Although we are not on Moondance at the moment, we thought we would share some details of our trip to Spain, which is made much easier as we have a base in Europe (ie Moondance). Our first stop is Barcelona. This is a great city with so much to see. On Friday we did a bike tour. That took us to see some of the sights a little out of the centre. On Saturday we went to see the Sagrada Familia (which we had seen from the outside on the bike tour). The unfinished church designed by Gaudi, which commenced in the 1880's and is scheduled to be finished in 2026. It was very busy, but well organised. And very different and impressive. Apparently many of the drawings and models of the church were destroyed or damaged in the Civil War, so they don't have complete plans of the design. But obviously enough to be going on with. It is impressive already and when completed will be amazing - and huge. That evening we did a food tour, which was great. We went to five different restaurants - 4 for tapas, and 1 for dessert. It included some drinks as well and it was a great night, with an interesting small group of 8, including the guide. One place we went to was kept as it was during the Civil War, where the lady of the house shared their food with others and became a popular and famous person in the district. Howard and I had both been a bit under the weather, but luckily we were well again for our walking tour on Sunday. This was through the Gothic Quarter - the old town. After the tour, and lunch, we went up to the Citadel. This involved a bus, a funicular railway and a teleferic. Spectacular views across the city and harbour and an interesting Citadel as well. We labelled Sunday "Gaudi Day". We booked in to go to the Casa Batlló. Unfortunately their organisation was appalling and we had to queue for 30 minutes even though we had a 15 minute window to enter the house. Not happy!!! But once we were inside we were happy that we had come. Antonio Gaudi had remodelled (really rebuilt) the house and it was very different and interesting. The house is on Passeig de Gràcia, a major boulevard, that we were told was where many wealthy people built their houses in the late 19th century. There were certainly impressive buildings along along it and on nearby side street. At one point we noticed that there were police on an intersection so we went over to the parallel street where there was an independence demonstration going on. A little further north was Casa Milà, another Gaudi designed apartment building. We didn't go in but had a good look from the outside. The road heads to Gràcia, which used to be a separate town but has now been swallowed up by the Barcelona metropolis. There we had lunch on a nice square. After lunch we headed to the harbour area. This was a busy place, and there were quite a few large super yachts moored there. Our final stop for the day was Park Güell. This was back up the hill again, returning on the same metro line. When we got off we found that the 12 minute walk to the park was all uphill. Not what you want at the end of a long day, although it did mean some great views. We had booked in advance and the earliest entry we could get was 5:30pm. This garden was designed by Gaudi, so we thought it would be interesting. The original idea of the park was that it would be a gated community where people would buy blocks of land and build their own house. Gaudi designed the gate house and porter's house and some other communal aspects. He bought and lived in the display home that is now a museum. Guell, the owner, lived in the only other house ever built there. They sold no other blocks. And eventually the park was sold to the city. After the tour we caught a bus home and then went to a Basque restaurant for dinner. This morning we caught the fast train to Madrid for our next adventure.
3 Comments
Ian
2/10/2018 06:43:12 pm
Wow that was some architect! Superb photos. Looks very busy but warm.
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Howard
2/10/2018 08:37:15 pm
Hi Ian ... it was busy ... would hate to have been there in the peak season. The weather was great 25 everyday. very pleasant, nice for our average 20K steps a day.! Madrid ow for the next four days.
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Lisette McCauley
3/10/2018 09:08:43 am
Magnificent photographs - a photographer’s dream really. My sister was there in August before they joined us this year on Catharina, suffering 40+ temps every day. Perfect for you now. Barcelona has jumped way up on my list of places that must be seen. Gaudi’s designs are achingly beautiful. I knew they were - now I just have to see them for myself.
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