Day 8 - Barcelona

Sunday morning we left the boat and said good bye to the family.  My sister and Mike were heading back early and my parents had an additional 4 days to tour Spain.  We had one day to tour Barcelona and the weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate.  We had a few rain showers, but it didn't stop us from seeing most of Barcelona and by 2 PM we had beautiful weather!

Barcelona is a fascinating city, home to 1.7MM people. It is a large city, with a small town feel. There are two official languages here: Catalan and Spanish, nether which I can understand! The Spanish here sounds very different than the Spanish spoken in Mexico. Last night we ate dinner at “Ciudad Cantal” and we had to stand by the hostess stand because we were afraid if she called our name we wouldn’t know it because the Spanish accent is very hard to detect.

We discovered Barcelona by the Bus Turistic, which is a double deck bus that drives you around the city. The total ride, if you choose to stay on and not hop off, is approximately 3 hours. This is not because Barcelona is so big, but rather it is because of the numerous sites to see. Barcelona is most well known for its architecture, the city is full of art, whether it is its fountains, statues, buildings, or parks.

After we departed the ship, we headed directly to our hotel, which was located in the World Trade Center of Barcelona. Eurostar Grand was designed by the same team of architects as the famous pyramid of the Louvre in Paris! It was a beautiful hotel and center, which resembles a ship, getting wider as it rises from the ground. This makes sense, as it sits in the heart of the Old Port.

We literally saw over 30 different sites in Barcelona, too many to count; however, what makes Barcelona most famous is its famous architect: Gaudi. Gaudi inspired Barcelona with his infamous works of art. Some of his most notable: Casa Batllo’, La Pedrera, Sagrada Familia, and the Park Guell.

The Casa Batllo’ is an example of Gaudi’s modernistic style, built between 1904 and 1906. The building resembles the skin of a dragon with its painted façade and scaly rooftop. Down the street is La Pedrera, which means stone quarry in Catalan. Gaudi built this establishment between 1906 and 1910. The stone façade, with its wrought iron balconies, evokes the motion of the waves. Outside both buildings, you will see further Gaudi work such as the hexagonal stone pavings and the magnificent benches and street lamps that line both sides of the avenue.

The Park Guell was named after Gaudi’s patron, Count Eusebi Guell. This was originally planned as a residential garden community, but it failed. Today it is a beautiful strolling park and museum and one of the finest examples of how Gaudi incorporated work into nature.

Sagrada Familia is Barcelona’s most famous works of art and defines its skyline. Sagrada Familia was Gaudi’s dream, he devoted most of his life to the construction of this church. Started in the late 19th century, this landmark is STILL not complete! At the time of Gaudi’s death in 1926, only one of the towers had been completed. Today there are a total of four towers, which have been funded by churchgoers and devotees. The government does not pay or contribute to the church. This has become an unmistakable symbol of Barcelona and continues to be under construction. The amount of detail and work that has been put into this building is too hard to explain in words. We did our best to capture this on film, but I urge you to Google “Sagrada Familia” and check it out for yourself. It is one of the most amazing pieces of architecture we have ever seen.

We had lunch at a tapas bar in La Ramla, which is one of the most famous areas in Barcelona. The boulevard showcases the Boqueria Market, flower stalls, the opera house, and endless and unexpected attractions. There are many street performers here vying for your euro. Attempting to take in the ambience and culture of Spain, we lunched on seafood paella, which Jeff hated…I thought it was pretty good. Most importantly we both liked the sangria, so that was good! After lunch, we made our way back toward Port Vell and had a few more glasses of sangria! The Port Vell area is really fun, noted as the oldest part of Barcelona harbor. This area features major leisure and shopping complexes, restaurants, and shops which are open seven days a week. Jeff was intrigued by the women’s bathroom, which you had to walk through to get to the men’s room…ha ha ha.

We headed back to the Eurostar Grand and took a few hours to relax, before heading out for dinner. We had the paella and sangria, we were now interested in Spanish beer and tapas. The concierge recommended that we head towards Placa de Cataluna and dine at Ciudad Cantal. The place was hopping and they don’t take reservations. It reminded me of a sushi bar, where the chefs make the maki rolls in front of the patrons. Here the tapas were being made at the bar for all the guests to watch. It was a really cool spot. The menu was interesting, to say the least, and we didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into, as it was written in very broken English. We munched on papas bravas (spicy potatoes), fried artichokes (which still had the hair), ham and chicken croquettes, some type of goat cheese pepper dish, four cheese baguettes, and Russian Salad, which are the tapas staples in Barcelona. It was okay, we much prefer the American tapas at Café Babareeba….LOL. After dinner we walked down La Ramla and headed home, we wanted to get up early to see La Boqueria Market, which opened early Monday morning.

Monday morning we woke up bright and early, as our flight home took off at 12:40. We wanted to pack, eat breakfast, and walk through the famous Boqueria Market located in La Ramla. The market was crazy! There were fruit, meat, seafood, chocolate, and candy sections, as well as sections dedicated to patrons who wanted to sit down at the counter and enjoy a fresh lunch and cold beer. We walked through at 9AM and there were people already eating oysters and drinking sangria. Each stall at the market was beautifully organized, it seemed like each of them were competing to have the most beautiful stall. In the meat sections, there were literally large cuts of ham and beef hanging from the top of the stands, hoofs and feathers included. We’re not too sure how sanitary this is, but it seemed to be the way of life for the Spaniards. Some of the foods looks really appetizing, the fresh fruit and juice, as well as the handmade truffles looked appetizing! I really enjoyed the market, it gave us a glimpse into how the Barcelonean’s live, eat, and play.

Our vacation was amazing, we got to revisit some of our most favorite spots, as well as experience a few new. We definitely want to vacation in the French Riviera again and see St Tropez, as well as do a tour of Spain.

As always, thanks for reading and till next time.

Xoxo

J&J