We just recently spent a weekend in Barcelona. I really loved this city - it reminded me a lot of San Diego or San Francisco. The architecture and other sights here are so interesting but the best part of Barcelona is the atmosphere of the city itself - it's fun and relaxing.
We took the tourist bus around town the first day. I know it seems like a cheesy way to see the city but it really gets you to all the hot spots in a short amount of time and if you're on a short schedule it's the way to go. They sell a two day bus pass for 23 euros (the one day pass is 19 euros) and I think you need the 2 day pass as there is so much to see in Barcelona.
I was anxious to see some of the Gaudi houses and of course the Sagrada Familia - the temple started by Gaudi in 1882 that is still under construction. I'll just say up front that there is no way my photos can do justice to the amazing architecture in Barcelona. The buildings designed by Gaudi are so different than anything you can see anywhere else in the world. But - I did my best with the pics and can only recommend you come to Barcelona and see everything yourself.
Our first stop was Casa Battló. I'd seen this house in a few travel shows and really wanted to get a look inside. As this was prime tourist season we knew we wouldn't have time to tour through all of Gaudi's houses, so we made this house our priority.
This is the exterior of the house and it gives you an idea of the kind of fanciful and original design you can expect to enjoy inside:
"The skulls" are balconies and "the bones" are supporting pillars. The inside is like a dream:
This is the attic of the house:
Even the chimneys on the roof are exotic and beautiful:
I really loved this house. Next we walked over to another Gaudi creation Casa Mila or "La Pedrera". We didn't tour inside this home as the crowds were already lined up around the block, so I only took a couple snaps of the outside, but it's on our list to tour the next time we get to Barcelona:
It's not quite as startling as the skulls on the exterior of Casa Battló but it is also so interesting. Many people describe the wavy exterior as looking like sand dunes. I look forward to seeing the interior.
After the two houses we were off to Sagrada Familia. This is a distance shot I took from the web to give you an idea of the scale of this temple and it's interesting shape. The pic is from the Spain Holiday web site:
My own photos are close up and quite a few shots were obscured a bit with tarps and cranes and all the other construction stuff but here they are:
Every nook and cranny of this church is fascinating. Again - because of the time and the size of the crowds - we're going to have to wait for the next trip to get inside.
The last stop on our tour of Gaudi wonders was the Park Güell. There is a gem of Gaudi design around every corner of this park and I only took photos of a few. This is the entrance to the park:
In the middle of the entrance is the "dragon" fountain. Actually it's more like a salamander. There were people hanging all over this poor statue posing for pics so I didn't get a good shot, but here is an image I found on the Bluffton site:
He's a cute little thing and he has to suffer a lot of mauling in the middle of the tourist season. This is the public square in the park. The benches are all a beautiful mosaic and half of the square itself is supported by the columns of the Chamber of the Hundred Columns (which apparently only has 96) below. It's pretty amazing:
Here are a couple photos of the Chamber below. There are mosaic discs in the ceiling and the whole space is airy and light:
This is a photo of one of the interesting walls along the park. It looks like a face with teeth doesn't it?:
After the park we had a late lunch and headed back to the hotel to relax a bit. And let me post a couple pics of the hotel because I have to say I thought it was pretty cool and modern and it was actually very reasonable. We've had a lot of luck with the AC line of hotels in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Based on the few I've visited I would recommend the chain if you're planning a trip to any of these countries. This was our hotel:
It was just down the street from the beach and - even better - across the street from a HUGE mall! This is the inside:
Pretty swank huh? I've been surprised to find many stylish but reasonable hotels to stay in around Europe.
So the next day of our trip we headed to El Born neighborhood - which included a visit to the Textile Museum which was AWESOME, and some more parks and buildings and great Barcelona stuff. I'll post more later! Hasta pronto!
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