Barcelona, day two
Starting with the first of probably many hotel breakfasts, we then headed out to explore Barcelona. We travelled mostly on the metro, which was simple to use and frequent. First stop was Parc Güell, where Antoni Gaudi designed and constructed a large park. I’m pretty sure Gaudi was using some decent narcotics at the time, but the park is amazing, with winding paths and viaducts leading to an area full of mosaics and sculptures.
Back on to the metro and we then joined to queue to enter La Sagrida Familia- a massive, still unfinished church designed by Gaudi and Barcelona’s most recognizable landmark. Even though it isn’t yet finished, the size of the church is daunting and looking at the plans for the final spire, it will be mindblowing when it’s done (if it gets done that is: they are predicting two decades to go, but if they keep up the whole siesta thing, who knows; there weren’t many workmen we could see!). The line to ascend the lift into the spires was approaching the three hour mark, so we gave that a miss, until Katie noticed another lift about to open at the back of the church - straight to the front of the line! Very impressed :) The view from the top was amazing and looked over a lot of Barcelona, while also offering a closer look at the church itself. There’s no lift down though, so it was a long descent down some very narrow spiral stairs.
You could spend hours just looking at the details of the facades, but we eventually finish the audio tour and moved on. We wandered through the streeets, laneways and squares of Barcelona, all the time looking for somewhere for a drink and tapas. We eventually found where we were looking for, Cal Pep, and went for a drink nearby in the warm rain while we waited for it to open. On returning, however, it appeared that the owners had cleared out for August, something that we realized was pretty common. The disappointed crowd outside showed that we weren’t alone and, after comparing tips with some other hungry tourists, we started a new search that ended with a delicious dinner/tapas at a Spanish/Mediterranean place tucked away in some alley. With a bottle of Rioja red under our belts, we slowly made our way back to the hotel. Simon.
