Being the capital of Catalonia and Spain’s second largest city Barcelona was high up on our list of places to visit and half-term of October 2011 saw us enjoying some wonderful late summer sunshine. Once again, arriving under cover of darkness we used public transport to get to our hotel, the Metro station, Para-lel, being five minutes walk around the corner and at just 2 Euros each is a lot cheaper than a taxi.
After our complimentary hotel breakfast we hopped across the road to take the Funicular de Montjuic railway up the hill to Montjuic Castle. Not the most attractive part of Barcelona, but the views of the city in the blue skied morning air were simply wonderful.
Quite a walk, not an obvious route and not sign-posted at all, we set off to find the 1992 Olympic Stadium. Several dead ends and circuitous roads later, passing derelict buildings and wasteland, we found it and despite still in regular use, it’s not in a particularly good state of repair and compared to more modern stadia, it’s seems very small. En-route we attempted to find the spectacular diving pool, seen in a lot of Olympic posters and adverts, but we failed to find it. Our daughter, on a recent visit managed to find it by accident and reported that it was in a terrible state of repair.
Las Ramblas was next, and if you enjoy getting jostled by endless cruise liner parties and being hassled by living statues every 20 feet you will love it. We loathed it and would go out of our way to avoid it at all costs, choosing to cross it and use parallel streets that were more attractive, less busy and peppered by great coffee shops and local restaurants.
Our next day was Gaudi day. Barcelona is scattered with iconic Gaudi architecture and La Pedrera was our first port of call getting there early, just minutes after it opened, hoping to avoid the monstrous queues. Despite our early arrival we still had a 20 to 30 minute queue ahead of us. Well worth the wait though as the building was incredible and the views from the roof were pretty simply breathtaking. Also, a rarity these days, it had a great gift shop with interesting and unusual architectural based gifts.
Having been delayed by the queues at La Pedrera, we paid the price at our next location, La Sagrada Familia, as it was totally rammed. Queues right around the block and signs indicating at least a two hour wait we aborted our visit and headed to Parc Guell by Metro.
Parc Guell is as impossible to find as the Olympic Stadium, hidden away up some very steep side streets with very poor and difficult to find sign posts. Again, several roads were mistakenly taken before retracing our steps and taking a closer look at our map we eventually struck lucky and found it, along with thousands of other tourists. The view, from the terrace, seen on most postcards, was so crowded you had to queue for a space to take your pictures of the incredible view. Not a pleasant experience at all. It seemed as though every inch of the park was occupied. Worth seeing as the views are stunning, but be prepared to wrestle with the crowds.
Slightly worn down by our visit to Parc Guell we made our way back to the city centre to eat and upon exiting the Metro by La Sagrada Familia we spotted the queue was practically zero and managed to tag on to the last visit of the day. With preparations in full flow for the upcoming consecration by Pope Benedict, viewing was somewhat limited, but boy was it worth it. The building is simply mind-blowing in it’s intricacy and design. Architecturally brilliant the sculptures were colossal and wondrous depicting huge scenes from the Bible and the slowly setting sun illuminated it all in a gloriously rich and warm evening light. The interior was just as captivating and the same low setting sunlight beamed through the stained glass windows filling the cavernous interior with multi-coloured light. Breathtaking. Simply wondrous.
Not surprisingly we were delayed by this last minute visit and we ended up eating Paella in a local restaurant around the corner from the hotel. By no means a glamorous eatery but the food was wonderful. Freshly cooked and very tasty washed down with cheap local wine it fortified us after our busy day of Gaudi watching.
Our penultimate destination was to the dark and rather bizarre La Seu Cathedral. Home to a large family of geese it was an oddly charming but equally strange collection of small crypts and chapels and lots of large plants and trees. Odd.
Rounding off our visit we caught the Metro to Barcelonetta Beach and walked along the beach enjoying the glorious sunshine. Hotel Arts giant fish sculpture, odd sculptures all scattered along a lovely board walk. Eating ice cream sat on the beach enjoying the views at the end of October was delightful and a great way to round off our visit.
mrandmrsyoung 