So, after a wonderful trip with my daughters up the west coast of Italy (see the previous blogs at: My Lifestyle Blog | Wanderlust Encounters), my daughter Erin left Milan and went to London to visit friends and get reacquainted with London – a favorite destination for all of us. My daughter Taylor and I left Milan and took a flight to spend some time in Barcelona Spain to explore Barcelona architecture and sights. Taylor wanted to reconnect with her host family (Emma and Xavi) from her semester abroad and for me it was the beginning of the Spain portion of my trip.
A few years ago, I visited Taylor in Barcelona, during her semester abroad. On that trip, we spent our time in Barcelona Spain exploring a lot of the familiar tourist sites. This specifically included the amazing Barcelona architecture and places related to the works of Antoni Gaudi, such as Sagrada Familia and Casa Batllo, along with other Barcelona sights like Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar, the Gothic Quarter, and the waterfront. We also took a daytrip to and explored the beautiful monastery of Monserrat (Home - Montserrat Visita).
You may have seen pictures of Barcelona architecture on this blog site and on my Picfair photo storefront at Wanderlust-Encounters - buy prints & digital downloads (picfair.com).
In addition to wanting to visit Barcelona again – one of Europe’s most beautiful cities - this trip gave Taylor a chance to reconnect with her semester abroad host family. Make no mistake, we both love visiting Barcelona and probably would have gone there anyway.
So, after a quick flight from Milan, we checked into our AirBnB (Deluxe One Bedroom Apartment - Apartments for Rent in Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain - Airbnb) in the beautiful El Born neighborhood of Barcelona and took a stroll down Las Ramblas. On the way down Las Ramblas we made a quick detour to visit Placa Reial, with their Gaudi designed lamp posts, which I have pictured on the home page of my Wanderlust Encounters blog, at www.wanderlustencounters.com.
Back on Las Ramblas, we walked toward the waterfront and beach. After a drink at one of the many beach bars, Taylor and I went to the Surf House for another drink and dinner (early supper, since people eat late in Spain, usually starting around 8:30PM).
The Surf House is right on the beach and has great food (SHB (surfhousebarcelona.com)). Great service, great drinks, and great food, and it is on the beach – what more can you ask for? As they say at the Surf House, “Life’s a wave, Catch it!”.
I highly recommend you try the Surf House for lunch or dinner or just drinks and tapas if you find yourself on the beach in Barcelona.
Arc de Triomf and Parc de Ciutadella
The next morning, after a double espresso and croissant breakfast, Taylor and I decided to walk through the Gothic Quarter toward Parc de Ciutadella (Parc de la Ciutadella - Wikipedia) and the Arc de Triomf (Arc de Triomf - Wikipedia). Parc de Ciutadella was beautiful, lush, and green as I remember. We took time to admire the beautiful Gaudi designed fountains and lamp posts.
On the walk to the Parc and the Arc, we passed by the Mercat de Santa Catherine (Mercat de Santa Caterina – Official website of the Mercat de Santa Caterina. Products, stops, services... (mercatsantacaterina.com)), with the beautiful, colorful wave roof. Of course, we had to look around the market stalls and take in the colorful displays of fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, spices, and more. Each display case colorful works of art.
From the beautiful and tasty Mercat de Santa Catherine, it is a short walk to the Cathedral de Barcelona or the Barcelona Cathedral (Barcelona Cathedral - Wikipedia). This beautiful gothic cathedral, also called the “Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia”, took over 200 years to complete, with the ornate gothic façade added later. I recommend a tour of the cathedral or simply purchase a ticket for entrance and just look around (Barcelona Cathedral: 14th-Century Gothic Masterpiece (barcelonacathedral-tickets.com)).
After a nice walk to and around the Parc de Ciutadella and the Arc de Triomf, we headed to meet Taylor’s host family at the Moco Museum (Moco Museum: Experience Art in Amsterdam, Barcelona & London), an independent museum focused on modern and contemporary art. Moco exhibits works from Warhol, Banksy, Hirst, and Guillermo Lorca. Although I am not a huge fan of modern art, I was struck by the exceptional multi-media art and how it expressed contemporary cultural and societal issues. Some of these expressions and art pieces communicate a very emotional and at times “in your face” message that should be experienced by everyone.
