Barcelona Part Dos

La Sagrada Familia!  Isn't it beautiful?!  After walking and walking and walking, I turned the corner and there it was.  It was definitely worth the walk.  The last two days of my trip to Barcelona were filled with more Antoni Gaudi.  I looked at a map and saw that I could easily walked past La Rambla and head towards Casa Batllo which is a building redesigned with balconies that look like skulls.  His works are modernist and also take on several other period aspects like Art Noveau, Baroque, and Gothic.  Casa Batllo also has a museum inside but we skipped it.

Next, we headed only a few blocks up the street to see Casa Mila or La Pedrera. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Sight and features an interesting fascade made of stone.  There is also a museum inside this one and you can walk on the top of the building.  Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture below that the building was under construction and the outside was covered by a huge sign. 

Next, we walked towards the thing I was most excited about seeing in Barcelona; La Sagrada Familia.  It's quite a walk from La Pedrera but it's doable.  It's another UNESCO World Heritage Sight and it is still not finished to this day.  As you can see, it was still under construction and won't be finished until maybe 30 years from now.  It's a unique example of a blending of Gothic and Art Noveau styles.  Though I really wanted to go inside, the line was way too long but I regret not going in.  I'd suggest booking your tickets in advance to make your life a lot easier.

From here, I wanted to head to the Park Guell which is another one of Gaudi's amazing designs, but it is probably best to get there by taxi and we didn't have the time. 

I explained in Barcelona Part Uno, how I wasn't  impressed with the beach in downtown Barcelona because it was way too crowded.  We finally were able to head to a beach that was about 20 minutes outside of Barcelona by train, called Montgat Nord. You can find some info on how to easily navitage the train to this beach here.  Any of these beaches on the blue line are going to be better and less crowded.  Though they were less crowded, I have to say that I don't think this beach was as beautiful as say Dubrovnik or Corfu.  Maybe I just didn't get further enough outside of the city?  Also, even outside of the city there were still people trying to sell us stuff.

Though the metro was relatively easy to navigate, we did have a bad experience with an ATTEMPT at pickpocketing.  I've never been a victim of pickpocketing in all of my travels around Europe and I've read so much about it being a problem in Barcelona.  Beware! My mother and aunt and I were in line to get on the metro and my mother started screaming at a women next to her.  I turned around to see what was going on and she was yelling that the lady next to her had tried to put her hand in her purse.  She yelled in both English and Spanish so everyone could know to watch out for her.  The lady just looked at my mom like she had done nothing wrong but then walked quickly to get out of the metro.  I can't believe that my mom almost got pickpocketed but I'm pretty proud that she caught the lady and embarrased her or at least scared her away.  She definitely messed with the wrong lady.

I told you how the food at La Boqueria was amazing.  Well, I couldn't leave Barcelona without trying paella and sangria.  The sangria was great at every place we tried it and the paella which is a mixture of rice and commonly seafood, was amazing.  OMG this was the best thing I ate in Barcelona! As well as all of the tapas I enjoyed.

I couldn't leave Spain without going to a Flamenco show.  I explained during my trip to southern Spain last month that I didn't get to go to one.  Even though Flamenco is traditionally an artform from southern Spain, you can still see a great show in Barcelona.  We caught a show right at a place on La Rambla called Tablao Cordobes.  If there is one thing you do in Spain, make sure you get to a Flamenco show.  It was moving.  For me, it seemed to be a mixture of tap dancing and interpretive dance.  Dancers do a lot of improv based on what the live musicians are playing.  The dancers were amazing and they dance with so much emotion.  I always had an image in my head of what I thought Flamenco was like but you really need to see a live show to get the true experience.

Casa Batllo

Casa Mila, La Pedrera

Montgat Nord Beach

To recap, if I had to pick 10 things to do while in Barcelona I'd suggest this:

10 Things to Do in Barcelona:

1) See a Flamenco Show

2) Walk La Rambla

3) Try several foods in La Boqueria

4) Hear the musicians in the Bari Gotic

5) Visit as many Gaudi sights as you can

6) Find a beach outside of Barcelona and relax

7) Find a good restaurant to try paella

8) Drink Sangria from several different places

9) Go shopping!

10) Go dancing!

What would you do in  Barcelona?

And if you missed it, here's Barcelona Part Uno

 

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