Jane and Kristi Travel Europe 2012: Barcelona!

We love Barcelona!

What a beautiful city this is. Gaudi, the squares, Gothic Quarter, the marina, the beach, Park Guell, the Promenade, La Rambla…the Sagrada Familia! Wow!

We arrived to Barcelona by train from Nimes, France on Saturday. After a bit of a delay getting into the apartment (we finally tracked down the correct cell number of the manager), we moved in to this great apartment in Barceloneta area – right by the marina and a few blocks from the beach. Sweet! The first evening we took it easy – walked to a nearby plaza central area north of Barceloneta on the way to the Gothic Quarter. Walked all over Gothic Quarter over to La Rambla, down to the marina and back. This took us about 4 hours with stops for sangria and dinner, music, street opera singers, gelato, and incredible performances – including a huge group of people making a human tower in several shapes in front of the Gothic church…then a few steps around the corner and there’s a jazz band, down La Rambla, more bands and singers, on the Promenade there’s an African drum and dance performance, turn your head and there’s a mime – this place is INcredible. We loved it instantly.

Sunday, we navigated the metro and landed ourselves at the Sagrada Familia, newly designated by the Pope in 2010 as a Basilica. O…M…G. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi – started in the late 1800s and is not yet completed. Although Gaudi died in 1926, his team and other devoted artists and architects have continued working on Gaudi’s vision to the complete the Sagrada (which is expected to be completed in 2020). The reason it took so long to become a Basilica? It didn’t have a roof until a couple years ago. Imagine this for a minute and take a look at the photos below.

Both of us – out of ALL the churches, cathedrals and basilicas we’ve visited this trip – thought the Sagrada was the most incredible. And that’s saying something compared to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Duomo in Florence, St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, etc. etc. The Sagrada Familia was unbelievable. We spend several hours there. Words can’t describe.

We ventured south from there to the Passieg de Gracia to see a few more Gaudi structures. Late lunch and 2 sangria stops later and we were done for the afternoon…back to the hotel for a siesta. Evening was another ramble through the Gothic Quarter and paella dinner. With sangria, of course! And “clara” – a beer and lemon soda drink.

Monday we had the beach and park day – a lazy morning/mid-day at the beach, lunch, siesta and a 5 p.m. metro up up up to Park Guell for sunset. The sidewalk up to the park is so steep from the metro station, they installed multiple escalators (yeay!). What a view! This park overlooks the entire city and out toward the sea. Trees, sunset, Gaudi structures, designs intended to drawn nature, art, and civic life - we were in a beautiful place. (see photos below). This Gaudi was in incredible man – an artist, naturalist, religious, architect who built places where music and the soul would carry…

We took the train to Madrid today for our flight back to the U.S. This little section of Europe captured us – we loved (nearly) every second of it. It left a little mark on us – not only on our (bigger) midsections and worn out feet, but it was a deeply enriching experience that we hope to share again - and perhaps with more friends and family who want to share this with us next time.