Since we were there, we decided to experience the Digital Immersive Art exhibition. Flashing images and lights, changing colors and landscapes, and mirrors throughout that reflect all of the colors, images, and motions. It is an exhibit that almost overloads your senses of sight and sound. It is incredible in its creativity and depth of experiences, and left me considering the endless possibilities of digital art. I recommend you experience this exhibit, Digital Immersive Art | Barcelona | Moco Museum.
From there, we all went to the Palo Alto Fest (Palo Market Fest) and marketplace which is on a large lot area, open the first weekend of every month, except August. It is filled with music, food, drink, and numerous crafts booths exhibiting and selling original and vintage items from jewelry to clothing. It is a lot of fun!
In an effort to fully immerse myself in the fun of Palo Alto, I may have had a bit too much to drink. I was trying craft beers and different local distilled spirits, which I am ashamed to say that I forget the names of the drinks. Oh well, sorry for my Palo Alto alcohol immersion Taylor, hope I didn’t embarrass you. Eventually, I stopped my immersion, had something to eat, and was able to enjoy the rest of the evening.
Casa Batllo - The Cube 360-degree light and music experience
After the fun of Palo Alto, Taylor’s hosts took us to an incredible light, music, and 360-degree surround experience, at Casa Batllo (Casa Batlló by Gaudí, Barcelona | Official website (casabatllo.es)). The 360-degree experience is in a lower-level room of Casa Batllo called The Cube (The Chemical Brothers and Smith & Lyall @ THE CUBE | Casa Batlló (casabatllo.es)).
I recorded a short video, attached here, while I was in the Cube. When you decide to go, you can buy tickets through the Casa Batllo website shown above. It is a lot of fun! I highly recommend you experience both the unique beauty of Casa Batllo and the incredible 360-degree surround experience of The Cube.
For our final day in Barcelona, we decided to experience Parc Guell (Official website Park Güell | Barcelona | Web official Park Güell | Barcelona (parkguell.barcelona)), which is a bit outside of the city. In fact, its location was part of the reason for its existence. It was created as a place for second homes for the wealthy to get out of the smog, filth, and smell of 18th Century Barcelona. Although Parc Guell failed as a second home development, it is a unique, open-air display of awesome works of Antoni Gaudi and incredible views of the city of Barcelona.
Pictures from Parc Guell
We had an organized tour of Parc Guell (I recommend purchasing tickets and a tour in advance). Parc Guell is a huge tourist draw and can get very crowded. The duration of our tour was about 60-90 minutes. See the pictures here.
Leaving Parc Guell, we decided to take the Hop-on / Hop-off City Sightseeing bus (City Sightseeing Barcelona Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour (viator.com)) for our return trip, rather than taking public transportation that we used to get there. Although the Hop-on / Hop-off bus didn’t take us near our AirBnB, it took us to Placa de Catalunya (Plaça de Catalunya - Wikipedia) and we had a nice walk from there to the El Born neighborhood.
After a long, hot day, Taylor found a restaurant, the Fiskebar Maritim (Fiskebar - Grupo Tragaluz) overlooking the harbor and we had an excellent early meal before heading back to the AirBnB to pack our bags.
From our time in Barcelona Spain, Taylor was headed back to Colorado, by way of London. For me, I was off to Valencia Spain to continue the Spanish leg of my 2024 Europe trip.
Early the next morning, Taylor left for the airport for her flight to London. I slept for another hour before I had to get up to catch my train to Valencia. The train ride was very comfortable and relaxing, and I was in Valencia, arriving at the Estacion Joaquin Sorolla (train station) before I knew it.
Barcelona was every bit as beautiful and fun as I remember. With the added fun of traveling with my youngest daughter, who happens to be fluent in Spanish (bonus). As I mentioned before, I hope I have many more opportunities to travel with my daughters in the future.
Now, it’s time to explore Valencia…
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