October 21, 2026

Wednesday

Gaia, Distrito do Porto, Portugal > Ryanair > Barcelona, Catalonia, España

Today is a travel day, and like all travel days doesn’t include anything interesting. That is the nature of travel days. The day began like any normal day. Breakfast at 07:00. Back to the room of finish up getting ready to travel.

The bags were picked up at 08:30 as expected. We went up to the fifth floor and settled our bill, then went up to the seventh floor where the car and driver are supposed to me us. After standing around a while we introduced ourselves to a young man who seemed to be waiting for someone. He was our driver.

The driver went down to the fifth floor and asked where the bags were. They made some excuse about a lack of communication; they didn’t know we had checked out. The bags loaded into the Mercedes Van, and we were off to the airport.

The young man did make one comment which Mary thought was funny. Apparently, he had made the 03:30 run to the airport and the people were talking about this funny guy they had met on the tour. He always wore a red hat. He seemed to think they were talking about me. Don’t understand :>).

The ride to the airport took about forty minutes. Not much traffic according to the driver. We got to the airport, were dropped at the curb, and made our way into the airport. The airport was much bigger than expected. Franando had said it was a small airport. It looked not only fairly big, but brand new. We walked right up to the Ryanair bag drop off point. We were the only people there.

Ryanair is “completely” automated. You scan the QR code on the scale with your phone. It finds your reservation (based on your phone number). It tells you to place the first bag on the scale. You do. Three it says your bag complies with the weight requirements, and prints you a bag tag, which you then attach to your bag. Repeat until all bags are tagged.

Once the bags are tagged you take them to the belt, put the bag on the belt, and scan the tag. The light turns green and the bag moves down the belt. Next bag. Repeat until done. Your bags are on the way, so you can now head to security.

We are priority boarding and fast-track with Ryanair, so we headed to fast-track security. Along the way we were stopped by security and told to go through the handicapped security line, probably due to my cane. There was only one person ahead of us, so we went. By 09:45 we were through security and in the Duty-Free Jungle.

The flight is in two hours. The gate will be posted on the board at 11:15. We walked the length of the airport, and back. Stopped at a café and got something to drink. Sat down for a little but. Used the facilities. We were near gates 1 to 13. This is where passport control is. As we were going to another EU country, we shouldn’t be going through passport control. The other gates are at the other end of the airport. We decided to head in the direction of the other gates.

We hadn’t gotten very far when my phone vibrated. It was TripIt telling me the gate for our flight was 19. It was still only 10:50. We headed that way on the off chance that TripIt got correct information. At 11:00 I checked the Ryanair App. Although it wasn’t posted on the board the App said it would be gate 19. We headed to gate 19. Down the escalator to the boarding area.

Ryanair doesn’t use the ramps to load, generally, as most airports charge extra to use them. That means either walking across the tarmac or possibly a bus ride to the plane. We stood at the gate and waited. At 11:15 the sign at the gate changed to indicate our flight to Barcelona.

It also indicated that boarding would begin at 11:30. Just as it went 11:30 they announced a gate change to 20. We walked the 10 meters to gate 20. We were, of course, the first in line. A few minutes later they began processing people into the restricted waiting area. Once all the priority passengers were in the waiting area, they opened the doors and led us out on to the tarmac.

We stood there but couldn’t see a Ryanair plane. A few minutes later a Ryanair just pulled in in front of us. I said there is our plane, Mary said no way. They unloaded the plane, gassed it up, loaded luggage, and then opened the gate to let us board – the same plane. A very quick turn around.

We got on, stowed our bags in the overhead bid, got our seats and watched everyone else board. Then we sat there. There was some delay in getting us into the take-off pattern. Finally, just after it had gone 12:28 we started to move. We were on our way to Barcelona.

It is supposed to be an hour and twenty-nine-minute flight, with an arrival time of 14:45. We actually touched down at 14:57. We had arranged a car and driver through Blacklane, to pick us up at 15:00. It was close to that when we got a text saying he was here waiting for us. I texted back we were waiting for our bags.

We got our bags and headed out of the baggage claim area. We exited baggage claim, and almost immediately found our driver. He took the luggage cart and led us our to the car. He said ti would be about thirty minutes to get to the hotel.

