Gaudí Giddy in Springtime Barcelona

Country: Spain
Place: Barcelona
Visited in: April, 2004

I remember only one bad thing about Barcelona, pollen go crazy there in the spring. But armed with antihistamine I cannot think of a single reason, why you shouldn’t have the time of your life in this beautiful, vibrant city.

With only two full days in Barcelona we would have to hit the ground running, and we did - all the way to the first restaurant that we came across, Tapa Tapa, then we chilled. The atmosphere in Tapa Tapa (Passeig de Gracia 44) was just incredible. The place was alive with people, so vibrant and yet you immediately relaxed, the minute you sat down at the table. We ordered far too many tapas and definitely too much sangría, but it was just all too tempting. We left Tapa Tapa with the buzz of having arrived.

We stayed at Hotel Arrahona in Sabadell, which is 25 minutes away from Barcelona on the metro line 4. We had decided against a hotel at La Rambla, fearing that it would be too much like Torremolinos and the like. The other hotels in Barcelona were either full or not within our budget. Hotel Arrahona offers very modern interior and a decent service. Sabadell, however, doesn’t really have much to offer. It still worked out for us to stay there, as there are plenty of trains going in to Barcelona for relatively little money. The only downside of staying in Sabadell was that the last train for Sabadell leaves Plaça de Catalunya station just after midnight.

We found that no matter where we went in Barcelona, there was always something going on or something to admire. We knew, before we came that the architecture in Barcelona is out of this world. But it is hard to understand just how amazing, until you actually see it for yourself. You can pretty much look up at any given point, and you will see some little detail that will blow you away.

La Sagrada Família

On our first full day in Barcelona we went straight for what can only be described as the dessert on the Modernista Route. If you have done any research on Barcelona, you will already know not to miss La Sagrada Família, but seriously do not miss it. Even with the cranes and all the work going on there, the wacky details and colours make you giddy with the type of exitement you may remember from childhood. I struggled a bit inside La Sagrada Família to imagine what Antoni Gaudí would have wanted it to look like, if he had finished it, but we sat for at least an hour outside basking in all the details.

Casa Batlló and La Pedrera

We walked everywhere in Barcelona, which is what we usually do, when we are on holiday. Walking was particularly rewarding on our way from La Sagrada Família to La Pedrera. We saw so many beautiful sidestreets and quirky details that we walked right past La Pedrera. When Casa Batlló caught my eye, we realized that we had already passed La Pedrera. But as it turned out, for me it was another case of going straight for the dessert. Now I am partial to the colour blue, so Casa Batlló would always win in comparison to the grey La Pedrera. But it was more than just colour. Casa Batlló is just stunning. The balconies looked like sharks to me, which may not be what Gaudí intended, but the whole underwater theme gives Disney a run for their money.
It took all we had in us to tear ourselves away from Casa Batlló and walk the few steps back to La Pedrera. La Pedrera, or Casa Milà as it was originally called, looks like rows of waves and is quite impressive. It was build at the very beginning of the 20th century as a combined office and apartment block. We chose not to go inside, but apparently the roof of the building should be worth a visit.

La Rambla

La Rambla is nothing like Torremolinos, like we originally thought, but you still need to watch your belongings. It is all happening on La Rambla. Barcelona won a football match against Madrid on a night we were there. In celebration a group of Barça fans were trying to build a human pyramid to the symphony of hooting car horns. If for no other reason it is worth walking down La Rambla to experience the Boqueria market with its beautifully arranged fruit and vegetables. La Rambla also takes you to Barri Gòtic, the Gothic Quarter, and ends at the beautiful harbour and Vila Olímpica further along to the left.

Montjuïc

We took the funicular from the harbour (Passeig Joan de Borbó) to Montjuïc. You get a nice view of the city from the funicular. From there we walked on to the Olympic stadium, which was an Olympic event in itself. The stadium was empty except for a small film crew who were setting up their equipment. I found it hard to imagine the stadium packed with Olympic athletes and spectators. So we had a look at the famous, or should I say infamous, Olympic flameholder and went for a snack nearby.

Park Güell

With its 20 hectares of brilliance Park Güell made sure, we left Barcelona on a high. We had meant to arrive at the park early, but Barcelona made us far too laid back to be bothered about arriving at lunch time. Now, it was hard to get a decent photo of the lizard without too many people in the frame, but apart from that no number of people could spoil my excitement for Park Güell. Make sure you explore beyond the colourful entrance. Once we walked away from the lizard, it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Our visit to Barcelona was short but sweet, and I would jump at any opportunity to go back.

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External links

http://www.barcelonaturisme.com is packed with useful information for tourists, including proposed day itineraries, should you run out of ideas. I doubt you will though.

http://www.bcn.es is mainly for people living in Barcelona, but they have a useful tourism section , which includes a fancy flash animation of how to get there.

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