The flight and arrival at Barcelona all went relatively smoothly, and the Swiss Chocolates on the plane were even worth the extra leg of a trip through Geneva (we booked the cheapest flight we could find). We even managed to find the right bus and the street where we were staying with no problems. We had booked a B&B just off the main drag, "La Rambla", and were lucky enough for there to be someone standing outside No. 25, which looked rather in descript, with no sign and not even a name next to any of the doorbells. Aaron asked "Casa Monica?" and the guy pointed to one of the intercom buttons and we were away.

Casa Monica was on the 3rd floor (which was really the 4th floor), but suited us perfectly. It is a small guesthouse with only 2 rooms run by Monica and Fillipe (who don't speak English, but we managed). We stayed there for 3 nights when we arrived in Spain, then another 2 when we got back from Valencia. We had the best room each time, which was really 2 rooms - a bedroom and a breakfast room, and was really spacious and had a balcony for people watching. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone going to Barcelona. Much safer and more comfortable than a hostel and didn't cost much more.

Eager to get out and see what we were in for, we dumped our bags and headed back to La Rambla (only a couple of minutes walk). La Rambla is the main tourist drag in Barcelona, it is a big pedestrian street with open restaurants, souvenir shops, market stalls, florists, open air pet stores, a street performer or artist every 10 metres and multiple scam artists. A walk down La Rambla to Port Vell can take any where from 15 minutes to over an hour depending on how side-tracked you get looking at things along the way.