I got to Placa d’Espanya, a bustling plaza with people and bicycles and traffic – I went down to the underground metro and bought myself a 10-trip ticket. I took the metro to the station nearest to my hotel and checked in. I settled into my room and made a plan for the afternoon.
I was going to spend the afternoon seeing Gaudi’s architectural masterpieces, starting with La Sagrada Familia. It wasn’t too far from my hotel, so I decided to walk there. I was trying to avoid using my map and looking like a tourist and because of that I missed the turn. I walked a bit out of the way, but not too far. I still didn’t have to check the map to find my way. I began to see the spires of the cathedral from where I was and just found it that way.
La Sagrada Familia was beautiful, although it was surrounded by cranes and scaffolding. This happens in nearly every city I visit. In fact, I can’t think of one city I’ve visited where nothing was under construction. However, La Sagrada Familia has been under construction since the late 19th century. There is so much to it, and the work just goes on and on. Gaudi died in 1926 with only one of the 18 planned towers completed. Ever since, the work has continued in an effort to fulfill the dreams of the Moderniste architect. I spent a couple of hours there, going up the lift to the towers to see the view, looking at the sculptures of the nativity and the passion on the facades, walking around the inside to look at the tree-like structures that serve as the support inside the cathedral, wandering the museum in the crypts. Finally, I decided to move on. I was starving!
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I grabbed a tapas lunch at a little place on a busy street not too far from my next stop. I ate squid and potatoes with garlic sauce after barely communicating what I wanted to the waiter. Despite the language barrier, he was very nice and provided excellent service. After lunch, I was off to see more Gaudi works – I walked to Manzana de la Discordia (Block of Discord) on Passeig de Gracia. There are three houses on the street that are of modernista style, but I toured only one – Gaudi’s Casa de Batllo. It was like stepping into a Dr. Seuss book. Wonderful! My tour of all of the rooms ended after about an hour and a half, and by then it was getting to be nearly dusk.
I headed toward Casa Mila (known as La Pedrera) and struggled to find the ticket counter. Apparently, I was 10 minutes too late. Two different attendants told me that the place closes at 6:30, and they recommend an hour to tour the house. It was 5:45. I asked if it could be done in 45 minutes and they just kept saying “We recommend an hour. You come back tomorrow?” I was getting annoyed because I planned to visit other areas of the city the next day and didn’t think I’d be back. Besides that – what was 15 minutes?!
Anyway, I gave up arguing with them and started to take my guide book’s suggested walk around the area. It was starting to get dark. After a strange encounter with a supposed tourist asking for help and (I believe) his partner in crime, posing as a cop, I moved on quickly and headed toward the hotel. Don’t worry, I made it back safely. From now on, when someone asks me for directions, I’ll be responding with “No.”
The next morning, after a coffee and blueberry muffin at Starbucks, I went back to Casa Mila since it opened at 9 and toured the house. Most of it was a museum about Gaudi and his architectural styles. One floor was an apartment decorated as it would have been when people lived there. The roof was the best part of the house. The alien-like chimneys lined up made a beautiful, surreal skylilne.
When I left the house, I took the metro toward Park Guell, another one of Gaudi’s superb creations. After walking about four blocks from the metro stop, I began the steepest uphill climb I have ever endured. Parts of it offered an escalator, but most of it was steps and just uphill slopes. I finally arrived at the park (sweating and panting), and it was beautiful. The swirling mosaic tiled benches were expansive, and crowded with tourists. I snapped some photos of the area, including the houses Gaudi originally built for the residential garden city he intended Park Guell to become. After wandering around a bit more, I started the long downhill walk back to the metro station.
My underground journey took me to Placa d’Espanya again, where I had to sit and get my bearings in order to find my way to my next destination – the Fundacio Joan Miro. It was a pretty long walk, as the museum is located in Montjuic, an enormous park that houses several museums, a simulated Spanish village (which I later visited) and even a palace. Although the park had great views of the city, I almost gave up out of sheer exhaustion from my trip to Park Guell. However, I persevered and reached my destination. After I wandered around the museum, I had lunch in the museum café. I ate pasta and drank an entire litre bottle of water. Then I had coffee with ice, which is apparently different from the iced coffee I’m used to. They brought me a shot of espresso and a wine glass with ice in it. With milk, it would have been okay.
Feeling a bit better after lunch, I asked about the bus so I didn’t have to walk back to Placa d’Espanya. It was nice to sit for a while and people watch and ride through town to Placa de Catalunya. I walked a bit on La Rambla, the city’s main street filled with tourists, locals, vendors and street performers. After a while I got back on the metro to Museu Picasso. It was really cool to see his early and later works, and to see photographs of him and learn about his life and where he lived and got his inspiration.
