Barcelona

We've just got back from a couple of days in Barcelona. Guy bought us 3 nights in a hotel there, so he rather pushed us into going! We'd said that we wanted to go for a long time, and we weren't disappointed. The hotel was very swish, but, when we arrived, we saw that it was in the middle of an area of old factories and warehouses that are just about to be re-developed. However, this wasn't a problem and we soon felt safe walking back from the metro station in the evening. The metro system is fantastic; the longest we had to wait for a train was about 7 minutes one evening at 11 o'clock. Normally the trains were every 3 minutes.


We spent the first day touring the city by bus with an audio-guide so that we could get an idea of what was there and roughly where it was. The second day we tried to pack in as much as possible. We started off in Gaudi's famous 'Sagrada Familia' which took all morning. Then, after a couple of refreshing beers, we went to the Picasso Museum. Finally, from 6pm till nearly 9 we were on a guided walk looking at the Modernist buildings in the centre of Barcelona. All of this was then finished off with a meal in a swanky restaurant before crawling home.

We must mention again the Gaudi church, the Sagrada Familia. We knew that it wasn't finished, but we weren't prepared for the inside to actually BE a building site. But, as a building, it is incredible; it's a faithful execution of one man's fantasy. And it has to be seen to really appreciate it.

As you can see we've only scratched the surface of what can be done in Barca, so we fully intend to go again.

PS Sorry that there are no photos, but I had a bit of a senior's moment when we were packing everything into the car. I didn't take either of our two cameras, my bag with my driving licence which you're supposed to take with you when you drive, nor my glasses. Luckily I was wearing my prescription sun glasses, so I was OK to drive as long as it was sunny! (However, I did try to leave these in the hotel room, but remembered them before I drove out of the hotel garage)