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Published: March 21st 2011
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Hi all,
As I said at this Vilanova camp site we had the use of all the indoor facilities so as Tuesday was a pretty gloomy day we made the most of them all day.
Wednesday 16th March and it's Daniels 17th birthday.
(I think I lost track of the dates in the last blog somewhere!!!)
As we'd decided to stay on this site instead of moving closer to Barcelona the best option to get into the city was the direct bus that stopped right outside the gates and it dropped us either in the Placa de Espana or Placa de Catalunya which are both central. The only problem was that the journey was over an hour long passing slowly through the nice resort of Sitges and by the airport.
On the bus and into town we went, from the drop off at Placa de Catalunya we were straight onto Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas are a group of small streets that are now joined up as one, each Rambla has it's own theme, from the top area where the statue performers and acrobats entertain, down past the flower stalls and the outdoor cafes and on past the sketch
Las Ramblas
Flower stalls and paint artists down to the port the area is full of people taking in the spectacle. (Be careful this is one of the pick pocket hot spots). At the half way point of Las Ramlas on the right is the famous indoor market La Boquiera. The market has every food stall you can imagine and the displays on show are well worth a look at, the fresh fish stall is just that, with live crabs and lobster on show, the fruit, veg and spice stalls are full of colour and the meat stalls have stuff on show that would make most people wretch! It's definitely worth a visit. Off Las Ramblas are the small streets and alleyways of Barri Gothic. We took a walk around these as we headed down towards the port area, some areas are dark and could be intimidating if on your own but it was fairly busy so we wandered on past boutiques, shops, bars and homes taking in the atmosphere of the place. For the rest of the day we strolled around the Ribera district then back up onto the Gran Via doing some shopping at El Corte Ingles before having tea at the
Hard Rock Cafe (again) then catching the bus back.
Thursday was a rest day on site with more use of the pool and gym and a lay in the sun by the pool.
Friday and off into town again, this time we headed north up Rambla de Catalunya and onto Passeig de Gracia. Here there are 3 significant buildings (Manzana de la Discordia) designed by 3 famous Spanish artists, one of them is Antoni Gaudi's Casa Batllo. Further up there is the Casa Mila, Gaudi's other worldly apartment block, with it's centurion-like chimney pots and it's limestone rounded balconies it's very different. Heading north towards Park Guell we walked through the L'Eixample area with it's modernista architecture of symmetrical blocks, then up through Gracia once an outlying village but now one of the city's most pleasant suburbs.
Park Guell designed by Gaudi in 1900 uses trencadis (broken pottery) to cover the 2 elaborate gatehouse roofs, the decorated salamander and the lizard like bench which gives the park a very bright and colourful feel. We spent some time here sitting on the lizard bench people watching and also taking in the street musicians whilst looking out over the city
Casa Batllo
Gaudi's design on Passeig de Gracia of Barcelona in the very warm sun.
From the park we took another long walk to the Cosmo Caixa (science museum) which is right in the north of the city below the Tibidabo park. We spent the rest of the day in the museum which is great for kids (and me) with loads of hands on experiments to try, it was very quiet so we them to ourselves and all the displays were in English. After another long day it was the bus back to site and feet up.
Saturday and into town early. Off at the Placa de Espana we walked up through the Sants area of the city to the Nou Camp stadium. The idea was to get tickets for the Getafe game for Dan's birthday.
We'd tried getting tickets on the internet but they couldn't guarantee 3 seats together so the best bet was at the ground, unfortunately it was a complete sell out and the only tickets available were from touts outside at 100 euro's each, I wasn't sure about them being legit so it didn't happen. We had a look around the very busy club store and as we'd already done the stadium tour
Park Guell
Me and Harry with the 2 gatehouses behind us a few years ago it was back on the bus and down to the Montjuic area.
Montjuic is the hill by the port which can easily be walked up for great views over the city to the north east. After a chill out atop the hill we walked back down to the port area for a look around the market stalls and a sit in the sun. Back into the Ribera area we found a lovely Italian restaurant to have lunch then it was into Parc de la Ciutadella for more people watching and sun bathing on another very hot day. All exhausted after 2 long walking days we jumped on the train back to Vilanova then the bus back to site. We watched the Barcelona game that night on the big screen in the bar and at least it wasn't a 6 v 5 thriller we'd missed.
Sunday was another rest day. We had a lie-in, then after lunch played a bit of football on the very good outdoor sports facility. This weekend the site was very busy with the first signs that the Spanish are now starting to come out at weekends as it's warming up.
Sagrada Familia
The Passion Facade finished in 1990 Monday 20h March. Our last day in the city so once off the bus we walked up the Passeig de Gracia again viewing a few of Gaudi's buildings on our way to Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is the no.1 site in Barcelona and gets very busy and even on a Monday it was heaving. There's so much to say about the man and place so briefly: Gaudi was brought in as a replacement architect and given free rein and his fantasies were let loose. He devoted himself to the project totally, he even lived on site in a hut, took no wages and begged on the streets for cash to complete the works before he died in 1926. His original plans were destroyed an anarchist riot but work resumed in 1952 and aims to be completed by 2026 in time for the centenary of his death. The two main fascades are the Nativity and the Passion both very different in styles and completed many years apart. At the time of Gaudi's death only one of the bell towers that can be seen across the city was complete, by 2026 there will be 18. Wanting to visit the interior properly
one time (just like the Alhambra palace) I decided not to drag the kids round and hopefully I will return one day to do that.
Walking south now and we made our way to Barcelona's version of the Arc del Triomf. It's placed at the north entrance of the Parc de Ciutadella which we walked into and sat in the sun with the many visitors doing just the same thing. Walking back through the Barri Gothic area the plan was to visit Picasso's museum but it was shut! So it was back up Las Ramblas and into Placa de Catalunya for some food and the bus back.
We have had a great time in Barcelona, in 4 days we've been to every corner of the city centre and seen many of the sites but there is so much more to do that you could easily fill a week here. I think it's a lovely place, the old and new buildings mixing well together and I'm sure the night-life would be great.
Well it's off to the Costa Brava next to visit some of my childhood holiday destinations.
Bye for now and take care all.
Neil Dan & Harry
La Boqueria
Colourful displays x
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