Barcelona: A city of architecture, art and cheap eats

The Cathedral
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We had such a great time in Barcelona.  Both of us had heard a lot about what there was to do, but it differed somewhat from our expectations.  We were both envisioning a city a bit like those in Italy, but it was very different.  The people were different, the food was different, the only thing that wasn't different were the gypsies.

Barcelona is filled with cool architecture, random art along the streets, churches and museums.  We tried to do as much as we could but we doubt we have even seen half of what this city has to offer.

Barcelona is filled with cool architecture, random art along the streets, churches and museums.

The Barcelona Head. Random pieces of art line the streets adding color and culture everywhere you turn.
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We did an enormous amount of walking; we spent four of our seven days walking all day long.  Our walks offered us the opportunity to appreciate the city, and how the culture of the city is really exhibited in the combination of architecture, art and churches.

Our hostel was a two minute walk from the Cathedral, so that is where we started and ended our tour of the city.  We saw most of the Gaudi sites, including Casa Batllo, which just opened to the public, Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell and La Pedrera.  Both of us were pretty disappointed with La Pedrera after seeing Casa Batllo, but still very inspired by the attention to detail that Gaudi put into everything he did from the railings to the light sockets.  The mix between modernist architecture and gothic architecture was everywhere and really interesting.  Everyday we would see these styles in stark contrast, side by side.  We toured a number of different churches - huge, ornate, damp, dark churches - in order to appreciate the gothic era.  We toured museums to learn a little bit more about the various types of art that Barcelona has offered the world.  The Picasso Museum was our favorite...so much so that we ended up buying a print to remind us of our trip.

Casa Batllo - looks like a waves on the outside, and the ocean on the inside.
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We spent an entire afternoon at Sagrada Familia but we could have spent a full day there absolutely mesmerized by what we were seeing.  Even after seeing it, it is astonishing to me that there is any structure anywhere that is going to take over 120 years to build.  This is a must see for anyone going to Barcelona and I would highly recommend taking the lift to the roof.  From the roof, looking down at this enormous unfinished church you can really appreciate the detail in every aspect, even those too high for anyone to ever notice.

Inside Casa Batllo - Patrick's favorite sight
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One day we even went to the beach and I got a bit of a sunburn, which would normally be disappointing to me, but the fact that I got a sunburn in October makes me giddy.  We had heard that the beach in Barcelona was dirty and crowded so we decided to save our trip for a weekday and it was great, we had our own nice stretch of beach.

The eats in Barcelona were not particularly fantastic, but boy can you find deals. We went to a few restaurants that were nicely decorated with large menus and really cheap prices.  If you go to Barcelona definitely look around because we had a number of meals, including wine or sangria, that were 30 Euro.  Our last day we even had lunch at a restaurant called The Attic along La Rambla, and with the bottle of wine it was only 35 Euro.  There is no need to spend a lot on food here - save your money for the Cava and Sangria, but definitely don't leave without having paella.

Palau Musica
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My recommendation to anyone going to Barcelona is to take the Bus Tour when you first arrive.  Don't get off at every stop because most of them are within walking distance of the city center, but at least the tour will give you an overview of what there is to see, and discount coupons to most of the major sights.