Barcelona

Hola! Jose here, checking in again, this time about Barcelona. Sunday was another action packed day. We met our tour guide Irene at the port in the am and headed into the city. First we drove up Montjuic which is the highest point in the city and saw some Olympic related sites. Barcelona hosted the Olympics in 1992 (the year of the dream team) and Irene said they speak of Barcelona as before and after the Olympics – the Olympics really did great things for the city and gave them more global recognition.

We then headed to Parc Guell, designed by the incomparable Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi’s philosophy was to try to really emulate nature in the things he designed. So he designed bridges with pillars that look like trees and walkways that look like crashing waves. But he also used materials like broken tiles to create colorful mosaics and even coffee cups as decorations in chimneys of houses that look like they came straight out of a fairy tale.

Then, we went to the grand daddy of them all, the Sagrada Familia. Merritt and I spent time in Barcelona in 2009 so we’d been to these sights before – I consider the Sagrada Familia to be the most extraordinary building I’ve ever seen. In 2009 when we visited it, our tour bus pulled up to the front of the church and the entire bus audibly gasped at its enormity and uniqueness. I remember it very distinctly. So we were really excited to visit again and see the progress they’ve made. This church has been under construction for 140 years and they expect it will be mostly complete in 2026 with finishing touches going into the ‘30s. The contrast between the intricacy and complexity of the outside design with the simplicity of the inside is crazy.

We were quite hungry at that point and Irene took us to eat some “pinchos” which are traditional small bites – different than tapas. Pinchos are all served on a slice of bread and are combinations of meats, cheeses, veggies and other deliciousness. They hit the spot. After that, we strolled through the gothic quarter for a bit on our way to the famous street Las Ramblas (which was a bit disappointing this time around as previously it was full of street performers and people dressed in amazing costumes but apparently that’s been banned). At the top of Las Ramblas we stepped into Nuria for some traditional tapas – patatas bravas, Iberico ham, toasted bread with tomato’s and olive oil, etc. It was muy bien! And that was the day as we had to be back on board before 5. It was a whirlwind tour of Barcelona, one of my favorite cities to visit.

Parc Guell: