Blogs from Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe - page 5

The main places for visiting today required advanced ticket purchase with nominated admission times due to the numbers of visitors each site attracts. So first bus to Parc Tibidabo to catch the funicular to the top of the mountain with views across all of Barcelona region. There's an amusement park with carnival type rides for those interested and the obligatory basilica for this city of churches. We then joined the throng becoming engrossed by the spectacle that is the Sagrada Familia with it's towering steeples, ornate decoration and just the amazing amount of detail that has gone into the design and construction of this massive project. We last saw this in 1983 so 34 years of construction has pushed it along significantly with completion now scheduled for 2026. One wonders where all of the stonemasons will ... read more

Yippie! We arrive in Spain! The flight from Portland to Amsterdam was 9 hours 45 minuets, while that seems long, making regular trips to Hawaii (6hours) put me in shape for this kind of trip. We were able to secure exit row seats with some sizable leg space. While this may be better than regular coach it's not close to first class, and it is by no means close to coach on Emerits. The thing about this extra space is that when the flight attendant gets up to preform their duties the seat folds up providing a full 6 feet of extra space, this is where the bathroom junkies like to congregate. Thats a whole story in itself, I am truly amazed at the bathroom attendee repertoire of exercises they feel compiled to preform during their ... read more

The temporary “resident” of our local Caixa Bank was sound asleep in the cash machine hall, as we headed out Sunday morning. The ingenious member of the disadvantaged in Barcelona had found a solution to his temporary housing problems. He had moved in at some point after close of business on Friday and taken up residence in the warm. The customers seemed not to mind and were still engaged in their normal cash transactions, whilst our man slept his way through the weekend. The remainder of the neighbourhood was also fast asleep with the exception of the dog walking fraternity. We made our way towards the Stadium Narcis Sala, home of Union Esportes Sant Andreu. The ultras were gathering – as per their instructions on Twitter – for the march to their local derby with Club ... read more

I’ve officially been abroad for 3 months (well, almost 4 months now) and I have settled into London life well. Well, as well as can be expected – I’ve been challenged at times but have enjoyed almost every moment of moving to and settling in a different country to the one I’ve called home all my life. Especially as I’d written this off as being a doable thing years ago, particularly in the past couple of years so to be over here, finally achieving those dreams, feels amazing despite any tough moments that may arise. So, naturally, to mark this momentous occasion I went on my first proper holiday and ventured outside of the UK. Since I’d gotten myself organised and settled and set up in a short amount of time, I treated myself to Barcelona, ... read more

Full day in Barcelona. First we went on a tour around town and the first stop was the Sagrada Familiar, a basilica started in the late 1800s by an architect by the name of Antonio Gaudi. This guy had amazing vision for the time. The outside is certainly a feat of engineering and the inside is out of this world. We booked tickets online (this is the only way to get in as the queues are hideous) They hope to have it finished by the year 2026. But Spanish time can be very elastic. There are 200 people working on it and the early part was funded only by donations and now by visitor entry. They call the architecture - Organic Architecture as Gaudi had a very different style and liked to incorporate ceramics and unusual ... read more