Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia
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We stayed for a week with some friends in the town of Sabadell, about 30 minutes train out of the city. They soon became our indispensable guides and it was great to get their local knowledge, thanks again Olivier and Sophie!

The first bit of information they gave us was that according to the locals, Barcelona isn’t actually part of Spain! It’s in the province of Catalunya which fiercely defends its autonomy. They have their own flag and they even speak their own separate language of Catalunyan.

Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia has to be seen to be believed

View across Barcelona from Parc Guell on the northern hills, La Sagrada Familia at centre (will be almost twice the height when complete!)
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Our hosts treated us to some authentic local tapas, eaten at the usual dinner time of 11pm. Here we were introduced to such delicacies as patatas bravas (potato bites smothered in a creamy spicy sauce) and chocos (fried calamari). We were also invited along to a rooftop wine tasting evening where we sampled a range of regional wines and more excellent tapas.

The summer nightlife of Barcelona is legendary. We began our one big night out at an excellent vegetarian restaurant in the La Ribera district, again at around 11pm. Details become a little hard to recall as we worked our way around the bars of the old town and then down to the clubs along the beachfront. We found ourselves watching the dawn sitting on the beach. In a bit of a daze, we all arrived back in Sabadell at around 9am and collapsed into bed.

The crowded but shady La Rambla
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The rest of the week was spent exploring the sights of the city. We braved the crowds of La Rambla with its tree-lined central walkway packed with buskers and stalls selling everything from fresh cut flowers to live stoats. Just off La Rambla was a huge produce market where Imelda was back in her element buying up delicious fresh fruit.

Behind the central city cathedral (which was covered in scaffolds when we visited) is the City History Museum. This included an underground system of walkways through excavated Roman ruins some 5 metres below the current city street level. You could still see the remains of old drainage channels, shop walls and wine tanks. Back up above ground, an old palace courtyard sits directly above the ruins. In one corner are a flight of stone steps which are still original from when Christopher Columbus walked down them on his departure from Spain to discover America.

Olympic diving pool complex overlooking the city
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It was a bit of a sweaty hike up Montjuic hill in the middle of the day, but the views of the city and its waterfront were stunning. This is the site of the main Olympic stadium, which you can walk into and look around for free. We both remembered watching the 1992 Olympic opening ceremony where the flame was lit by a flaming arrow shot from one end of this massive arena to the other. The nearby diving pools had a panoramic city backdrop which would have been amazing for the spectators watching the divers during the games. We caught a gondola to the top of the hill and walked around the walls of the Castell de Montjuic where an archery club was having a practice session.

Produce market off La Rambla
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On the northern side of Montjuic, stretching away from the Olympic stadium is a wide avenue lined with fountains. At the base of the hill, overlooked by the palacial National Art Museum, is the Magic Fountain. Four nights a week this fountain gives a wonderful light display synchronised to music, drawing huge crowds. The show went for about 15 minutes and the gentle breeze ensured that the crowd on the downwind side got suitably drenched.

The rest of the city sights were seen by bike. An extensive organised tour took us to what is probably Barcelona’s most famous monument: La Sagrada Familia. This cathedral was begun by Antoni Gaudi in 1882 and has still not been finished. Despite the cranes and construction workers, this structure has to be seen to be believed. It currently features 8 incredibly detailed towers all over 100m high and two ornate facades depicting the old and new testaments. The final product will hold no less than 18 towers, with the biggest reaching a ludicrous 170m! This is one metre short of the summit of Montjuic, since Gaudi believed that no manmade structure should be higher than one created by God. The cathedral can already be seen from all over the city, so we are definitely coming back to see the colossal building when it is finished, apparently the latest estimates are for sometime in the mid 2020s.

Arc du Triomf: a symbol of Barcelona's competitive European spirit
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Gaudi had a huge artistic influence on the city. We climbed the hill on the northern side of the city to the Parc Guell, where he landscaped a park featuring decorated caves, galleries and buildings. The main entrance to the park features a series of staircases and fountains, every surface beautifully decorated with mosaics.