Barcelona: Day 2

On our second day in Barcelona, we headed out and ate some pastries at the bakery on the corner of our block. We then took the advice of our host, who had advised us to take the metro to the Joanic station, then catch the #116 bus to Park Guell. I was a bit wary initially, as this was a different route than even the official Park Guell website suggests. Then we got on a rather short bus (only about 5 or 6 rows of seats) -- turns out the shortness was necessary to negotiate some of the tight street corners on the way up the hill to the Park. We made it there with plenty of time before our 11:00 am admission time and had about 45 minutes to explore.

Park Guell was designed by Gaudi (are you sensing a theme?) to be an upper class housing development, and was started to plan. However, WWI got in the way, and the project was never continued and was turned into a public park. 3 years ago, the city realized that their tax dollars to fund the park could be better spent elsewhere, and they started charging admission to the "Monument" section of the park -- where all the best artwork and design are. We definitely enjoyed seeing it, and I felt the price (about 7 euros/person) was worth it.

The highlights for me were seeing the beautiful mosaic work, the famous "wavy" benches, and the "leaning archway." It was also fun watching Charlotte run around in the open covered columns area, which was originally intended to be an open market for the residents of the housing development. She loves to run and chase these days! It was fairly crowded there, but Paul did a great job of getting some photos while the other tourists were out of the way :)

"Park Guell" at the entrance

Two entry buildings -- somewhat gingerbread-y

At the side entrance, where you now go to enter the park with your tickets in hand

Found a playground (actually two!) to kill a little time before entering the Monument section

Beautiful tiles on the staircase up toward the covered market space

Charlotte was very excited to see the "Gaudi dragon," as it was one of the sites mentioned in her "Bella & Harry" book about Barcelona. She was excited to see that it was a fountain, dripping water from its mouth as though it had just taken a drink (a detail not mentioned in the book). When we got back to England and re-read the Barcelona book, she was able to describe the water dripping without any cuing. So fun to see that she made the connection between the book's illustration and what we saw in real life.

The columned marketplace

"I run so fast!"

"Wavy benches" of Park Guell

Overlooking Barcelona from Park Guell

Exterior view of the leaning archway

All this art, and she loves the tiny rocks in the dirt!

The leaning archway -- much like a frozen wave!

Great place to run, too

After leaving Park Guell, we took the metro back to the Eixample neighborhood and found lunch items at Market Concepcio, which was located right across the street from our apartment! We picked up some fruit, Spanish hams and cheeses, a baguette, and a Peppa Pig shaped cookie for you-know-who. (She was ecstatic and thought it was hilarious to bite off bits of Peppa's head!) They also had blended fruit drinks, which Charlotte calls "Smoogies" [smoothies] and I just can't bring myself to correct her pronunciation. We took the food back to the apartment, ate, and Charlotte napped.

When she woke up, we headed out again toward Plaza de Catalunya. This time, we headed down the famous Las Ramblas street toward the waterfront. Las Ramblas is a broad street lined with restaurants, flower stands, and usually some street performers. We didn't really see many performers when we were there, perhaps the time of year. At the end of Las Ramblas, we saw the Columbus monument, which commemorates that Columbus returned to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in Barcelona to report on his first journey to the Americas. Beyond that is the waterfront; we walked out along the relatively new pier toward a shopping mall at the end, but didn't go in -- just enjoyed the views briefly.

After heading back onto land, we stopped at one of the outdoor seating areas along Las Ramblas for some sangria and tapas. Charlotte was getting a little wild, since she hadn't gotten out of the stroller to run for awhile, so afterwards we stopped through the nearby Plaza Reial to let her run around the palm trees and lights. We then wandered through the Barri Gotic again, finding a great little shop with lots of pretty Barcelona artwork. We finished the evening off by taking the metro to Sagrada Familia to see the church lit up at night.

Looking down Las Ramblas

Columbus Monument

Looking back toward Montjuic (large hill) from the end of the pier into Barcelona's harbor

Running in Plaza Reial

Wandering Barri Gotic in the early evening

Sagrada Familia at night

Our last day of the trip felt like a long day of travel! We had planned to hop right onto the airport train at Passeig de Gracia, but the station guard told me to go to Estacio Sants (a different metro station). When we got there, we learned that the train to the airport was not running because of a fire on the tracks (!). Cue a bit of panic about how we would get to the airport -- after asking at two separate desks, we learned they were running a shuttle bus in place of the train. Luckily we found the bus quickly (there wasn't much direction for where to go at the large metro station) and it was a straight shot from there. After a long wait to board the airplane, we finally were England-bound. Charlotte was very good on the flight and watched Peppa Pig episodes almost the whole time. I would love to go back to Spain -- perhaps Madrid is in the cards!

Barcelona: Day 1

In mid-January, we booked a 3 night trip to Barcelona for early February! We continue to try to take advantage of the relatively cheap airfare we can get out of Stansted airport, and this was no exception. All 3 of our round-trip tickets to Barcelona were less than $300 total. Our flight went smoothly, and I was able to easily locate the ticket machines in the train station to purchase a T-10 ticket, which gives you 10 rides on the Barcelona metro system. We worked it out to need exactly 10 rides while we were in town for only 10 euros. Pretty good deal! The train took us to Passeig de Gracia, one of the larger train stations in downtown Barcelona, in about 30 minutes.

Casa Batllo in evening light

We exited the train station and I realized it was the wrong exit, because I couldn't see Casa Batllo. I had been planning to use Casa Batllo (one of Antoni Gaudi's creations) to orient myself. Luckily Paul was able to redirect us to the correct street corner (he is MUCH better spatially than I am, and knew the general position of the subway station underneath our feet and stopped me before I led us the wrong way!). From there, it was less than a 10 minute walk to our apartment in the Eixample neighborhood. The host met us at the apartment, which was sparse but a very comfortable home base for the 3 nights. Sparse is actually good with a toddler in tow -- less breakable objects to worry about!

