Mini Euro Trip #9 - Part 3 - Boisterous Barcelona

**** Have you read Mini Euro Trip #9 - part 1 & part 2 yet? ****


Barcelona - a place I had long desired to visit, home of a very famous style of art (and artist) and a place of great history. We were both really looking forward to this last leg of our trip. I think in fact we saved Barcelona for last for more than just the easiest flight home to Munich. We really thought this was going to be the best leg of the trip and as you do, you save the best for last.

We arose super early on the Friday morning, as we had tickets for an 8am train. We were up so early that we couldn't even had our keys for our hotel room back to anyone in person! We snuck out of the hotel and walked to the train station. It was a lovely quiet morning, a nice cool breeze blowing, and we made our train in plenty of time. The only problem was, after finally feeling pain and sick free the previous day, my tummy was in knots again. I felt super sick the entire 2.5hour train ride up to Barcelona.

Once we arrived, we left our bag at our hotel and decided to just wander. We had 5 hours until our booked bike tour, and I was desperate for a cup of tea, so instead of trying to squeeze lots in before that time, we just took it easy. At the end of our hotel's street, we turned right and immediately found ourselves looking at a large structure, a roundabout sculpture, and a huge castle in the distance.  To the left we saw nothing of interest so it was a no-brainer where we were heading.

We ended up going into the large structure which turned out to be a former Bull-Fighting ring that had been transformed into an upmarket shopping mall complete with Cinemas on the 4th floor, and a viewing platform and restaurants on the  6th floor! First stop was for tea (and a chocolate croissant for Michael of course), but then we had a look around the centre itself. We found out that on the outside of the centre was a purpose built lift to take you to the viewing platform that cost 1 euro per person. But if you used the internal escalators.... free! It was only because the lift was more direct. But they don't advertise the option to use inside.... sneaky!

Making our way to the top, we had a great view of Barcelona, and we could just spy La Sagrada Familia in the distance. We also spotted a restaurant that excited us - Sushi! It had been so long since we'd had good sushi. It is only possible in Munich if I make it myself and the fish quality isn't that great. So we both agreed to come back when it was time for lunch!

We wanted to take a closer look at the castle in the distance so we walked up towards it. As we went, Michael used his 'Trip Advisor' app on his phone to inform me of what we were looking at. Turned out it was the National Palace sitting at the base of Montjuïc. At the front of the Palace was a large fountain with plenty of smaller fountains. Michael informed me that these were in fact all a part of a special 'Magic Fountain' show, so we made a decision to come back one evening to view said 'Magic Fountain'. This also became a bit of a joke as we were travelling as there is a song called Magic Fountain by Art Vs Science (you know, the Parlez vous Francais guys). Michael would sing the music and wait for me to reply with the line 'magic fountain'. He is still doing it now, 2 weeks later!

By now we both admitted that we were hungry and that we needed to eat before a quick hotel stop for a change of clothes and sunscreen. We happily made our way back to the Japanese restaurant at the top of the bull ring for a Bento Box! It was delicious - and cheap!

Once re-clothed (it was really nippy in Barcelona and shorts just weren't cutting it) we jumped on a metro to find the meeting point for our bike tour. Once again, we were joining the company Fat Tire because after doing so many tours with them, we are rather addicted to their style. We have now completed their tours in every city (that they exist in) except for London. Unfortunately, knowing the Spanish Manjana attitude, we turned up where we thought the meeting point was 5 minutes before the meeting time. We could find no-one! So we started wandering around, thinking we were in the wrong place. We walked for nearly 15 minutes and started to worry that the tour would start without us! Michael suggested going back to the tourist information box at the square where we had first started. As we entered the square, we saw the famous bikes and fat tire sign being waved about. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, we joined the large group of people standing around.

