Barcelona!

Nella and I thoroughly enjoyed our short break in Barcelona. We went Monday to Friday which I think was slightly less busy than it would have been over a weekend. The weather was perfect for exploring as it was dry and in the low 20s Celsius. I do not recommend getting such early morning flights since we had to get up before 2am. It was OK-ish on the way there as it gave us an afternoon to explore but we really lost a day on the way home and it was exhausting having to get to the airport by 3.00am. It was easy to get a pre-booked airport shuttle bus into the city but we had to order a taxi for the return journey. 

During the week we walked for miles, mostly just wandering around the Gothic Quarter and we found it easy to use the Metro system, mostly getting single trip tickets. If you knew where you wanted to go then some sort of travel card might be useful. I wish I had done more forward planning and research. We did fit a lot in but it might have been more economical to have bought multi-venue tickets. Most museums sell QR coded tickets which are cheaper when bought in advance. I sort of wish I had done the open-top-bus tour because it usually gives a good overview tour of a city. I had a little guide book but I am not sure it was that useful. Some places were written about enthusiastically but were not so good in real life. 

We were not blown away by the areas near the main beach but maybe that was because we were staying in such a quaint area with many little boutiques and cafes. All of the buildings had balconies and the streets were too narrow for traffic. Nella says that it is always more relevant to check Google for reviews rather than to rely on a guide book. I wish we had gone to see the magic fountain one evening or even a flamenco show but really I think we could have done with an extra day or so to make the trip a bit more relaxed. I kept trying to fit too much in or rushing around trying to retrace my steps to some little shop that I could not find again if I had decided that I wanted to go back. We had a couple of hours sitting on the beach at Platja de la Barceloneta which was enough for me. Some people even had their bikinis on although there was a cool breeze by the sea in March. 

Obviously, we visited Gaudi’s incredible unfinished cathedral. It was busy and we had a scheduled visit time. The exterior stonework and towers are unbelievable and still not nearly completed. One aspect featured realistic statues and nature inspired carvings whereas another side of the building had more block-like figures, almost like Transformers. The inside was filled with colour from the abstract stained glass windows and the tree-like supporting columns were a bizarre mix of Art Nouveau style and science-fiction. I loved the eclectic feel of Sagrada Familia but I have never been subject to the concept of “less is more!”

Later on that day we took the Metro to Parc Güell (also designed by Gaudi) and nearly died struggling up a precipitous hill to the entrance. I think there was probably a more accessible approach elsewhere;) Here there were mosaic clad whimsical buildings and grottoes with oddly angled pillars in a beautifully landscaped park. There were even green parrots flying amongst the palm trees. 

Elsewhere in the city were other Gaudi hotspots from shops with balconies that seemed to be made from enormous vertebrae to wildly imaginative residential properties that celebrated the Spanish Modernisme Movement. As a whole, I thought Barcelona was a very stylish city.  The architectural styles ranged from Gaudi, Classical, Imperialist, and narrow Medieval alleys to futuristic buildings like “The Stapler / La Grapadora” which housed an impressive design museum.

We visited the Picasso Museum which was near where we were staying and it was interesting to see that he had in fact started out as a conventional artist who started working on abstract series, sometimes inspired by Velázquez classical paintings. Some of his major works were not housed in that museum because they are owned by other more famous museums around the world. Maybe we should also have gone to the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya where we could have seen works by other major Catalonian artists, some even dating back to Roman times.

It can bear tricky to know when to stop with museums - we enjoyed the Moco Art Museum which showcased pieces of art by modern greats including Banksy. In the end we did not visit Museu d’Historia de Catalunya but I rather wish I had since it tells the story of the region from Stone-Age settlement to beyond the Spanish Civil War. 

There were amazingly good choices for vegans in Barcelona despite being in an area famed for aged air-cured ham. We made several trips to surprisingly well stocked supermarkets within the city centre, more akin to Waitrose than Tesco Express in the UK.  Nella and I enjoyed enjoyed Tapas, vegan paella, chocolatey churros, fabulous fresh fruit and delicious Sangria. We were also rather amazed by the proliferation of posh pharmacies and shops selling crystallised fruit. Market shopping was interesting too, although pricey at Mercat de la Boqueria which was close to the busy Las Ramblas streets. There was a scruffy flea-market called Mercat dels Encants which was like a shabby car-boot sale on a par with Glasgow’s “Barras”. In contrast, we wandered into a designer store called “Loewe” where none of the merchandise had price tickets and you definitely were not allowed to touch anything!

Barcelona was a place that I would love to visit again as there was so much to see and do. I would definitely avoid high summer since it was already busy with tourists and school parties in March. I carried a backpack so I could take water and a cagoule but I kept my valuables in a neat crossbody bag because pickpockets prey on tourists. I would recommend having a suitcase that could go in the aircraft hold to take back jars of olives and oranges. I think a good street map would be useful because I find it easy to get disorientated using phone satnav maps. It would be useful to have a rough itinerary written out for each day to make sure you see as much as possible but also allow time to wander and soak up the atmosphere:)