We chose to stay at the Nobu Hotel Barcelona on Avinguda de Roma right next to the Sants-Montjuìć train/bus station. There were two reasons for this. One, tomorrow we take the bus from the Sants-Montjuìć bus station to Andorra. Two, we have a room here booked by Regent before our cruise, which is on Monday. Three, we return here from Andorra. Four, the hotel will hold one of the bags while we go to Andorra which allows us to travel with only one bag. Hopefully it all works out that way. This is another five-star hotel, we’ll see.

We arrived and almost immediately someone was there to take our bags. We went to the reception desk. There was a couple a head of us. After a short wait we checked-in. The young lady said they gave us an upgraded room, and two drink chits. She also suggested we go to the roof top bar and enjoy the views of the city.

So we got to the room. It is a very nice corner room with views of the parking lot on one side, and the, currently under renovation, train/bus station out the other. We are on the sixth floor out of twenty-three. Sad to think where we would have been without the upgraded room. It is a good-sized room. The bags came a little later.

This is the train/bus station under renovation The view from our upgraded suite

The view from the other window.

Since we “skipped” lunch, we headed up to the roof top bar about 16:30. Well the young lady was right the views of Barcelona from this height are very nice. We ordered a bottle of water and a sangria. Then we looked at the food menu and ordered Wagyu sliders and fries. It took a while to get them. We got two very small burgers, which were way over cooked, and about twelve thick-cut fries.

The National Art Museum of Catalonia from the rood top bar

Another view from the roof top bar

Another towards the waterfront

And the last one westward towards the mountains.

One of the chits was used for the water and the bill was still over €50. It maybe a five-star hotel but it definitely has five-star pricing. We looked at the dinner menu and decided that wasn’t going to happen. First because there wasn’t anything we wanted, and second because we would have to give up a cruise to eat here.

About 19:00 we decided to walk over to the train/bus station and see where we catch the bus in the morning. It was a much easier walk than we had anticipated. We found the right route to the bus station and even found a flyer announcing the DirectBus to Andorra. Then we walked a different route back to the hotel, stopping ay several places looking for somewhere to get something light for dinner.

We stoped by about ten different little places, but everything seemed to “big” of a plate. We even walked into a couple small markets looking for something simple. There wasn’t anything. Finally, we walked back to Pans & Company Numancia and got a sandwich, fried and a water for €9. We sat and ate our shared dinner and then walked back to the hotel for the night.

Now to get back to the star ratings on hotels. The Hotelstars Union of the EU gives a list of criteria of each level. However, the difference between 4-star and 5-star hotel is not quite as simple as checking a box. One of the criteria is the “depth of service”. That is more of a qualitative measurement than a quantitive measurement. The other is equally difficult as it is “the level of luxury”. There are some “mandatory” amenities for a five-star hotel which are optional on a four-star hotel. For example, bathrobes and slippers – which we really if ever use.

The main difference between a 3-star and a 4-star comes down to the size of the room, amenities available and staff service levels. When we travel a 3-star hotel is usually sufficient. They tend to be comfortable and have the basic features we want. They are also generally more affordable. We do use Wi-Fi and that is important. We generally find the hotel food options are limited at every level, and tend to be high priced that local restaurants. We don’t use the fitness rooms, or pools, or dedicated public gathering spaces that 4-star and 5-star hotels have. The other important thing is the refrigerator in the room for medications, if we are are carrying some that need to be refrigerated.

Sorry, but the last couple of places have claimed to be 4-star and 5-star hotels. They may have checked all the boxes for the required amenities, but the qualitative measurements just aren’t what we believe they should have been. Yes, we often use three-star hotels, and every once in a while, like to stay somewhere really nice. But, three-star hotel as good, especially for short stays.  

Got side-tracked again. On the way back to the hotel we saw a sign that said Mercadona. Somehow that sounds a lot like Mercado, which is close to supermarket. So we stopped in looking for something to take back for breakfast. This place is more like a Costco, or at least the food section thereof, than a Safeway. Didn’t find English breakfast tea, or anything in a small enough package to take for breakfast.

We walked back to the hotel and called it a night.

Buonanotte e Ciao,

Enrico e Maria