I took a few notes while we were traveling and I have done by best to link up to all the places I could. A lot of the locations have some great history behind them that my simple notes wouldn't do justice to.
*These could be long, you've been warned. I am only posting a few photos - all 390-something are on my facebook page. :)
Day 1 (9/8-9/9)
Mom and I headed on our way to NYC for our first layout in the late morning. We were all situated on our Delta flight over to Barcelona by the middle of the afternoon and were preparing to arrive around 9:30am on Monday morning in Barcelona.
Immediately when we got there, we put out stuff into the rooms (at the Hotel Bagues on La Rambla) and then headed off to the Sagrada Familia. It is probably the biggest attraction in Barcelona and we wanted to keep going so that we wouldn't be tempted to take a nap (jet lag).
*Nice photo bomb by the crying woman statue - selfie fail
This place is really incredible. Take a read through the website if you aren't familiar with it, but Gaudi planned it to take over a century to complete. They are STILL working on it and anticipate a completion in 2026.
After the tour, we took the metro back to the hotel, which was right on La Rambla a busy and popular street. We stopped at one of the outdoor cafes to have a snack and some of the biggest sangria I've ever seen.
Finally, we headed back to the room to rest for a bit and get changed for dinner. My parents had a reception to go to the meeting my dad was attending so I went to dinner with the kids of one of his upcoming Presidents. We went to a local restaurant called Los Caracoles. It was delicious.
Day 2 (9/10)
On day two, we woke up headed over to the Museu Picasso with the family I went to dinner with the night before. It was a really cute little museum with a lot of works from Picasso during his schooling and early years - before the popular stuff. It was fascinating to see his growth and transition to the style he is classically known for. This may have been my favorite thing we did.
After the museum, my dad went back to the hotel to do some work and the rest of us heading over to Parc Guell. It was quite a hike up the hill, but great views and really nice weather. The mosaics were really cool, but there were A LOT of people there. My mom and I almost witnessed a fight because some guy wouldn't stop sitting in front of the famous lizard mosaic until he approved the photo. This did not make another woman very happy.
We took the metro up to the park and back, so we decided to get off on a stop before ours to see the Casa Batllo which is another house by Gaudi. Antoni Gaudi, an architect, had a lot of work in Barcelona. He worked closely on various projects with Guell. If you are looking for some internet searching, google them both. :)
After the house, we walked back to our hotel and headed off to dinner with a few of the Canadians that work with my dad. We went to Sensi Bistro Tapas, which was a cute little tapas place in a nearby neighborhood. The waiter was a super hairy 25 year old in school and he offered to just order for the 7 of us. It was delicious!
Day 3 (9/11)
We woke up early to meet a tour group and take a day trip down to Sitges and the Freixenet Cava Winery. We went with Darcy and his wife Carla. On the tour, we walked down into their cava caves which hold over 4 million bottles of cava! The caves are so big that we could walk through the original part, but take a little train through the new portion. After the tour, (which was really interesting about the history) we got to taste their Cordon Negro Brut. Delicious! We also tried a glass of their Reserva Real.
After the tour, the bus took us over to the coastal town, Sitges to walk around and get lunch. We ate lunch at a little wine bar called Kva (no website, sorry!). It was a little rainy so we didn't end up staying very long in Sitges.
When we got back, the guys went up to pack and Carla, my mom and I went to the Miro museum. This is definitely NOT my favorite style of artwork, but it was fun to see. Afterwards, we were trying to kill time before meeting the guys for dinner, so we wandered around down the hill which ended up being were the Olympic Park is from the 1992 Summer Olympics. From there, we wandered past the MNAC (Museum of National Art of Cataluyna), saw the Magic Fountain (apparently very colorful at night) and then had some paella at La Gavina.
Day 4 (9/12)
This was our last day here and it was just mom and I, as everyone else had left for home. We decided to tackle all the other things in my list that we hadn't done yet. First, we walked down to the Santa Maria De La Mar Cathedral. It was beautiful - as most other Gothic cathedrals are. Afterwards, we made our appointment to take a tour of the Palau Musica Catalana, the Opera theater. It was beautifully done with lots of artistic features. I love looking at all these older building that still are in use.
Opera House
After our tour, we stopped to have some lunch at a Catalan style tapas bar on La Rambla and then walked over the Palau Guell. A mansion house built for Guell by his pal Guadi. It was so cool and so weird at the same time. It was very dark and typical Gothic. It has a chapel in it and a huge organ. So strange.
Chimneys on the rooftop
Since we had to pack and were pretty tired, we stopped and had a jamon sandwich at this cafe Vienna down the street from our hotel. This sandwich was written up in the NY Times back in 2006, and it was simple but delicious.
And now that this is a marathon post, we head off to Paris in the morning... :)
Oh good lord. I'm so so so so jealous of you.
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