The lively, cultural and artistic Barcelona

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- 26th July - 28th July 2016



Let me tell you about the enchanting, culture-bound city of Barcelona.. The capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia, in the remarkable country of Espana where the people are lively, tanned and beautiful.







For those culture vultures out there, Barcelona is overflowing with diversity, in all forms - people, activities, food, drinks, entertainment, historic sites – it will keep you happy and on your feet for weeks. It is the place to go to be immersed with other upbeat and positive people; the enthusiastic vibe is present and flowing around you no matter where you are.







I knew I loved Barcelona straight away when we got off the bus from the airport. The wide streets are lined with tall palm trees, and there are fountains and sculptures in the middle of roundabouts. The architecture is bold, colourful and distinctive, and this is just describing the mundane buildings along the street – this description would be a huge understatement to the phenomenal works of Gaudi which are scattered around the city.







We walked a few blocks just to explore and take it all in, never forgetting to look up at the wonderfully designed rooftops. We stumbled across a local family-owned Spanish bar which we stopped at for lunch, even though we could only make out a few words on the menu (turns out Spanish at high school was a long time ago). The very friendly owner said she was the 3^rd generation owner of the restaurant, and that they have always been famous for their snail paella – so of course we got that. It came in a big pan and the aroma was to die for, but the tastes were even more delicious. We knew there were a few meats in there including the snail, but we didn’t quite realise how much until we had finished and were paying. There were snails, rabbit (not chicken like I thought), sausage and goat. It was hands down the best Paella we’ve had.







Our Airbnb was just next door to the restaurant so we dropped off our backpacks and made our way down the main strip of town, towards the Gothic Quarter. The main road has beautiful buildings after buildings, with shops and restaurants on the ground floor, and the centre of the wide road has outdoor seating beneath the palm trees for the bars and restaurants. The streets were filled with buzzing people, and there was a lively, cultural and happy vibe surrounding the area – just as I’d expected of Spain.



The afternoon was filled with walking the streets, passing the Barcelona Cathedral, wandering down small side streets over-flowing with small shops and market stalls, and stumbling across large, sculpture-filled plaza’s. Our night was filled with laughter and reconnecting as we spent the evening with Janine and Alice (Alice who we hadn’t seen for 14 months) and we enjoyed a few Sangria’s and a lovely Spanish dinner.







As the next day commenced, we made our way to Gaudi’s masterpiece, Casa Batllo. The exterior is decorated with an outstanding mosaic made up of small tile pieces, with oval ground-floor windows, and a roof made to look like a dragon or a dinosaur. The local name for the building is Casa dels Ossos, which means House of Bones, as it has quite a skeletal quality to it. The design of the inside was magnificent, with every inch carrying a meaning, the doors and windows were all sorts of shapes and colours to display different lights around the room and a different feeling for entering another part of the building. A lot of the interior was also made up of colourful mosaics, covering the walls and ceilings, but with a different mood and presence in each room. I would write a novel if I was to describe the detail and meaning behind his design in the whole place, and Casa Batllo is miniscule compared to Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia!







Next on the agenda was visiting the grounds of the Barcelona Museum, as we were not in the mood for walking around the inside, and the exterior is very grand and extravagant, with large, dancing water fountains wherever you look. We walked around the grounds a bit, for as long we could before getting too fried in the 37 degree heat, and then made our way to the Olympic pools which are on a hill looking out over the city. We settled into the glorious cool water for about an hour, chilling and relaxing and taking in the impressive view of Barcelona, before having to immerse ourselves back into the merciless heat.







Our next destination was the Barcelona Cathedral, which we meandered to slowly as we wanted to get there after 5pm so as it was free (cheap travellers), and we stopped at a small hidden bar/tapas place for some delicious patatas bravas and fried onion rings and a great big beer. As we made our way down small back streets and pedestrian roads, we soaked in the multicultural vibes and the freedom of the community, and observed the intriguing architecture of the casual apartment blocks and offices.







As I was wearing shorts (naturally in this heat), I had to buy a wrap which women were selling outside the Cathedral for tourists like myself, to cover my legs, and then we could enter the large cathedral. The exterior of the cathedral had resemblances to the Duomo de Milano, as there were a lot of spires and intricate detail surrounding the whole building; it is quite a lot to take in. The inside, like many cathedrals, was deceivingly enormous, with beautifully coloured and designed stained glass, and there was a nice outdoor area filled with tall trees and a pond with large white Swans floating around. This outdoor feature was quite different to any other cathedrals we have visited, but a really lovely touch.