After the museum, I went back to the hotel and got some much needed rest. I was exhausted and my feet were killing me! I was starting to get hungry again and decided to walk around to see if I could find a place to eat near the hotel. I walked a long way, and decided that nothing around looked any good. I went back toward the hotel to a grocery store and bought some ham, cheese and chips and took it back to the hotel. I had a quiet evening eating my dinner, watching the news and planning my last day in Barcelona.
On Saturday morning, I got ready while listening to the news and the wind not whistling, but screaming through my slightly open window. I packed my stuff, checked out and headed out. I was immediately shocked by the wind, having troubles walking and getting bits of stuff flung into my face and eyes. I ducked into a coffee shop and had a cup and a croissant for breakfast. Afterward, I went to the bus stop for the Bus Turistic (open top hop-on, hop-off tour bus). I waited a few minutes, noticing that a tree had blown over in the plaza across the street from the stop.
I got on the bus, bought my ticket, went upstairs and plugged in my headphones. It was awfully windy up there, but you get better photos without the windows in the way. The first stop where I hopped off was the Museu Monestir de Pedralbes, far away from the city and with no public transportation, it was the main reason I used the Bus Turistic. As I left the bus, there was another tree down that had crashed the top of a wall. There was debris from the wall and the tree littering the sidewalk.
I walked up to the monastery and wandered around the outer courtyard, not knowing if the monastery was open or not because the giant iron doors were closed. Immediately I noticed a huge tree down in the center of the courtyard. It had fallen on someone’s car. I finally saw a girl walking out of the heavy iron doors and asked if it was open, and she said yes, the doors were only closed against the heavy winds. I went in and bought my ticket, and asked about the tree, and a guy told me it had only blown over about half an hour earlier!
The monastery was beautiful and very peaceful. There was a large group of tourists behind me, but I managed to keep ahead of them on my tour. I enjoyed taking photos of the cloisters and the inner courtyard. Despite the high winds, the day was gorgeous – blue sky and sun. While touring the monastery, I even got to hear music and singing from a distance. I figured it was the nuns. I also saw a nun trying to sweep up the mess the leaves and branches made of the cloisters.
When I left the monastery, I walked to the next stop rather than waiting for the bus. That was a mistake, because the walk was longer than it looked on the map and I saw the bus pass me as I dodged the fallen limbs and trees on the sidewalk. Also, when I arrived at the palace, the guy standing at the gate only spoke Spanish and he wouldn’t let me in and couldn’t tell me how to get in through a proper visitor entrance. Oh well, I probably saved some money and the palace wasn’t a priority anyway. I waited for the next bus.
When the bus came, we were no longer allowed to sit on top because of the wind. This trip took me past the Futbol Club, where I did not stop since I am not into it and still wanted to see other sights. The next stop was a transfer to the other bus, so I switched to continue my journey back to Montjuic and the ports. I went to Poble Espanyol, a simulated Spanish village on Montjuic hill. It was really cool looking, although nearly deserted. I went to a museum that had Picasso, Miro and Dali paintings in it, then looked at a couple of menus (starving again) and decided to move on when I saw how expensive everything was. The tapas were about €9 for each dish. On the first day my tapas was about €7 total for two. Forget it!
I got back on the bus and rode it past the ports, not bothering to get off at the stops because frankly, I was freezing to death and it was too windy for waterfront wandering. Although the restaurants were tempting, I stayed on the bus in hopes of something cheaper. I still feel I got a good view of the water and its surrounding sights from the bus. When we got to the Pla de Palau stop in the Ribera area, I got off the bus for the last time and made my way to Santa Maria del Mar, a cathedral of Catalan Gothic architecture. Right beside it, I found a lovely café and had crepes with salad for lunch.
After lunch, I walked up to the Cathedral of Barcelona, Gaudi’s first creation and toured the altars and cloisters outside. While walking around the courtyard, I found a bunch of geese beside a fountain. They were extremely outgoing, which makes me think they eat well. They were funny. Geese at church – who ever heard of such a thing?
After leaving the church I did some souvenir shopping and went back to Las Ramblas to people watch as my time in Barcelona came to an end. It was colder than it had been the entire time I’d been there. As I walked down the busy street, a kid dressed up in Barcelona gear was singing into a megaphone, followed by a group of people singing along. It was great!
I took the metro back to my hotel to pick up my suitcase, and they checked to see that my flight had not been canceled. Once confirmed, I was on my way to the airport, using my 10th trip on my metro card as I caught the train. What a perfect trip! Despite the minor annoyances, I had a great time and saw some amazing stuff. Gaudi is my hero!!
