clog blog: It was the first time that we met, Barcelona! …you took my breath away!

Barcelona! It was the first time that we met

Barcelona! How can I forget

The moment that you stepped into the room you took my breath away

Barcelona! La música vibró

Barcelona! Y ella nos unió

And if God is willing we will meet again someday

Friends until the end

Viva – Barcelona!

Whenever I think of Barcelona I think of the song from Queen that was the anthem for the 1992 Olympic Games. Hope you are humming it now too! We left a sunny Rome (Murphy’s Law) on Sunday and arrived in Barcelona after an uneventful flight, yay! No missions at security and no passport control, the Italians and Spaniards are much more chilled out. I love Europe =)

It was a beautiful sunny day in Barcelona too so after checking in we took our first walk out into the city. We wandered down the famous La Rambla, wow what an atmosphere! So many people out and about, walking or sitting at a side-walk café drinking sangria and eating tapas. There are many souvenir shops and buskers on the street which add to the atmosphere.

We made our way down to the waterfront areas and had our first view of the Mediterranean sea! We passed the yacht basin and saw some impressive yachts! We walked along the waterfront through the areas of Barceloneta and the Olympic Village. When the sun went down it was paella and sangria time!

Monday was a public holiday in Spain. Not knowing what to expect to be open, we stuck to the parks and open access areas and caught up on some admin (such as purchasing train tickets for getting to Madrid and then Lisbon). We started the day with a trip to Parc Gűell. Located on the top of a hill, Antoni Gaudi was tasked to create a ‘garden city’ for Count Gűell on his family estate. Our first taste of Gaudi; some interesting ideas. Very colourful with lots of mosaics and curvy architecture which was modern for his time. We enjoyed the warmer weather (~17°C) and soaking up the sunshine!

After Parc Gűell we made our way to the Sagrada Familia, another one of Gaudi’s creations. Building started in 1883 but the church remains unfinished; they are still working on it and there are currently cranes towering over the church. We didn’t go into the Sagrada Familia due to the exorbitant price, we were wondering if they are using tourist’s entry fee to fund the project? You can get a good idea of the church from just the outside of the building. Very different to most churches but very definitely in the gothic style. We are undecided as to whether we like Gaudi’s style or not, we liked some of his buildings but not all of them. Some of his designs are quite weird and don’t seem to fit in with where they are but others work well and complement the building. Maybe we need to see more of them to make a fair decision.

Tuesday we started in the opposite direction and caught the funicular (actually more of a cable car) up the hill of Montjuic where we explored the Castell de Montjuic. We couldn’t find the military museum that was supposed to be here but we were happy to walk around the grounds of the castle enjoying the views of the city and harbour and watching people practice their archery. There wasn’t a lot of information on the castle but we know it was used as a prison and sign of oppression during the civil war (1930s).

After the castle we walked down the hill in the direction of the city passing the stadium used for the 1992 Olympic Games. The stadium is open on one side so we popped in and had a look. Not much to see as it is just a stadium but there is a brief history of the stadium and some pictures of the ’92 games. We also passed the botanical gardens and Poble Espanyol, a village built to showcase the different styles of Spanish architecture (we didn’t go in because we thought it was a bit crazy to pay to look at buildings).

Finally time to explore the city centre! We made our way to the Arc de Triomf from where we walked down to Parc de la Cituadella, past the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar which we popped into later in the evening, past the Barcelona Cathedral and on to the Palau de la Musica Catalana designed by Gaudi. We really enjoyed walking through this part of the old gothic town. I love the narrow cobbled streets and colourful buildings with washing strung up outside. The Palau de Musica is one of Gaudi’s buildings that we actually liked! Lol. And it is still used for performances. We could go into the foyer area but not into the actual auditorium. We en joyed it because it was colourful, different and interesting.

Last stop for the day was the Museu Picasso. I didn’t know that Picasso was a Spaniard and that he lived so recently (1880-1973). The museum showcases his early works through the blue and pink era to the birth of cubism. Bron really enjoyed his early works; it was clear from the age of 15 that he was very talented. But she didn’t really like the idea of cubism and though it was a waste of his talent whereas Justin was more open minded about it. We also didn’t know that Picasso painted the famous the Don Quixote and Sancho paining. The museum also has a little bit of info on his life and the people he was close to. He led quite an interesting and colourful life, having four children with four different women! Recently we were wondering if there would be any artist (or musician) in our life time that would be famous during their life time and afterwards and realised that Picasso would be one! Can you think of others?

Wednesday, Ash Wednesday was cloudy with a cool breeze blowing, we headed out to Monestir de Monserrat for the day. We found out the day before how to get there but when we arrived the dude at the train station said that the station we would arrive at with that particular train would mean a longer funicular ride up to the monastery which we thought wouldn’t be a problem, more scenery and all that. It was only when we got there that we realised he meant a longer walk to the funicular! A walk which ended up being about 6km! Needless to say that we found out about the easier way back.

Even though it was a bit of a mission to get there and back the monastery in the ‘serrated mountains’ was worth the trip. The Basilica was really beautiful and we were on time to hear the boys’ choir at 1pm. We also saw the Black Virgin, a small wooden statue of the Virgin Mary with the Christ child. The monastery is set high up in the mountain and offers beautiful views of the valley and towns below. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to do any of the walks into and around the mountain. When we got back we had enough time to pack and have dinner out at an Irish pub (with normal food where they speak English!) before calling it a day.

We really enjoyed our time in Barcelona and would love to come back. It would have been nice to have more time to explore the Gothic part of the city and see more of Gaudi’s buildings. We also encountered all kinds of people in Barcelona. It’s amazing that sometimes the people that speak the least amount of English can be the most helpful. The public toilets, however, are worse than Italy! We have also been enjoying the warmer weather. It has been between 13-18°C, which isn’t exactly warm, but it has been nice to just wear a top and a fleece (and an extra jersey in the wind) without a ski jacket, hat and gloves! And it has been really nice to soak up the sun!

Today we caught the train from Barcelona to Madrid and have had a great afternoon exploring the city. More about that next time though! We are here for four nights until Monday when we catch a night train to Lisbon for another four nights. After Lisbon we head to Paris. The train would have taken quite long & worked out to be quite expensive so we decided to fly again. So we fly from Lisbon to Paris on Sat 19March. Then we head back to Rotterdam sometime over the next weekend. We have no idea where our furniture is at this point so if you know of a place to get a good sleeping bag in Rotterdam, please let us know!

Hope you are all well & had a good week. Have a groovy weekend! Until next time, adios!