Barcelona, Spain

We took our first trip over the pond...

It was not a long trip but it was just enough time

to experience a pretty cool destination and some pretty awesome Jet Leg!

We arrived on Thursday the 13th and we went down town that evening

We had a little tour of the town center which includes

Roman Walls and pretty cool Architecture

at the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona built in the 12th century

We also went to Las Ramblas which is the shopping area.

I just loved all the old old tall buildings and the narrow, cobblestones streets

most everyone traveled by public transit or scooters.

There were alot of scooters everywhere we went

and there also didn't seem to be any real "rules" for scooters driving through the streets

This was in the market in the heart of Las Ramblas

These old Roman walls were in the middle of an apartment building

they built around and on top of the old Roman city

you can read more about that here

on Friday we did some more sight seeing...

First we went to Parc Guell

this was a special area that the Great Catalan Architect, Antoni Gaudi built

he intended for it to be an upscale housing development

but alot of people didn't really like his style of building

and because of that and because it was built far from the city (in those times)

it didn't really take off

here is a view from the area

This picture is of the top of the market area, each of these pillars is part of

the amazing water system that he built to water the landscaping

down by the pillars would be the market place and up on top you can see the

longest one piece bench in the world. It is all made of mosaic type tile work

the walkway from the front entrance into the market place

more of the bench

looking up at the roof of the market area

some of the tile work up close

Goudi's work is very beautiful, ornate and detailed

there were only actually 3 homes built in the park, the rest was garden area.

next we went to the Sagrada Familia

this is the church of the Holy Family that

Antoni Gaudi was commissioned to built

it was estimated to take 200 year to complete

and should be completed in 2027

 

here is a replica of what it should look like when it is complete

when Gaudi died another Architect  took over

and did so in his own style.

I personally did not care for the change in style

the front of the building that Gaudi did depicted the birth of Christ

and the other side of the building that the new architect did

depicts the death and resurrection of Christ

After leaving there we went back down town

Here is a cathedral that we happened onto

More streets...I just could not get enough of them

And Rich could not get enough of the Chocolate shops

 

More of the Roman walls which he also could not get enough of...

We also were able to visit the Picasso Museum

that dude was weird!

more Roman walls

There were some interesting people at Las Ramblas

our tour guide called them "Weirdos"

Not really sure how this guy is staying on his stand

(yes he is real, not a statue)

and this guy is some sort of Gothic creature

More pictures from the Market in Las Ramblas

At the end of the day we were able to catch a Flamenco Show

On Saturday we took a Journey to the top of the mountain to

Montserrat

if you click on the link be sure to read the history of the Holy visions

This is the cave where the Holy Visions took place

if you look closely you will see a track running up the side of the mountain

we went there next...

here is the car that you load into to travel up the mountain

there were two cable cars that traveled the track at the same time

one going up

and one coming back down

they would pass each other at this point in the tracks

the view from the top was unreal

These next pictures were taken inside the cathedral

Up in the middle of this picture, in that little balcony is the Black Mary

people stand in line for hours to see and touch and kiss the Virgin Mary



When we got back we made arrangements to attend a Soccer game

As I'm sure you know, Barcelona's soccer team won the world cup

last time it was played

so we were able to go and watch

the best team in the world play in the best stadium in the world

it was amazing and SOOO big

it holds 100,000 people

and it is nearly full every time they play

we had great seats and the crowd noise was deafening at times

on Sunday we did some more sight seeing

first we went down town to experience the festivities in the Gothic Square

they had dancers and parades

After that we headed up town to another Gaudi Building

this was a home that he built

Pedrera house

here is a replica of the house

this was upstairs in the attic

you can see the columns in the roof

here is the rooftop

looking down from the rooftop

the view from the rooftop

more from the roof, looking down to the court yard

it was an amazing building....after looking a the unique rooftop

we went down into the attic which is where the service people would go

to do the families laundry

and then we were able to go down and view the inside of an apartment

that was left with the vintage feel, furniture and decor from the time period

of when the building was built

after that we were able to sign up to take a bike tour of the city

don't you love Rich's little basket on his bike?

we were also equipped with little bells.

At first we thought they were fun

but boy did they come in handy when we hit the streets of the boardwalk

it was kinda crazy but oh so fun!

here is our group

The beach on the Mediterranean

The "W" hotel

And on the last night of our trip, we had one last awesome dinner

This is Bob and Dan

the Vice President and President of our EF Boston Office

This was a fantastic trip and although short, it was just right for us!
We are so glad and feel so Lucky that we were able to go!!