Margot

Our tour group was led by Margot who was from Boston USA, but we were lucky enough to have a trainee guide called Steve who was from Melbourne! We spent a fair bit of time chatting to him! But the tour took off through the streets of Barcelona, taking us first to Plaza del Rei where Prince Ferdinand and Princess Isabella received Columbus upon his return from the New World. We also learnt about Barcelona's history with its Catalan language and how it was at one time punishable to speak Catalan in the streets of Barcelona. They are currently trying to become a country in their own right, the area of Catalunya, desperate for their independence and to embrace their history separate to Spain.

We then rode past Palau de la Mùsica Catalana, a beautiful place that so perfectly illustrated the Catalan Modernism style, but evidence that people other than Gaudi worked in this style. This building was created by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. It became very obvious that Gaudi is the celebrated one in Barcelona, as his name is accredited to many great structures, and not always his work! This was evident when we got to Parc de la Ciutadella, where there is a large fountain statue that was absolutely stunning to look at, and no for one moment does it look to be of that Catalan Modernism style, but people still say it was created by Gaudi. He was infact an apprentice to the real architect of this structure, but his mark is not at all evident in it. Yet some people still believe...
 


 

We also passed through Arc del Triomf - which was the original location for the Eiffel Tower, but the people of Barcelona didn't like the design and it was rejected, the Arc then designed in its place. It was done for a World Fair in 1888. Then we rode past another bull ring. This one had not been turned into anything fancy, but was still used for other activities including markets. It was here though that we learnt about Barcelona and their other reason for separating themselves from the rest of Spain - they detest Bull Fighting. It was outlawed in Barcelona in 2010 and all the bull rings decommissioned.
 

Finally, we got to the biggest stop of the tour - La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi's most famous piece of work. I shan't comment too much here as we do come back to view it in more detail the next day. But I must say, that for something I had been waiting years to see in person, I wasn't impressed at first glance. Not as impressed as I thought I would be. I changed my tune later but I will admit I was disappointed and could not see what the whole world was yapping about, and certainly couldn't see the years of work or the predicted years of work to come. 









We then took a ride through the Olympic Village and then to the beach which was purpose built for the Olympics in 1992. It was here that we took a stop for drinks and to just rest. The beach itself is made from sand imported from Egypt which was not so nice... but it was a nice 20 minute stop with drinks and pringles!
 

 



















It was then only a short ride back to the shop to drop off the bike. Seeing as we had had that big lunch of sushi, and pringles by the beach, we were not that hungry, so sadly I will admit that we got back to the hotel and crashed out! It did mean that we felt a little more refreshed the following day...









 



I was so excited - it was finally Gaudi day! I had waited a long time for this. But sadly, our mojo had up and left. It took us till after 11 to get up and out of the hotel! First stop was brunch. We both had really yummy open toasted sandwiches which gave us some energy again! 

First sightseeing stop was the Cathedral of Barcelona. We had seen this from the outside the day before and decided it was worth seeing the inside. Another stunning building that looks like Gaudi's work, this cathedral is actually famous for other reasons. It holds relics and remains to 32 saints, and is dedicated to Eulalia of Barcelona. Her story was one that amazed even me. Be it true or not, it was a good story. She refused to recant her Christianity, so the Romans subjected her to 13 tortures including being rolled up and down a street for a day in a barrel filled with knives and glass, the cutting off of her breasts and crucifixion, all of which she survived before she was finally decapitated, at age 13.  



 

The cathedral itself was quite beautiful inside, decorated as per its outside in a Neo-gothic style. We were also told to see the cloisters but we couldn't go there as it was close to closing time. So instead we went for a walk to pass the time until our next booked tour. We came across a fresh food market and couldn't help but oggle at the Ostrich eggs that could be purchased! We also got to see one of Gaudi's other works from the outside. Palau Güell was a large building sadly squished into a tiny street so the full beauty of its external façade could not be really observed. I am sure it would have been great to see inside of, and I wish we had, but we didn't have time (or more money as Gaudi's exhibits were all pricey and we were a bit overwhelmed by the costs we were accumulating just for seeing Barcelona). 

