Barcelona? You'll love it!!
When we were asked about our itinerary for this trip, everyone who had visited Barcelona said the same thing - "you'll love it" (obviously not exactly the same way of course, but the sentiment was unanimous).
We had a great flight with Vueling, although poor Caz was hit with another migraine sitting in the departure lounge. G tracked down the closest thing to Caz's usual cure - salty Pringles and a sweet soft drink! Sorted. In fact Caz felt she was cured enough to enjoy a Spanish beer with her lunch on the flight. Apparently the worst beer of the trip so far, however we can certainly recommend Veuling to anyone considering a low cost airline in Europe. G was able to have a Bombay Sapphire limited edition Gin & Tonic "lunch pack" for a mere €9.50 which included a Swizzle stick, a juniper blended schwepps tonic water, a sample bag of juniper berries, an extra large glass plastic cup with ice; and a special cardboard box. The only thing which was missing was a slice of lime!
From the moment we knew we were descending into Barcelona we all felt that rush of excitement about visiting somewhere completely new and unknown. We touched down and hopped in a taxi to get Caz straight to the hotel for some migraine recovery time. A huge thanks to Caz's brother regarding a good area to stay, away from the tourist hub, absolutely spot on Michael! So since he scored so well on our accommodation location, we took his advice on a Tapas bar in the area. What a brilliant way to begin our time in Barcelona at Cervecería Catalana. We headed there early on good advice and after a short wait sat down to the best and tastiest veggie food we've had since leaving London. Yes, we did also indulge in the touristy Sangria with our meal but it had to be done. Again, thank you so much Mr Mike! Smiles all round and we couldn't wait for the next day so we could start our time discovering Barcelona.
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| Our first jug of Sangria |
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| The line up for Tapas... |
We started our first day with a "Discover Walks" Gaudi walking tour (yep, the tour focussed on Gaudi, the famous Catalan architect). We had used this company in Paris on advice from Caron. Basically you just turn up at an appointed time and place, and meet your guide for a "free" walking tour; you decide how much you want to tip them at the end. Of course your fellow participants are a little hit and miss and although we had a brilliant guide, Lali, there was very little she could do about a particular American woman on the tour. From the moment the woman stormed up to Lali shoving the brochure in her face, and without a smile or "Hola" screamed "is this you??" Her very next question was "what time do you finish because I have to get to the airport" (not to catch a plane mind you, just to meet her friends). Question 3 was of course "how do I get to the airport from the tour??" so the tour for her was focussed on not being there. Luckily we out-numbered her and learned so much about Gaudi on our first day in Barcelona that we couldn't wait to visit some of his famous works throughout this amazing city.
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| Gaudi's Casa Battlo |
After a quick lunch we just headed (OK - we strolled without a care in the world) to La Pedrera, or Casa Mila for the afternoon. Designed and built by Gaudi in the early 1900s, it is an apartment building like no other and was both controversial and incredibly innovative for the time. It is truly something to see, but we were mostly struck by his brilliant use of light and his almost indescribable attention to detail. When Gaudi graduated from uni, his lecturer apparently said "I don't know if we have graduated a genius or a lunatic". We think perhaps both! If you are ever in Barcelona...........
La Pedrera
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| Chimney's.....(G thinks they look like Star Wars Storm Troopers) |
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| A Water tower with chimney's in foreground |
Barcelona Food Markets
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| €1 breakfast :) |
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| The Jamon at the far RHS is €159.00/kg! |
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| SA product in Barcelona |
We grabbed a quick bite and headed to Parc de la Ciutadella for lunch and people watching in the sunshine then joined another Discover Walks tour through the Gothic Quarter. Even though we started on La Rambla before we knew it we were walking and learning about the oldest Roman streets of Barcelona. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona is a city full of Catalonian heritage and everywhere we went there were flags for independence proudly draping balconies and buildings. Our guides have made it fairly clear that the people of Barcelona consider themselves Catalonian rather than Spanish and they still seek that independence and recognition. Once again talking with Alex our tour guide, brought the old streets and their history to life for us.
Parc de la Ciutadella
Wandering the Catalonian streets....
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| The infamous La Rambla... |
So to Tapas again - this time to La Pepita, a place that G had found for us and booked a table for 8pm - incredibly early for Spain. Our first night of Tapas was quickly pipped at the post for the best vegetarian food since we left Adelaide, and in fact for some time before that! Caz has had to admit that eggplant can be a very yummy veggie indeed. We almost skipped out the door at the end of our meal, squeezing past the crowd taking up every inch of standing room at the tapas bar.
Day 3 (surely your getting bored? Maybe pop the kettle on, open a bottle wine, save the rest of this blog for tomorrow....) after Caz squeezed in a haircut we headed to Parc Güell for the morning, another Gaudi creation. The photos might help to give you an idea:
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| Not one of my pics...but this gives you an idea of the vibrant colours (without all the tourists!) |
The wet weather which has followed us for the trip started to come in again so we headed to the Picasso Museum for a few hours before braving our last Discover Walks tour of the streets of Picasso and the port of Barcelona. Again, there was so much to learn about the area, especially with our guide being male for the first time. It was so interesting hearing a young man's perspective of Barcelona, with sport and passion for independence with very high on his list. A huge day ended with a simple meal close to the hotel.
Day 4 (it's OK - this is our last day - we promise!!) started with Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's final project and certainly his most 'famous'. Gaudi was a very religious man and dedicated his final years to this basilica, even living onsite so that he could work tirelessly on the project. To be honest neither of us knew what to expect, and are perhaps still a little in awe at it's uniqueness. Gaudi's church is impossible to explain so so hopefully G's photos will do it some justice:
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| View of the ceiling standing in centre of previous photo |
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| The top of each pillar |
It has been under construction for far too long and we really couldn't see it being completed in our lifetime. It must be incredibly difficult to stay true to Gaudi's vision, especially since the few design drawings that did exist were destroyed during the Spanish Revolution. In the end however it will be a church built by the people for the people, without assistance from any government funding. Having learned a little about the people of Catalan that made complete sense to us.
We then hopped back on the Barcelona Metro, another cheap and efficient public transport system, and headed up by funicular to Montjuic, one of Barcelona's hills that overlooks the harbour. There is a castle at the top of the hill that many people visit but the main reason we headed here was to visit the Joan Miro Foundation, a modern art museum honouring Joan Miro who is considered the most important modern Catalonian, in fact Spanish, artist EVER and is loved by all Catalonians. A fabulous collection.
A couple of Miro's sculptures...
Then for our last afternoon in Barcelona we had to finish with Gaudi. Casa Battlo is one of Gaudi's greatest masterpieces showing just how creative he was. It also shows how playful he was, and his connection with the natural world. Again, hopefully G's photos will be able to do it justice:
Casa Battlo
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| View looking up through middle of building |
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| View looking down through middle of building |
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| Roofline |
We met up with Caron to have our last night of Tapas, good cheap Spanish wine and sharing of stories at La Pepita.
To be honest this has been one of the hardest blogs to write so far, only because we were worried that we would bore everyone with all of our oohing and aahing. Our time here has truly been spent discovering, immersing and absorbing as much as we possibly could.
It's hard to overstate how much of a surprise Barcelona has been for us, from learning about the Catalonian heritage and culture, to the genuine friendliness of the people who just want you to enjoy your time in their city.
So we're sitting at Barcelona airport waiting to head to Lake Como and thinking to ourselves, hmmmm - do we really have to hop on the plane today? Couldn't we just skip the next stage of our trip and extend our time here?? But onwards we must go to La dolce vita.......
Barcelona? We did love it, very much thank you!