, which you really should). We just have Malta and San Marino left to go now.
	The border check consisted of stopping at a checkpoint for 10 seconds, then driving past the Police and Customs buildings.
	The tiny country of Andorra has bridges both quaint ...
	... and modern.
	There isn't much flat land between the mountains, so an open field is a rare sight.
	We reached the bus station in Andorra la Vella.
	We could see our hotel from the station. The rain stopped just long enough for us to drag our suitcases up one block and across the street.
	We booked a suite at the Hotel Zenit Diplomàtic, and it truly was a suite.
	It had a separate bedroom, ...
	... a separate living room, ...
	... a gigantic bathroom, ...
	... and a second half bath, all for under 100 euros.
	The pool out back comes with a view of the mountains, but it was a little too cold to enjoy.
	We went next door to McDonald's, where we had an NYCrispy and a CBO. We had the option of regular fries (patates frites) or wedge-cut potatoes (patates deluxe), so we got one of each.
	Tom ordered the CBO without having any idea what it was. It came with a packet of tartar sauce, so he figured it was a fish sandwich and spread it on. Wrong -- CBO stands for Chicken Bacon Onion. It was probably delicious without tartar sauce on it. Debbie's NYCrispy was a hamburger featuring crispy onions, BBQ sauce, and bacon, and it was good.
	After our late lunch, we stayed in our suite for the rest of the day. It was pouring down rain, so we decided to relax indoors and do our sightseeing in the morning.
	We had a couple of cups of hot chocolate mid-afternoon to shake off the gloom.
	The hotel restaurant opened at 8:00 PM, so we were its first customers at 8:01 PM.
	We had a delicious dinner of kebabs and a brie-mushroom-something else pizza.
	Night fell and the rain stopped. Here's the night view out of our living room window, ...
	... out our bedroom window, ...
	... and out our bathroom window. The nightclub across the street was still hopping at 3:00 AM. Day 14 >