Day 1 – After an overnight flight to Paris, the 10 of us missed our connecting flight to Barcelona due to the gross inefficiency of the froggy bureaucrats – only one station manned at passport control for about 300 people! …..eventually we managed to get 4 different connecting flights – 2 ladies,  4 ladies, 2 ladies and 2 ladies ….all arriving at different times.

We arrived in the magnificent city of Barcelona and were transferred to the Hotel Colonial, our hotel for the next 3 nights, in the ‘Ciutat Vella’ – the old city – where we met the rest of the group who arrived a couple of days ago.

This afternoon, the other 5 ladies who came a few days ago, loved their introduction to Spain by going on a short city tour, ending up at Park Guell for a stroll to admire Gaudi’s absolutely spectacular works of art – pictures do not do it justice.

• T his evening we had a spectacular welcome dinner at a famous restaurant – Asador de Aranda  – we were told sheiks and princes go there as it is known for its lamb.

The ladies did not object to enjoying the excellent Spanish wines with our dinner, there was much frivolity and laughter.