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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“... one of our favourite cities in Spain” |
We had a great time in Barcelona. It would definitely have to be one of our favourite cities in Spain for both of us. We had a very rushed 2 days here but easily could have spent more time.
On our first day, as usual, we bought tickets on the hop on/off sightseeing bus. The first major stop was the Sagrada Familia, the architect Gaudi's famous temple that is still being completed over 100 years after construction started. It is an amazing building, with interesting artwork and architectural features. Next, we visited the Park Guell, also created by Gaudi. It was designed to be a little community with houses and shops, but was unsuccessful, so now it is a park. There are buildings that look like gingerbread houses and funny little arches and walkways. It looks like something out of a fairytale!
At this point on the bus tour, it decided to start raining again. But we saw the 1992 Olympic Village, harbour and Christopher Columbus monument {built at the spot where Columbus came ashore after finding America) from the bus. That night, we went for a walk down Las Ramblas, the main pedestrian strip. It was very touristy but interesting, with lots of different market stalls on either side. Then we had dinner down at the harbour.
On our second day in Barcelona, we must have done at least 10km of walking. We started back at the big hill where the Olympic Village was situated, and saw a palace and some pretty parks. Then we walked up a never-ending hill to the Montjuic castle, which overlooks Barcelona. There are some great views from here.
Our final main stop of the day was Gaudi's Casa Batllo, a house he created for the Batllo family about 100 years ago. Again, it looks like something out of a fairytale with curved walls, mosaic tiles and many chimneys. Lots of the architectural features inside were way ahead of Gaudi's time, so many people say he was a genius... he was definitely very creative. The building was fascinating so I bought a book on Gaudi at the end of our visit.
Barcelona was a great end to our time in Spain... now we are off to France!
previous travel blog entry
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