Day 19 - Tuesday 31st May

We had breakfast again at our favourite cafe just around the corner. The waiters and waitresses seemed disappointed that Amelia wasn't with us. We explained that the others had already gone back to London.

Back in the apartment, we packed our bags ready for our departure for Croatia this evening. The check-out time for the apartment was 11am but the agent had agreed that we could leave our bags in the apartment provided that we were out by 11am (so the cleaners could come in) and we came back to remove our bags by 3pm.

We left the apartment at 11am and walked down to the shops near Catalunya Plaza. The weather was not as good today as we have experienced so far in Barcelona. It was cloudy and there were occasional light showers. Except for one brief light shower yesterday morning, this was the first rain we had seen since we arrived in Barcelona.

We caught a taxi to the Spanish Village (El Pablo Espanyol) which is near the first place where we stopped on our "glimpse of Barcelona" tour a few days ago. It was built in 1929 as part of an international exhibition to showcase Spanish architecture from the various regions of Spain.

We got there at about noon and managed to see most parts of the complex. It was worth the visit. There were numerous lanes and plazas with cute little shops aimed at the tourists. There were several group of school kids there on excursions. Suzy enjoyed pottering in the shops while I took photos of the architecture and scenery.

There were plenty of cafes throughout the complex and we chose one open-air cafe in the main plaza for our lunch. It might not have been the best choice because the service was slow. By the time my pizza arrived, we were starting to panic about getting back to the apartment in time. The pizza was pretty ordinary and naturally I didn't bother leaving a tip as we rushed off to find a taxi.

It turned out we need not have worried as much because there was a taxi waiting outside and we were back at the apartment before 2:30pm. The cleaners were still there and the agent, Mathias, was snoozing on the lounge in front of the TV. We said goodbye and took our bags one by one down to street level in the tiny lift.

Once again there was no problem getting a taxi. We reached the airport in no time and we were checked in and through security by about 3pm which gave us about 3 hours to fill in before our flight to Zagreb. As we waiting in the terminal, the rain changed from light showers to heavy rain. We'd picked the right time to come to Barcelona weather-wise.

The flight with Croatian Airlines was only about 2 hours and so the cabin crew had to work pretty fast to serve us dinner etc before we landed. The crew were good and the meal was simple but quite tasty. At the front of the cabin, there was a sign in several languages saying that Pope Paul II had flown on this plane in 2003.

Our driver, Igor, was waiting for us at the airport. We changed our euros to the local currency. As he drove us to our hotel, Igor explained some of the sites of Zagreb. He said the current Pope is visiting Croatia this weekend. He said Croatia is a deeply religious country with almost 90% being Roman Catholics. We drove past the oval where he will appear on Sunday.

The Regent Esplanade Hotel in Zagreb is very elegant. Apparently it was originally built as a stopping point for the Orient Express. They have recently refurbished it but they have kept the old world charm. It is an amazing hotel. Top grade luxury and fabulous service. It was like walking into a Hollywood movie set.

After settling in, we went downstairs to have a tawny port and a cocktail before bed.