Woke up on Sunday morning feeling surprisingly well considering how tired and how much beer I'd drunk the night before. The sun was shining yet again so we set off in search of breakfast having decided the hotel breakfast was probably better fit for building harbour defences.

Just around the corner we found a nice little place that did churros (long extruded donuts) for Mab, who being an experienced hand with Spanish/Catalan cuisine dunked them in the cup of thick gooey chocolate and drank the dark cafe solo. (I have seen unsuspecting people at breakfast buffets put baked beans over churros in the past) Old Nick had a perfect Spanish omelette and I enjoyed some bacon and eggs with that really good sweet Spanish bacon.

From there we went down through the Bari Gothic to the harbour where we watched people chucking lumps of crusty bread into the sea for the Mullet who were going nuts to eat as much as they could. Old Nick could not resist taunting some very jealous looking feral pigeons.

Having had our fill of this we headed back into town to hit the Picasso Museum (7 Euro admisssion) where were treated to a fine display of the great Catalan painters early works, including some Lautrec influenced posters for the Paris stage that I really liked.

By now it was time for lunch so we wandered back to the Placa Reial and the Cerviceria Canarias where we enjoyed a variety of tapas priced from three to six Euros each, including potatas bomba, boquerones (anchovies in vinegar, Spanish omelette, spuds with alioli and some of the best deep fried squid rings I have ever had, no deep fried elastic bands here.

Well after lunch there was time for a little siesta before heading north into the Bari Gothic to visit the Palace of Catalan Music. On the way we passed the magnificent Gothic Cathedral and had a look around (5 Euro). Quite interesting as you enter by a walled courtyard. Around the edge of the courtyard are a series of shrines and in the centre a pool for geese. Now way way back the Catholics classed Geese as fish so I guess Friday is not too popular with these chaps. The most surprising thing I saw there though was a red eared terrapin sunning himself on the rim of the pool, probably a survivor of the Miutant Ninja Turtle craze.

The interior of the Cathedral is simply massive with a fine carved wooden choir and some lovely stained glass. And to prove technology has not left the Roman Catholic Church behind there are coin operated banks of electric candles for your votive offerings, very Dave Allen.

So with our spirits suitably lifted we carried on to the Palace of Catalan Music a magnificent concert hall originally built in the 1920s in the Modernista style with plenty of inlaid ceramic tile that is so characteristic of Barcelona's architectural decoration.

Giving the guided tour a miss we were just about to cross the road when Mab says

"That bloke hasn't got any clothes on!"

Well Nick and I both looked in the direction of the Metro station and there he was- stark bollock naked, late 40s to early 50s in very good shape and ladies, quite genorously endowed just nonchalantly taking a stroll down one of the city's major thoroughfares. Must have been quite used to it as he was nut brown all over without a tan mark on him.

Needless to say as he wandered off we could tell where he was by all the craning necks!

Well by then it was beer o'clock again and Old Nick fancied some Guiness so we piled into Mybar (just off the Placa Reial), a fake Irish boozer complete with loads of dusty old books and sepia photos of donkeys. A bit pricey at five and a half Euros a pint though.

For our final meal we did that Spanish thing of enjoying a long evening of drink, food and conversation in the open air at the Serviceria Canarias. Starting with wine and a Manzanilla sherry for me we nibbled on olives, bread pasted with garlic and tomato, potatas mojo, hot chorizo baked in the oven, paella and some very tender octopus in vinegar washed down with copious amounts of beer.

Well that's about it, fabulous city with some amazing architecture and fantastic food, but at this time of year very humid. the trip home was relatively uneventful except for yet more chaos baording the plane when the only benefit EasyJet's purchasers of Speedy Boarding got for their money was watching the people who piled on the bus at the departure gate last get on the plane first, so see ya later Speedy boarders!

Finally some advice about the duty free shop.

Fags are cheaper at Tabac shops in town, not by much, but if you are buying a lot and want to stash them in your luggage do that and save a few quid.

For booze buy Spanish brands as the premium brands like Bombay Saphire or Captain Morgan are not much cheaper than at home. Good buys were Larious Gin at 8 Euro a litre and either Veterano or Soberano brandy (matured in sherry casks and in my opinion much nicer than French or Greek brandy) at 9.50