We spent our first two days in Barcelona touring each of the different quarters. The main areas are Las Ramblas, Barri Gotic, La Ribera, Montjuic and L’Eixample.
Las Ramblas is an interesting part of town – it’s a tree lined pedestrian walkway loaded with shops, fresh food markets, and stalls - you can basically buy anything imaginable including birds, turtles or rabbits?? The strip is about a mile long strip and ends at the Mediterranean Sea.
As we strolled the distance we came across La Rambla fountain.
It tasted a little like lead to me, but apparently that’s the price you pay to become life-long citizens of Barcelona.
The Ramblas is also filled with street “performers.” Pretty weak if you ask me – they basically get dressed up in some crazy outfit and sit on a box and expect you to pay them for it?? Not impressed, but we did snap a pic so you could enjoy the same experience we had:
The Ramblas is capped off with a massive statue of Christopher Columbus pointing to the new world..
Next we went down to the sea to climb a scary looking tower take a cable car up to Montjuic (translated to Hill of the Jews). The view from the tower and the top of Mountjuic provided some amazing views of the entire city:
The tree lined street is Las Ramblas:
After an hour or so and a long hike around the mountain, we were ready for some food ! So we went to the Gothic quarter (Barri Gotic). This is the oldest part of the city and is made up of tiny side streets that zigzag throughout the entire quarter. We managed to find this tiny café in the bottom of some medieval building and grabbed some tapas and a burger to replenish our energy!
We continued to follow our walking tour throughout this labyrinth and happened upon the square where the Catholic Monarch received Columbus when he arrived home from the new world.
Standing in the square was a man that sang opera with his incredible voice echoing off the walls.
Throughout the quarter there were performers that actually had skills, from playing a range of instruments to more singing within the random side streets and their voices echoing down the lanes. It was a great soundtrack to one of our favorite areas of Barcelona.
Some other pictures of the area:
Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention is that they LOVE to graffiti everything there. Every store, restaurant, etc has a metal door they open and close and I don’t think we saw one in Barcelona that wasn’t painted.
After enjoying some gelato and browsing paintings in an open air market, we visited this Cathedral where you can still see the marks in the stones from bombs during the Spanish Civil War.
Right next to the Gothic quarter is La Ribera – the Picasso museum is here along with plenty of trendy clothes shops and some good food! Here are some pics of the area.
The ticket window at the Opera House:
Eternal Flame of Catalonia, celebrating their own 9/11. 9/11/1714 which commemorates the royal sacking of Barcelona. Catalonia has its own language and generally did not want to become part of Spain – there are flyers and propaganda you come across that still point to the fact that people want to separate from Spain.
Barcelona is well known for its amazing architecture. I would say the most famous architect was a man named Antoni Gaudi. So, Sunday was our Gaudi day. His architecture is like nothing I have ever seen and some of it looks like it’s straight out of Candyland!
We walked all over the city exploring some of his work.
In front of the Familia Sagrada, Gaudi’s still unfinished work (he died before completion) we saw some human towers. As they approached the fourth level or so, all of the people started to shake like crazy so this little girl climbed up for about 2 seconds and immediately slid down before the entire structure collapsed – the entire crowd holds their breath as you watch, then erupt in applause and cheers as they complete the tower and get everyone down safely.
Park Guell, more of Gaudi’s works:
After two exhausting days of walking, at least 15 miles a day, our feet were tired so we headed to the water to enjoy some Cava Sangria’s and dinner at a street side cafe. At this point we finally relaxed and realized what a rough life we are living. What a great way to end the day.
Oh yes, here is a picture of some food, Paella – delicious!
On Monday we got up and ventured to Girona where we actually flew in, the city was very quaint, parts of it reminded me a little of Italy.
We ventured into the Call, the old Jewish area, before they decided to expel them from Spain in 1492:
Of course, it had been perfect weather for the entire weekend, so it started to rain on our last day. We got out of the rain and explored the Jewish museum which talked about life in the Call and made a quick stop at the Arab baths - which after seeing the Roman baths in Bath, was pretty unimpressive.
To finish off our trip, and stay out of the rain until we left for the airport, we ended with a good Spanish beer at an Irish Bar. The perfect transition to our trip this weekend to Dublin!
Next we went down to the sea to climb a scary looking tower take a cable car up to Montjuic (translated to Hill of the Jews). The view from the tower and the top of Mountjuic provided some amazing views of the entire city:
The tree lined street is Las Ramblas:
After an hour or so and a long hike around the mountain, we were ready for some food ! So we went to the Gothic quarter (Barri Gotic). This is the oldest part of the city and is made up of tiny side streets that zigzag throughout the entire quarter. We managed to find this tiny café in the bottom of some medieval building and grabbed some tapas and a burger to replenish our energy!
We continued to follow our walking tour throughout this labyrinth and happened upon the square where the Catholic Monarch received Columbus when he arrived home from the new world.
Standing in the square was a man that sang opera with his incredible voice echoing off the walls.
Throughout the quarter there were performers that actually had skills, from playing a range of instruments to more singing within the random side streets and their voices echoing down the lanes. It was a great soundtrack to one of our favorite areas of Barcelona.
Some other pictures of the area:
Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention is that they LOVE to graffiti everything there. Every store, restaurant, etc has a metal door they open and close and I don’t think we saw one in Barcelona that wasn’t painted.
After enjoying some gelato and browsing paintings in an open air market, we visited this Cathedral where you can still see the marks in the stones from bombs during the Spanish Civil War.
Right next to the Gothic quarter is La Ribera – the Picasso museum is here along with plenty of trendy clothes shops and some good food! Here are some pics of the area.
The ticket window at the Opera House:
Eternal Flame of Catalonia, celebrating their own 9/11. 9/11/1714 which commemorates the royal sacking of Barcelona. Catalonia has its own language and generally did not want to become part of Spain – there are flyers and propaganda you come across that still point to the fact that people want to separate from Spain.
Barcelona is well known for its amazing architecture. I would say the most famous architect was a man named Antoni Gaudi. So, Sunday was our Gaudi day. His architecture is like nothing I have ever seen and some of it looks like it’s straight out of Candyland!
We walked all over the city exploring some of his work.
In front of the Familia Sagrada, Gaudi’s still unfinished work (he died before completion) we saw some human towers. As they approached the fourth level or so, all of the people started to shake like crazy so this little girl climbed up for about 2 seconds and immediately slid down before the entire structure collapsed – the entire crowd holds their breath as you watch, then erupt in applause and cheers as they complete the tower and get everyone down safely.
Park Guell, more of Gaudi’s works:
After two exhausting days of walking, at least 15 miles a day, our feet were tired so we headed to the water to enjoy some Cava Sangria’s and dinner at a street side cafe. At this point we finally relaxed and realized what a rough life we are living. What a great way to end the day.
Oh yes, here is a picture of some food, Paella – delicious!
On Monday we got up and ventured to Girona where we actually flew in, the city was very quaint, parts of it reminded me a little of Italy.
We ventured into the Call, the old Jewish area, before they decided to expel them from Spain in 1492:
Of course, it had been perfect weather for the entire weekend, so it started to rain on our last day. We got out of the rain and explored the Jewish museum which talked about life in the Call and made a quick stop at the Arab baths - which after seeing the Roman baths in Bath, was pretty unimpressive.
To finish off our trip, and stay out of the rain until we left for the airport, we ended with a good Spanish beer at an Irish Bar. The perfect transition to our trip this weekend to Dublin!
Amazing. Cool pictures. Looks like a an interesting city. Have fun in Dublin.
ReplyDelete