The host also brought us a Pack-and-Play for Charlotte to sleep in. She did such a good job napping and sleeping on this trip; we were really proud of her. As an aside, we felt like this trip went much more smoothly than our trip to Nuremberg, for a few reasons. Charlotte is older now, and we were able to prep her for the trip better. We talked a lot about how we were going to stay at our "Spain house" and not sleep at our "yellow house" (what she calls our new home in England). We also got a book from the library about Barcelona -- from the "Bella and Harry" series -- which had great illustrations and taught her about the various landmarks in the city. She really seemed to connect the dots between what she had read in the book and what we saw on the trip, which was really fun to see. Paul and I also did a better job of being less rigid about our city-exploring plans, and let her down (out of the stroller) to run and play frequently when we were in safe spots. Better for everyone, when the alternative is her crying in the stroller and yelling "Get DOWN get DOWN!!"

Anyway, after dropping our bags, we headed back along the route toward Passeig de Gracia and found sidewalk seating for a cafe serving tapas. We enjoyed some delicious sangria and tapas, including some delicious sauteed mushrooms and a ham & cheese board. Charlotte enjoyed her Spanish grilled cheese (she picked off the Iberico ham... shameful!). We headed back to the "Spain house" and headed to bed pretty soon after.

The next day, we went out to search for breakfast. We found a creperie, which ended up being delicious despite there only being one worker (instead of the usual 4). We shared a Nutella crepe and a ham/cheese crepe, and I enjoyed a cafe con leche as well. We then walked a few more blocks to Sagrada Familia!

The streets of Eixample reminded us of the French Quarter of New Orleans in spots

Sagrada Familia was the site I was most excited to see in Barcelona, and it did NOT disappoint. It is a church still under construction (after well over 100 years!), which was not started by Gaudi but he ended up taking over the construction project. He died in 1926, and the work soldiers on. It's estimated to be finished in 2026, in time for the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death. It is scheduled to have 18 spires when complete! A friend recommended we purchase tickets online ahead of time, as the wait for tickets (even in the off-season) can be over an hour. We had tickets for the 11 am timeslot, and arrived about 40 minutes early. We located a park across the street from the church's Passion Facade (west entry), which had a playground that Charlotte enjoyed while we passed time.

View of Sagrada Familia from the Passion Facade. It is hard to take a photo without the cranes, which are busy working to build more towers.

Running in the park west of Sagrada Familia. My jacket will look pouchy throughout our Barcelona pictures as I kept my purse under my jacket to prevent pickpocketing, a real issue in the city.

PIGEONS

As Paul says, it's not every day you play in a playground in the shadow of Sagrada Familia!

The Nativity Facade (east entrance), where we entered at our appointed time.

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
[Holy, Holy, Holy]

Elaborate carving of the Nativity on the east facade

When we entered the Cathedral, my breath was actually taken away and I got tears in my eyes. I wouldn't say I'm an overly emotional person, but the absolute shock of this building's beauty was something I've never encountered before. The awe I felt is probably only matched by how I felt entering St. Peter's Basilica in Rome -- and it is a completely different feeling. St. Peter's is amazing for the vastness of the building; Sagrada Familia struck me with lightness and LIGHT. The roof just soars. The stained glass is all geometric shapes, so not limited by trying to realistically depict any scenes -- allowing for pure bright and jewel tones. Oranges, reds, yellows, greens, blues filter through from up above. It was just truly amazing. Paul and I both felt it was the most beautiful building we've ever been in. Gaudi based his designs on organic forms, and you can feel how the columns are like trees, holding up the roof like you're in a fantastical rainforest. The pictures CANNOT do it justice, but Paul got some good shots anyway.

The Passion Facade, which has a more modernistic vibe. I preferred the sculpture on this facade to the Nativity facade; Paul felt the opposite. 

After reluctantly departing Sagrada Familia, we headed back to the apartment to allow Charlotte to nap while I hunted down some lunch. I grabbed some pollo con arroz (chicken with rice, with a curry-like flavor) from the takeaway restaurant next door, and strawberries from a little market. We ate, then headed out to explore. We walked down a broad street toward the Spanish "Arch of Triumph" and then into the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter), where the streets got quickly narrower. We found the location of the Picasso Museum, which we had read was free to enter on the first Sunday of the month (that day!). We expected a line, but my goodness -- it would have taken at least 2.5 hours of line waiting to get in, which just wasn't tenable with Miss Charlotte. We opted to explore around further, toward the Cathedral of Barcelona. We didn't enter, but enjoyed sitting in (and running around) the square in front of the church. It was also the Sunday before Mardi Gras, and there was a parade we watched from afar! I was starting to get tired and hungry, so we had a little snack before heading back to the apartment via the Plaza de Catalunya.

Eixample neighborhood

Spanish "Arch of Triumph"

Entering the Barri Gotic

Barcelona Cathedral

Playing on the letters that spell out "Barcio" (The Roman town that became Barcelona)

Chasing pigeons in Plaza de Catalunya

Looking north from Plaza de Catalunya

After resting a bit, we headed to a nearby restaurant that had been recommended by our apartment host. We enjoyed patates bravas (fries with a mild paprika sauce), paella, and a ham/eggs/potatoes combination as well as some Rioja wine. Charlotte was a bit wild, but settled down when I found her a local newspaper to turn pages and look at pictures. We didn't adjust too much to the Barcelona mealtimes -- we might have done so if we didn't have Charlotte, but waiting until 9 pm to eat dinner just wasn't going to happen. We headed back to the apartment and went to sleep.