Arrival at Barcelona
Next day the wind was heavy and ahead, and nothing kept us of good cheer, but the tidings which some of the more fortunate would occasionally bring down to us of mountain and promontory, as we ran along the coast of Catalonia. It was near nine, of a cloudy, gusty night, when we dropped anchor, at last, in the harbor of Barcelona, our voyage having been longer than usual, by about one-third. The lateness of our arrival of course prevented us from going on shore, so that we lost an opportunity of seeing the «entierro de Cristo,» a grand funeral procession by torchlight, which still forms a part, as we learned, of the Good Friday ceremonial in Barcelona, though it has been abolished in almost all the rest of Spain. Wretched as we were, however, we crept from our state-rooms to the deck, to see what was to be seen: but the ship was out in the throat of the harbor, and still rode heavily, so that the glimpse we caught of the far-off lights of the city was but little worth the penalty we paid for it.
Severn Teackle Wallis, Glimpses of Spain; or, Notes of an unfinished tour in 1847 (1849). Read on