Jo and I had a great three days, walking many miles – why did no-one warn me that the streets of Barcelona are so hard? – in the heat, to tick off as many sights as possible.
There are some superb museums in Barcelona. We particularly liked the Frederic Mares Museum.
I loved the Museu d’Historia de Barcelona because it includes a huge subterranean archaeological excavation – fascinating but impossible to photograph with an ordinary camera due to the low light.
The Art Gallery of Catalunya is excellent. Unfortunately we were thrown out too soon; the guidebook had the closing time wrong 🙁 so there is an excuse to go back.
It is housed in a huge purpose built edifice erected, surprisingly, in 1929: how come there were the resources after the Depression and shortly before the collapse into Civil War?
We felt it compulsort to visit La Sagrada Familia, but having seen the immense queue which snaked round the whole block and was several deep, we made do with the outside. It may be deeply un-trendy to say so but Gaudi does nothing for me, so you can look up your own images of the catheral on the internet. Here is is from Parc Guell:
I will say it is very impressive, and certainly interesting. We looked at quite a bit of other modern architecture; in fact it is impossible to avoid in Barcelona!
I found the parks and gardens a little disappointing.
There was no climbing; in fact is is prohibited:
We made up for the disappointment with cake.
The last day became a bit fraught when Jo’s bag was stolen during the afternoon. In addition to euros, wallet, credit card, car keys, and her daughter’s digital SLR, it contained her passport. As a result of this we discovered that:
- the British Consulate closes at 1.30 pm;
- Barcelona has some very helpful inhabitants but our Spanish could have used improvement;
- the police station closes at 5 pm.
I flew home alone. However, I am pleased to say that Jo got home today with a brand new passport. I hope her journey was better than mine: a passenger decided to have a panic attack and was eventually offloaded before take-off. Having lost our slot we finally departed Spnish airspace in time to get me home for 3.30 am. A few hours later I was back at work…
Shame that the end of the holiday didn’t live up to the rest…
Were the cakes as good as they look?
Perhaps the edifice was built taking advantage of all the cheap labour around…
An epic end to the weekend.
The cakes look amazing, how many did you eat? :yum: :yum:
I’m so glad you said you don’t like Gaudi. I think his architecture is rubbish. Makes me think of birds nests made with spit.
I went to Barcelona on a day trip from Tossa de Mar when I was 18 (I know, there really is place called that!). It was the usual thing – 2 hours to look at all the architecture and 3 to go round the shops! I’d like to see is again, combined with a trip to Lleida.
Ok, when are we going? 😉