By Judy Pinegar

Landing in Barcelona a full 20 hours off of takeoff from Sacramento (6:30 AM) but at 9AM in the morning really messed us up!  After stumbling around Barri Gothic, and having lunch, being lost a few times, we finally came to our shared apartment in Barri Gothic, a few minutes walk to the big Cathedral, right in the center of old Barcelona.

 

 

A long nap and after a great tapas meal, we walked down La Rambla, Spain (and Barcelona’s)  most famous Street. It is divided into five areas, one for futbol gatherers, one for ice cream and snacks, one for flowers, one with a huge marketplace on the side, one for a non-existent Monastery, then the Grand Theatre del Licheu, and finally Santa Monica area, before reaching the huge statue of Christopher Columbus, and the wharf area, and a huge shopping center which we also toured briefly, before heading home.

Interestingly I found that compared to 15 years ago when I was here with my daughter the street people moving statues are few and far between on La Rambla now. They are still scattered here, but also in other areas of the city which I find interesting and sort of disappointing.

 

We took two days of the on and off bus tours of Barcelona to get the layout of the city, stopping at Museo National ‘d Arte de Catalunya (see fountain with Barcelona views) and large museum of Gothic and Romanesque art, also some Catalan art. For those of you who don’t know, Spanish speakers in Catalan, the area around Barcelona speak Catalan, different form the Castilian Spanish I learned and spoken by the majority of Spaniards. But as there are lots of tourists here in every language, and for all a lot of English is spoken.

We also stopped at Park Guell, created by Antoni Gaudi, one of the most imaginative architects in the time period of 1880 and the 1920’s, called the Modernistas. His main sponsor was Count Estibi Guell, a very rich man who paid for most of Gaudi’s work, mostly bearing the Guell name. This park is three kilometers of roads, walks and steps (as our feet can testify), along with a central plaza with many modernistic touches. We actually didn’t know we need to reserve a space ahead, so walked around, peaking at the main plaza at different times, as the pictures show.

We saw both La Piedra, Casa Batllio and the Sagrada Familia Church, which was started by Gaudi but still being finished today, but again when trying for entrance to the church, discovered it must be reserved ahead…not like when Juli and I were here, and just walked in. Maybe later in the week.

Then there was the museum of Frederic Mares, an obsessive collector (with lots of money) who collected everything from medieval Spanish sculptures mostly with religious origins, knick-knacks, toy soldiers, scissors, eyeglasses, ceramic pottery, medieval weapons and armor, 19th century playing cards, and you name it , it is there!!

Help keep this blog going

Call or write today for all your real estate needs
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
BRE#00669941

Error: Contact form not found.