 
 

Note the Gaudi objects on the roof

By now though, it was time to finally go and see the inside of La Sagrada Familia. Once we were inside the boundaries, I could finally appreciate the beauty of this place. Looking up at the front façade, known as the Nativity façade, I was overwhelmed by all the tiny little details. This was the side of the building that Gaudi himself saw almost completed before his death in 1926. It told the story of Jesus - his birth, and his life. We had audio guides which gave us full details of each little cove of sculpture. It was just beautiful and I could have stood there for ages. 



 

 
But if I had thought outside was beautiful, nothing could have prepared me for the inside. I will admit that stepping inside almost brought me to tears. It was not just the sight of the inside, the enormous cavity that sparkled with colours from the stained glass windows. There was a feeling. For such a big open space, filled with so many people, it was incredibly calm and quiet. Those dancing colours, the 'natural' vibe of every surface and the sudden understanding of what Gaudi was trying to achieve, it is just something else. I think this is one time where photos will do a better job than me explaining.

The crypt underneath, where Gaudi's remains are buried

 















I will add that the opposite side from the Nativity side was called the Passion Façade, and created well after Gaudi's death (but with Gaudi's design concept). But Gaudi stated that he wanted this building to be a monument to the different generations that work on it. He knew he would never see it finished in his lifetime and wanted to have his work be only a small part of the contribution. The passion side could not be a more different sculpture style to Gaudi's and creates a very stark contrast. 

 

During our time inside, we were also able to climb up inside the Nativity towers. This was interesting and gave us a much closer view of some of the structures on the roof top, some views of the building still under construction, and a feel for how high the towers were. The towers on each end are about 85m high, but will not be the tallest tower. When Gaudi died, La Sagrada Familia was less than a quarter finished. The original designs by Gaudi include a total of 18 spires, including one large central one that is double the height of all the others, a total of 170m. This puts it as the tallest structure in Barcelona, but not the tallest natural thing. Gaudi was determined to create something amazing but not as good as God or his creations, so his tallest tower cannot be taller than Montjuïc which is 171m tall. This tower is still not yet built. 
 

Gaudi became involved in the construction of La Sagrada Familia in 1883. The intentions are to finish the construction on La Sagrada Familia in 2026, 100 years after Gaudi's death. Most people believe that this is still quite unachievable.  While it has not received solid work between its conception and now (due to war and such) there is still an awfully long way to go to see Gaudi's dream completely finished.

At the end of our time at La Sagrada Familia, we had a short wander through the museum downstairs. It was here that Michael was intrigued by a technique that was used to help foresee the weight and counter weighting of the building with the use of sandbags and string, creating an inverted model of all the spires. I will let Michael explain because I can totally see me stuffing this explanation up!


Without access to computer models and calculators, physical models like these allowed Gaudi to quite accurately calculate the perfect shapes for the arches and columns used throughout the building without requiring extensive complex calculations by hand. The shape formed by the string + weight, when flipped upside down, forms the exact shape of arches and columns that is required to support the load without any twisting or bending, making it stronger and more efficient when built. Some more explanation can be found here.

Making our way out of La Sagrada Familia after a few solid hours, we did continue on to our next booked tour. This one was of Park Güell, another Gaudi Monument. Gaudi was involved in the design and construction of Park Güell in 1900 as an estate for well-off families. It was an incredibly colourful area in parts and Gaudi's touch was truly evident. But the favourite part was for Michael, sitting by the chameleon sculpture. 

 

We then raced across town again for another tour. This was one I was quite excited about. We were going into Casa Batlló. This is the house that looks like it has a dragon on its roof. It was a house that belonged to the Batlló family and Gaudi was asked to remodel it in 1904. From the moment we stepped inside it was like being in another world, almost like an Alice in Wonderland house.

