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Barcelona

Prior to Madrid, my "undisclosed friend" and I went to Barcelona (short and easy flight for me).  We stayed in hotel which had great reviews and great location, but the room itself was extremely dark despite a window.  It was also lacking WiFi.  My friend did not take appreciate that :) 

I arrived kind of late at night so we just grabbed dinner and it was delicious!  The pictures are a small sample of what we got - tapas and easy to share.  Sangrias were had as well and they were huge!



The following day we starting exploring Barcelona and started with a walk through the Food Market and grabbing a bag of salami-style meats for morning snack.


After that we decided to wonder the streets and look at Gaudi buildings.  Gaudi buildings are hard to miss in Barcelona because 1) they are odd-looking and 2) there are crowds of people standing in front of them taking pictures.  We, of course, joined those crowds :)  We only went inside one of the buildings and honestly, the cost of admission seems a bit outrageous unless you are a big Gaudi fan which we were not.  (Also we did not find it to be that interesting - I am not sure if I am allowed to say that and still come back to Spain as Gaudi seems to be a huge deal there)

Parc Guell was a pretty experience because the weather was wonderful so we wondered around and enjoyed Art Noveau - lots of mosaic architecture.  Fountains covered in mosaic, buildings covered in mosaic, some cave looking things also covered in mosaic, you get the idea.  But again - it was a park which was overcrowded and felt over-priced.



Sagrada Familia is the most famous church in Barcelona.  It is huge, it is tall, it is very open and bright and it is still under construction.  It will actually be under construction until 2030!  The difference between 2 sides of the church is stunning.


Light stone is the new construction.  Construction cranes are also kind of a give away

Cascada Fountain at the Park de la Ciutadella was an accidental find to be honest.  As was the Arc de Triumphe.  I did mention that we wondered the streets of Barcelona a lot!  

We saw a lot in Barcelona  - we walked a whole lot every single day, we ate delicious food every single day, we really enjoyed our time there but we also both agreed that Barcelona does not have that magic appeal to us that some other cities do.  Sorry Barcelona and Barcelona lovers...
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