Spain 2015 – Part 6 – Barcelona

Saturday Sept 5

Barcelona – Day 1

We get an early departure from the hotel and the breakfast, for once, is unremarkable. In the car, Nancy reads to us from her Rick Steve’s tour guide book as she does on most of the legs. We got there in good times with the help of the now trusty GPS. But we are still paying as the GPS takes us on routes were the tolls add up to about 20 Euros.

In Parcelona we have an apartment booked at 380 Rosello. It is just around the corner from La Segrada Familia. Which ends up being an icon for our visit to Barcelona. I take some pictures and it’s unusual as it’s almost always under construction. The current phase, if they complete the fund raising in time, will be complete in 2026. We buy tickets online for the 9:15AM entrance for the next day.

We do a quick tour around the area, buy some snacks for the fridge, and get our bearings. We take a taxi to Placa Catalunya where the flagship Cortez Ingles store is located and also the Apple Store. I found it interesting that Apple chose the most expensive but visible locations in Madrid and Barcelona for locating their very large store.

After a quick visit inside Cortez Inglez we stroll down Los Rambles which is the main shopping thorough fare with sidewalks down each side and the middle with many stores, shops, and restaurants along each side. One could take a cross street and end up in the Jewish Barrios for narrow streets and even more shops. Or perhaps the markets or tapas rows. We walk to the far end of Los Rambles and end up at the port section. There is very interesting Christopher Columbus statue, but the light conditions were challenging for photos.

We then maneuvered through the barrio section and made it to the Barcelona Cathedral. We heard that on Saturdays the people of Barcelona sometimes put on a spontaneous show on the steps. So we tour the cathedral (no charge this time and tons of people) and then sit on the steps waiting for the show. But there was no show. We noted that the Barcelona literary society was hosting a fair of sorts just off the steps and that may have cancelled the event.

We walked to Los Rembles and crossed in near the Meridien Hotel and found a tapas restaurant. We ordered virtually every tapa on their menu and had lots of wine and sangria as normal. Whew! The eating was hard work too.

[15,107 steps]

Sunday Sept 6

Barcelona – Day 2

We met in time to make our 9:15AM appointment at La Segrada Familia. We also had a 9:30 appointment for the Passion Tower elevator. All of this was a bit intimidating until we got there and then it all worked out well.

Early on we went up the Passion Tower which is narrow and has limited views of the town. You do get to see some of the construction fixtures though. I ended up walking down the stairs (partially to help my daily goal of 10,000 steps) and to get more pictures. The tower was narrow, the steps were steep, and the views limited.

The building design is awesome and it has very complex finishings. Outside is a bit gaudy (no empty spaces and very busy) and was designed mostly by Antoni Gaudi but the inside is beautiful colors, nature, and animals. He is sometimes referred to as God’s Architect. Interestingly, the term Guady does not come from Gaudi and its first known use occurred nearly a century before. In any case, pictures do not do it justice. Everyone should be able to find at least one place somewhere inside that makes you think of celebrating something higher and more important than you (e.g., God) then you.

The supports going up to the ceiling were large, curved, and seemed like stylized trees whose braches were sawed. This is the first of the chuches were were in that heavily exploited different effects with colors as well.

Nancy liked La Segrada Familia much more then the other cathedrals as it was less about Mary and more about Jesus. The Jesus in the center showed a more accurate depiction of crucify (suffocation), but style stylized. She also liked the Apostles Creed word mosaic (see photo below).

In the basement, Peter really loved the Museum. It talked about the design and construction of the facility and he would have lingered much longer but we had agreed to meet outside. Even so, he stretched it by almost 30 minutes. He volunteered to go back but our schedule did no permit.

We then taxi to the Joan Miro Foundation museum, which of course hosts a permanent collection of Joan Miro. This style of modern art is not particularly appealing to Nancy or myself, but a visit to Barcelona wouldn’t be complete without seeing it. Nancy did like the statue out front and she agreed to pose with it. It’s actually quite rude with stylized protuberance on the front of the crotch and hole in the aft crotch.

We then walked about 300 meters to entrance of Montjuic Cable Car. Peter and I toured Montjuic Castle taking pictures of Barcelona. The girls decided to wait for us and I was able to sneak in some long-distance pictures of them from the top of the castle. Naturally, I snapped some pictures of La Segrada Familia as well.

We then walked to Poble Espanyol where we toured, shopped, and shared some Sangria. Unfortunately our path there was a bit tortured as we couldn’t get the iphone GPS and the maps to totally agree. But once there we enjoyed the shops and atmosphere. Peter got a belt, Peter and GiGig bought lots of chocolate, and Nancy got some items as well.

We taxied to Rambles Avenue and found a nice place for tapas and dinner. Nancy and I had a Valencia Paella and Gertrud had the black rice disk and Peter and fresh fish. We also spotted the Attic restaurant for our final dinner tomorrow.

We then taxied to the National Palace to watch the Magic Fountain of Montjuic display. Each night the fountains put on light show to music. Nancy couldn’t believe how many people were jammed into the tiny space. I got some good photos (see below) and some good Magic Fountain videos (video1 video2).

[10,906 steps]

Mon Sept 7

Barcelona – Day 3

We had a late breakfast in front of the La Segrada Familia and could see the construction workers making progress, if ever so slow. Each morning we typically review the photos that made it into the scrapbook. This morning I couldn’t get the items transferred to the iPad as the Internet connection was too slow, so I used the Mac laptop.

After zipping home to deposit the laptop we taxied to Park Güell. We found out that they were sold out for the morning slots so we bought tickets for 5PM and went shopping near Placa de Catalunya. There we bought an extra suitcase for gifts and overflow (as planned) and got a couple of more gifts. We then taxied back to the apartment for lunch and packing prior to our evening excursion.

We taxied to Park Güell which features the work of Anotni Gaudi. Güell was a wealthy industrialist who tried to develop the area as subdivision but gave up. Gaudi moved there near the end of his life while working on the Segrada Familia.

Just outside the park is the Gaudi House Museum where he lived for many years near the end of his life. He was very devout and simple and ultimately donated his house to the Segrada Familia foundation.

I really like Gaudi. He brings together nature and design (not unlike Islamic designs) but with modern noble twist. He had things that were busy, but he also has some elegantly simple evocative shapes.

We finished our visit to Spain with some shopping around Los Rambles and the Jewish quarter. Nancy got another item and we just enjoyed strolling. We then had a really nice dinner at the Attic restaurant on a terrace overlooking Los Rambles (and its hustle and bustle). The service was attentive and the food was good. Most importantly the company was exquisite and it was a fine ending.

As we look back the trip was well constructed. If we had seen some of he later cathedrals earlier we wouldn’t have enjoyed the early ones so much. Also, I think the idea of the Cordoba Mosque before Alhambra was the right order. We drove over 2100 km and Nancy says she will need to sleep for few days to recover. We certainly are looking forward to detoxifying from all of the food and alcohol, but it was a great way to enjoy Spain.