 

In the entrance hall, the audio guide directed your attention to the strange shaped staircase, and the light shafts that looked like turtle shells. As you made your way through the house, little design details were pointed out, some of which sounded like a modern technique of today. In the main 'lounge' room, the ceiling was something of pure beauty - like the ripples of the sea, and didn't look like it was made of solid plaster at all! 

On the back patio, it was clear that Gaudi had left nothing untouched, with the entire back façade receiving some work. Inside, there was a central stair well with large windows or balconies that allowed you to see a huge open light well. He had been so clever with every little detail including the shades of tiles in the light well, using dark colours at the top and light colours down the bottom so that as natural light filtered in, the tiles would appear the same colour or close to as there was more light at the top than at the bottom. 

On the roof there was even more decoration, of course the dragon but also some very colourful chimneys. There was also evidence everywhere you went of an almost disney-like mind being responsible for these ideas. I know very well that Gaudi and Disney are not in the slightest be related but there were times walking through this house that I could almost picture a Disney film being made there (ie: Alice in Wonderland or Rodger & Hamerstein's Cinderella). And there was one room in the house where there was a special light/music demonstration that played on on a white scale model of the house. It was exactly like the light show spectacular that plays out at Disneyland every night on the Castle. 

 






So having had our fill of Casa Batlló (another almost 2 hours inside), we wandered up the road to try and glimpse the other Gaudi house we had really wanted to visit. Casa Mila. After long debate in the morning and trying to book tickets to each of the places (as every single website recommended pre-booking rather than waiting in lines for hours) we had to make a call between Casa Batlló and Mila as they were both on the expensive side. After Familia and Güell, we could not manage both. And as we reached Casa Mila, we were really pleased with our choice. 

We could see the notable Gaudi touch on the roof top, with some very Catalan Modernism-esque peaks, but those peaks were peaking over the top of some incredibly large scaffolding that was covered by some large advertising. We are sure that the inside of Mila would have been beautiful as this was a fully furnished house (all the furniture designed by, of course, Gaudi) but having been able to see  Casa Batlló in its full glory, outside and in, we were very satisfied.

By now though, incase you couldn't tell, we were exhausted. We made our way back to the hotel for a shower and a rest. But being our last night on holiday, our last night in Barcelona, we were not going to stay in. The night was young (8pm), the sun was still out, and I had blow dried my hair specially - so out we went.

 

We found an interesting restaurant that was packed and clearly the place to eat on a Saturday night. The staff were friendly, spoke great English and everything from the Menu to the lights were a bit quirky. 

For a start, I ordered a 1/2 litre of Sangria Cava (sparkling white wine variety) which came in a large pitcher. Michael had a try of it and even he had to admit it was really nice! But he also had his own spanish beer for the evening. Entree was a yummy paper cone of squid. These were soooooo tasty and tender, we enjoyed every last piece. 

 

 



For mains, I ordered a local dish of eggs with Spanish ham (jamon) and tiny french fries! Michael had a special Catalan sausage with beans and other condiments. We both lapped up our whole dishes, and then as the couple next to us received their desserts, we immediately asked for the dessert menu! But we couldn't help but notice the couple next to us were also speaking German. So I happily leaned over and in my best German, asked how the pineapple dessert was. Once the gentleman confirmed how 'Lecker' it was, I knew what I was having.

My dessert turned out to be a half a pineapple that had been hollowed out, filled with chopped pineapple pieces then covered in Catalan Creme (kind of like creme brulee) then torched on top. It was amazing! Michael had a plain Catalan Creme in a dish which was just as amazing. 

 





As we waddled out of the restaurant, we then slowly headed up to the 'Magic Fountain'! The sun had only just set and it was quite a nice balmy evening so it was wonderful getting up to the fountain and finding a large open space amongst all of the crowds.... because it was where the wind was blowing the fountain spray! But we didn't care. The water was being blown about wildly with amazing lights, and some funky music. It certainly wasn't the best light/music fountain show I had seen (Sentosa Island, Singapore) but it was still fun and a nice end to our evening. 