From the Cathedral we made our way through the small alleyways to the markets which we thought we would get dinner at, but turns out it was very busy and there were way too many choices for us to handle!! So we continued walking and found a cute, modern tapas bar where you got 5 tapas and a drink for a great price. The food and drinks were delicious but unfortunately we had a very large and very loud group of American tourists behind us so it was rather hard to have a conversation! We were pretty exhausted from the 3.30am start the day before and the extremity of the heat, so we headed home for an early night.







Our third and final day in Barcelona – a scorcher of a day - started with a metro and small hike to Park Guell located on Carmel Hill. When we arrived there we needed to take a wee rest on a bench in the shade as we were already covered in sweat and dehydrated. The most handy thing at this point was the water fountain (similar ones to Milan) to fill up our water bottles. When we were prepared to move again we followed the path and found the other hundreds of people that decided to check out the park today. We saw a statue at the top of the hill which looked interesting but not interesting enough to hike up there, so we headed down towards Gaudi’s art works -houses and sculptures - which is what Park Guell is famous for. The house and sculptures really portrayed his naturalist style and personality by using a lot of organic shapes in his designs, very similar to Casa Batllo. A couple of the buildings look like cute gingerbread houses (well to me anyway).







We then wandered slowly towards the Sagrada Familia as we had a time slot at 2.15pm, and found a Spanish restaurant to have lunch. We had delicious prawns, patatas bravas and risotto balls and lots more! I just love Spanish food so much! Following our big lunch, we had a bit of time to kill so we lay in a cool shaded park for half an hour to try get a bit of energy so as we could fully embrace the famous Cathedral designed by Gaudi.







As the time approached we waited in a short line to enter the gates and gather our audio guides.



The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, is a Roman Catholic Church designed by the famous Spanish Antoni Gaudi, who passed away in 1926. The cathedral was not complete at the time of his death but he had many plans for the designs to be completed, with a completion date currently at 2026 (a century after his death). The construction began in 1882, and was only a quarter complete when Gaudi died, and after that it progressed slowly due to lack of funds and the Spanish Civil War. The design and style of the Sagrada Familia is a combination of Spanish Late Gothic, Catalan Modernism and Art Nouveau, the latter being what Gaudi’s style relates to a large extent.







We started by taking in the dark, detailed, gothic exterior of the grand cathedral and seeking out different designs and sculptures as suggested by the audio guide. There is so much to take in so it was great being directed to certain areas and to hear the meaning behind the design – making our visuals a lot clearer and understandable. The large, heavy doors entering into the cathedral were fully detailed and decorated with green 3D leaves, and protruding pink flowers and some doors were just completely packed with 3D words of religion and symbolism.



As you step into the cathedral you are immediately exposed to an array of colours shining through the stained glass, coming from all directions. It’s the most magnificent and surreal sight, of pure beauty and extravagance.



The colours of the glass are different colours in different areas of the cathedral so as when the sun is rising, midday or setting, different colours and lights are splayed across the whole interior. Looking up there are many spires, pinnacles and pillars, all decorated, and all made from different materials, such as stone, granite, sandstone and reinforced concrete.







At one point we had to sit down and just look up and try to make sense of all the beautiful detail and intricate designs. We had really sore necks by the end of it to be honest.







Of the 18 towers Gaudi planned to erect, there are currently 8; 4 in the Nativity Façade and 4 in the Passion Façade. We went up one of the towers in the Passion Façade to nearly the top of the cathedral, where you could then walk down the spiral stairs, stopping at different viewpoints to take in more of the exterior which you can’t see from the ground. It was a long trip back down the stairs – and pretty hot, but so great to see more of the beautiful cathedral!







Towards the end we went into the underground museum where you could see the different machines they used, including 3D printers which are used to replicate different parts of the building. You could also see the men working in their workshop. To be quite frank, it was unbearably hot and we were absolutely exhausted so couldn’t stay too long under there, but we also had a plane out to Lyon that evening so had to be on our way in any case..







We spent a magnificent 2 hours exploring the Sagrada Familia and it was a very overwhelming and beautiful experience. A great way to end our trip in the amazing city. I would love to go back in 2026 when it is all complete to see Gaudi's vision and dream.







Barcelona was an absolute dream -just a truly up-beat and positive city, filled with culture and life. Can’t wait to return with mi numero uno. But next up - peaceful and serene Lyon.

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