Day 150 – 153 : Barcelona

It's my 3rd time back in Barcelona.

I have always loved Barcelona.  Even back on my last visit, I felt Barcelona was a city I could see myself living in.  I still feel the same way, and with great weather on this trip filled with sunny cool days and beautiful blue skies, it was just great spending time roaming around the streets of Barcelona and re-soaking the atmosphere once more. 

Although I had 4 days here, my schedule was packed till the very last day, spending time with old and new friends, exploring sights such as Sagrada Familia and including a few things which I never did or saw on my previous couple trips.

One of it was going on one of the free walking tours offered by Sandelmann.  With the Sandelmann Walking Tours, I got a different insight and saw other sections of central Barcelona which I don't recall visiting before, including being shown the very 1st art piece of Gaudi, a couple of old churches, the oldest Jewish temple in the world, as well as explanation of the different flags that one can see in Catalonia regional of Spain. 

Day 151 : Sagrada Familia

5 years on, Sagrada Familia is still under construction - being the longest construction ever of a cathedral, having span more than 100 years.  I suppose another 5 years is just a small fraction of that time line. 

Wanting to see how much had changed since the last I visited, and also to go up one of the towers and see the view, I bought tickets online for a scheduled time slot visit into Sagrada as well as up the towers. 

Wrap Up : Barcelona

Dates : 2nd – 3rd September 2011 & 28th February – 3rd March 2012
Highlights :

• Gaudi Influence Architecture eg. Sagrada Familia, Park Guell
• Parque La Ciutadela
• La Rambla
• Montjuic
• Montserrat

Day 238 : Last Day in Barcelona

After spending 3 days here, I had not had the chance to visit downtown Barcelona, as there are just so many other things to do in this city. 

Since it is my last day here, I decided to make a day trip to the downtown area and re-acquaint myself with the city scene such as La Rambla, the port area, and get lost with the crowd.

 

Day 237 : Cirque Du Soleil

I have never seen a Cirque Du Soleil production before, but have heard rave reviews about their production from others who had seen previous productions such as Saltimbanco and Allegria.  So when I chance upon a brochure about their performance in Barcelona for a production called “Corteo”, I was excited and quickly looked online to check seats availability.

Tickets were pricey, and better seats were already taken.  So after some contemplating, weighing out the price and seat allocation factor, I decided to buy the cheapest ticket at €48.00, and hoped that I would still get a fairly good view even though my seat was in the last row. 

The show was taking place in El Grand Chapiteau, a special tentage set up at the Zoo Marino Platform, located next to the sea.   It took me a while to find the venue, and had to ask for directions in one of the nearest mall.  I barely just made it to the venue about 5 minutes before the show was due to start. 

Day 236 : Montserrat

Located 1.5 hour from Barcelona, I took a day trip to Monserrat, where it is well-known as the site of the Benedictine abbey, Saint Maria de Montserrat.  

There are a couple of ways to get to Montserrat, which often involves changing from a train to either a cable car or Funicular.  I opted for the Funicular version, and took a train from Placa Espana to a station called Monistral - Central, before changing to the Funicular.   

Dinner at a Catalunyan Restaurant

Just got back from a late dinner (late in my normal dining hour, but eating at 10pm is a usual time in Spain!), and had a great meal at "Taverna Can Margarit" which Davide told me was typical Catalunyan food.

Located in Poble Sec, the entrance was filled with wine barrels in all shapes in a long corridor.  We were each given a glass and was asked to help ourselves from one of the 4 barrels a glass of wine.

The options were between 2 red and 2 white, and I chose a dry red wine to start, while Davide and I sat down in the corridor to finish our drink before being seated inside in the dining area.  Davide shared with me that staff employed at the restaurant are gays. 

Day 235 : Montjuic

Montjuic is a hill located in the south-west of the city centre and I heard that it commands a great view of the city from the castle at the top, and also houses a few interesting monuments. 


Palau Nacional

I took the metro to Placa Espanya and upon arrival, there was great crowds as it seemed there was a Mobile World Congress happening at Palau Nacional, thus blocking one of the pathways. 

Wanting to be sure I got the right route, I approached the tourist information counter and asked for directions.  I was extremely appalled by the service of the staff though!  A summary of our conversation as follows :



Day 234: Park Guell

Barely after touching down in Barcelona after only a 2 hour sleep (9.5hr flight), I was whisked off by Alain on his motorbike to visit Park Guell, a park that was designed by the infamous Gaudi.

The weather was cold, and being on the motorbike with the cold air blowing as we drove by, made me feel the chills through the layers of clothes on my skin.  It was nice to be back in Barcelona again, and view it from a different view - on motorbike.

Trip Extension

After contemplating on changing my tickets for the last 1 month, I have finally got round to changing my Singapore Airline return ticket today and therefore confirm that my trip has been extended!

So the new plans after Colombia would be to travel in a sail boat via Cartagena to Panama, spent a couple of weeks in Panama, and take a flight to Rio de Janeiro (to be booked in the next couple weeks!) in mid February, just in time to attend Carnaval, and then travel down South to Sao Paulo to catch my flight to Barcelona in end February.

Spend about a week in Barcelona and off to Morocco for about 3-4 weeks, and then to London and I fly out of Paris back to Singapore in April!

So if anyone is keen to join me on the additional places, let me know and I will give you my detailed plans!

Day 54 : Gaudi

Antoni Gaudi is a very important figure in Barcelona, as he helped to characterise Barcelona with some key buildings, one of which is the Sagrada Familia.

There was a long queue when I went to visit it today and spent over 3 hours alone at this building! 

Interesting to note is that the foundation stone of this building was laid in 1882, and is still a work in progress based on the models Gaudi left behind.  At the point of my visit, there was still about 40% left to completion, and it is targeted to be only completed in 2020!

Day 53 : Some Sights in Barcelona

La Rambla

I had an interesting welcome into Barcelona, which may have been caught on TV!  I started my exploration of Barcelona with the La Rambla, a long tree-lined pedestrian walkway and the busiest and most lively street of the city.  Barely after stepping onto La Rambla, I saw a number of TV cameras lined up, seemingly waiting for something or someone to arrive. 

I decided to hang around for a little while and shortly after, a small truck appeared with music playing in the background.  The videographers from the TV company started moving around to capture the best angle of the performance.  I could only assume that they were some celebrities or personalities doing a short appearance on the streets.