We truly loved our eight days in Barcelona. The beautiful weather continues, much sunnier and warmer than we could normally expect at this time of year. Barcelona is a very large city, with so much to see and do. Our days were busy, yet we still only scratched the surface. We left our apartment in the morning and returned sometime in the evening – they were long and wonderful days. On our second full day, we rode the Hop On – Hop Off bus to get a sense of the City. We never thought of ourselves as great appreciators of architecture, but the buildings in Barcelona are so varied in style and so beautiful that we had to pay attention.
Our Air B&B was in the Poble Sec area, the theater district. The nearby subway provided easy access to all areas of this sprawling large city. In just our last days here we discovered that there are many great places to eat and drink right near our place. Here are the highlights of our days in Barcelona.
We were especially enthralled by the work of Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), Barcelona’s most admired architect and greatest contributor to Catalan Modernism movement. We were so intrigued by his work, and so taken by his creations that we’ll only mention them occasionally here, but we’re offering a separate post devoted to Gaudi alone. See the Gaudi post for more.
Walking Las Ramblas, the main tourist pedestrian walkway through town. From here we visited La Boqueiria, a fantastic marketplace. We often got lost – sometimes on purpose — making our way through the narrow mazelike, medieval streets of the town, the Bari Gotic for instance. Getting lost often led to finding new treasures, or at the very least another new café to relax and sip some coffee. At the end of the first day, we found ourselves by the Mediterranean Sea and the marina.
Maestros de la Guitarra: Guitar Concert: Three masters of the Classical / Flamenco guitar performed in a chapel within the Church of Santa Maria del Pi. This night was an homage to Paco de Lucia, a Spanish virtuoso Flamenco style guitarist and composer, who was one of the first flamenco guitarists to branch into classical and jazz. So naturally, the concert had a distinct Flamenco sound, but it was great to see three great guitarists working strictly on classical guitars amplified only through microphones.
FCBarcelona Football (soccer) Game: We made our way up to Camp Nou to watch the world renowned FCBarcelona team take on another Spanish team. It was a less important game against a less competitive team, so we took advantage of considerably lower prices. The stadium is beautiful, and even in our cheap seats, we saw the game quite well. Barca, as they are known here, won easily 5-0, with Lionel Messi (one of the most popular football players, and some even say he’s the best ever) demonstrating his skills. The final goal of the game was all Messi, and quite a pleasure to watch. It was Messi’s 500th win with Barcelona. A late evening, but lots of fun.
Montjuic: A Walk up to the Castle of Montjuic with a history of its role in Barcelona’s past and panoramic views of the city. –– We walked to Montjuic from our apartment. It was quite a climb! The fortress at the top date from the 17th century with additions in the 18th. It has a strategic location overlooking the city and the harbor. After climbing to the top and exploring the fortress, we made our way down through the gardens, past the Olympic Stadium from 1992, and down to the Poble Espanyole (People’s Spain) also built for the Olympics, but still open and alive. It celebrates the village and cities of Spain, with buildings designed to represent village life in the various regions of the country.
Catalan Cooking Experience: Carmen from Girona: On Friday night we attended a cooking experience. Our head chef and teacher, Carmen, taught nine Americans how to make seafood Paella, tomato bread, Sangria, and a lovely lemon cream dessert. We all participated in preparing, cooking and then enjoying our lovely meal together. This was a wonderful evening and experience!
Palau de la Musica Catalonia (Palace for Catalonian Music). Assuming that we could get tickets to the performance of “Carmina Burana,” we were there when the box office opened, but they said it was sold out. We begged. We wouldn’t even have to sit together. They were kind, looked again, and offered us seats on opposite sides of the second balcony, seats with a very limited view of the stage AND the last two tickets available. But it’s the music that counts, right? So we were happy. The theater was beautifully and colorfully decorated in the modernista style. It was a sight to behold even if we could only wave to each other across the balcony and see only some of the performers on stage. The performance was Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” with a full orchestra, a large choir as well as some classes of elementary school children participating. The music was absolutely wonderful.
The Olympic Port: On a warm afternoon, we stopped for a drink and people-watching at the Olympic Port on the Mediterranean. There were so many huge Yachts at the marina. There are plenty of outdoor cafes, but it was still hard to find a seat, and hard again to get the waiter to approach us. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our beer (a Grimbergen Dunkel) for Evan and Sangria for Sara. Sara invited conversation with a woman sitting with her husband and son at the table next to us. She was from Yugoslavia herself, so she offered plenty of tips for us as we plan to head to eastern Europe.
Flamenco Performance in the City Hall: Wanting to experience Flamenco music and dance, we went to a performance of about one hour. It was fascinating. There was just one guitarist for the whole performance, two singers (1 male and female) and four dancers (two women and two men). The guitarist was skilled and amazing. It was fun to see how he would watch the dancers and adjust himself to their performance. Each dancer performed a solo and each male/female pair danced together. Evan was somewhat familiar with Flamenco guitar, but he had never studied the Flamenco singing. We noticed that the singing had a pronounced Middle Eastern flair and style, reminding us that historically this surely goes back centuries to a time when the Moors (Muslims) were prominent throughout what is now Spain. We truly enjoyed the performance.
If you haven’t been to Barcelona but plan to in the future, make sure you schedule at least 5 or more days there to fully enjoy the city. There is so much to see, do and experience!