 









A casual stroll back to our hotel, a repacked suitcase, and then we fell asleep for the last time in Spain.




 

Sunday morning came, and we begrudgingly got up. We didn't want our holiday to end, and we certainly didn't feel like leaving our hotel room in a hurry. But we did, we packed up and left our suitcase at the hotel before making our way back to the transformed bull ring for a spot of breakfast.
 

 
















 



 





Once we were a bit more awake, we decided that we still had enough time to go to the Cloisters which are attached to the Cathedral we had seen the previous day. This housed more relics and remains but more importantly, it housed geese! Thirteen geese to be exact. This number is to represent the age of Eulalia (the saint who was tortured so much) when she was tortured. But it was a beautiful little garden and the geese were lovely to watch waddling around in their yard.












Pleased that we had managed to get back to the cloisters, we then knew that our next destination was Montjuïc, but we took a long leisurely walk through back streets to the nearest Metro. We stumbled across some interesting stores including one Jewellery shop that was truly unique. Some of the most weird jewellery I have ever seen. Michael hates shopping but he was slower than me walking through this shop!












We did make it to the Metro, and then onto the Funicular that took us up to the main station of Montjuïc. From there we walked the rest of the way up to the Castle of Monjuïc. It was not an easy walk as it was a very warm day, but we made it. Once we got inside the walls of the castle, I begged Michael if we could take a 10 minute pause at the little cafe and grab a cool drink. He didn't mind this request too much.

I have to say that Monjuïc Castle was a bit of a disappointment. You think Castle - you think big. This was better described as a fort. And there was really nothing exciting to see there. It was a great view out over Barcelona and the main port of Barcelona, but other than that, it was stone walls, a couple of insignificant towers and old guns. There was also a large lack of information signs. Nothing provided you with information of what you were looking at. So we happily left the 'Castle' and made our way back down towards our hotel on foot.

We took a long meandering journey past the Olympic Stadium (which we were both very unimpressed with), and then through a lovely manicured garden. We were quite enjoying the garden, including some of it's more interesting sculptures, until we went to leave at the gated end opposite to where we had come in. We thought we were heading in the right direction, it would lead us back to the city. But no, these gates were locked, and we had to walk all the way back up to the top of the gardens where we had entered  and walk the long way around to get back to the National Palace that sat at the base of Montjuïc.

The earliest representation of soccer players...

We were actually quite happy with our walk, well over 8km up and down hill, so it was with great pleasure that we sat down for a large pasta lunch, once again at the top of the bull ring shopping centre. Lovely view, nice wine/beer and HUGE bowls of pasta. When ordering we thought that the prices were a little on the high side, but once we saw the servings, we realised the value for money. In hindsight, ordering one would have been enough as they served it in a large bowl with serving tongs and your own individual plate. Having said that, it didn't stop me from consuming more than 3/4 of mine, and Michael almost licking his plate clean. It was soooo yummy! And fresh!







But that was really the end of it. We collected our suitcase, wandered to the train station (past the dinosaur playground) and soon after we were at the airport. After the last few travel jinxes we are pleased to report that all went smoothly at the airport and before long, we were winging our way back to Munich. We arrived on time and so did our luggage. The biggest hitch of the night was missing a train back into Munich by seconds. But we only had to wait 20min for the next one! We were home safe and sound, tucked up in bed by 11pm, and had the next day to recoup as it was a public holiday in Bavaria.

In hindsight, this was possibly our least favourite leg of our journey, not because it wasn't beautiful or the art wasn't what we had expected. It was the touristy nature of Barcelona that got to us. We still had a great time and do not for one moment regret our trip, but of the three places we visited, Barcelona is where I would say "Been there, loved it, but wouldn't go back in a hurry". We have far too many other places on our list that we want to see, but I think we would both go back to Madrid, and we would certainly want to see other parts of Portugal.