Gothic Quarter - Barcelona, Spain

Walking through the Gothic district of Barcelona, Spain not far from Las Ramblas is like taking a step back in time. It used to be known as the "Cathedral District" and it's what is left of the Roman and middle ages. The architecture amazing here.

I enjoyed the Gothic area for many reasons. One because it's a great place to cool off in the hot months! Even when it was 89 degrees outside it seemed only 69 degrees. The buildings are so close together at times the sun can get into the streets making it much cooler. It did open up occasionally in common areas.





Another reason we loved it here was the Pablo Picaso museum is located here.  I saw on some websites that they say to skip this museum.  I on the other hand think it's a fascinating museum.  I think Picaso is somewhat of a sick freak and one of the room in particular will verify this, but other than that one room it's great. (Keep this in mind when taking children here. If your a prude American like me, then you will not want your kids seeing that room!)


We enjoyed the off beat feel and the randomness. It's obviously a tourist area, but it did not have a touristy feel.  We saw these little statues on the way to the Picaso Museum outside of a store.

I can't wait to take my kids to Barcelona someday.

Photos of Barcelona, Spain

Photos from our trip to Barcelona, Spain

Montjuic Barcelona

Does anyone recognize where we are?  We are in Barcelona, Spain at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) - Montjuïc.  The whole place was so stunningly beautiful that we had to get off the tourist bus immediately to check it out.  When we got off the bus we were not even sure what the place was.  We just knew it had to be something great by the looks of things.  I now know the place is full of great art, but the building itself is what captured our attention.  Once we got to the top we were privileged to see spectacular views of the city.  Yes, we climbed all those stairs, but I'll admit those escalators were a huge help!

What a view!

It wasn't suppose to be a nude beach! - Barcelona, Spain

When we were in Barcelona, Spain we decided to spend basically an entire day at the beach. It was nice to have a day of rest after all the walking and sightseeing we had been doing. I love the Sagrada Familia, but I also love the beach!

We knew we didn't want to go to a nude beach, so we headed out for the non nude beach. What we didn't realize that All the beaches in Europe are apparently top optional. At least in Spain they are. We got to the beach and caught on quickly. I did not go topless, because that just isn't my thing...at all. I tried to focus on the beauty of our surroundings and not on the ta-ta's all around. I must say it really creeped me out for mom's and their adolescent daughter's to both go topless. I just don't get it. My friend from England thinks it's no big deal, so I guess it just comes down to what you are used too.  Here are a few photos of us....hopefully there are no boobies in the picture. If there is, I am so sorry it wasn't intentional. Nor has thing become an "adult" kind of blog.

At the beach they had chair rentals for 5 Euros.  You could also get a massage for $5 or 5 Euros.  

Beware!

I should also mention that with in minutes of getting to the beach we saw someone's bag get snatched!  A few elderly looking people were walking around waiting for an opportunity to steal.  Luckily the young women had no problem chasing down the older lady.  So, beware of your stuff in a crowded open beach.

  

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Riding around Barcelona on a bus

By the time we got to Barcelona we were worn out. We decided to get on a tour bus and ride around seeing the sights. After comparing the two tour bus companies we saw in the main plaza we decided to go with Barcelona Bus.  The two companies were practically the same, but the Barcelona Bus covered more areas.  Barcelona Bus had two different routes.  One route towards Mt. Tibidabo and one towards the Olympics and everything in between. 

Barcelona has some of the greatest architecture in the world! Here are a few pictures of what we saw.

Plaza Catalunya - This plaza seemed like a great starting point.


National Art Museum of Catalunya






The next two are picture I took while we were in the Olympic Village area.  The first one is this outdoor artwork called Pergolas on Icaria Avenue.  Created by the architects Carme Pinós and Enric Miralles. I wondered what this was when we passed by.  It was large and lengthy.  It took a awhile for me to find out. Apparently this sculpture/artwork was suppose to be much bigger.  They were not allowed to plant trees for sewage reasons in this area, so they built what were meant to be big metal trees shading the street.  Although that wasn't acheived (maybe that is what drove them to divorce) I must say it was a very memorable thing to see.  So much so I came home and researched it!





Museu de Zoologia





La Seu Cathedral in Barcelona's Gothic area.  These pictures do not do justice to the size of this cathedral.  We wanted to go in but the line was an hour long and we had seen at least two dozen churches in Europe.

Hesperia Tower Hotel - Barcelona, Spain

Hotel Hesperia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hotel Hesperia Tower

The Barcelona hotel we stayed at was Hotel Hesperia Tower.  It was unbelievably nice, designed by Richard Rogers a famous British architect.  It was by far the nicest hotel we stayed in on our trip. 

After flying into the wrong airport and then taking over an hour long bus ride into Barcelona we found ourselves in downtown Barcelona at 2:00 AM wondering where our hotel was. We looked at the map and quickly decided it was to late to be trying to figure this out, so we had to find a cab.  After walking around for about five minutes a cab rolled by and picked us up.  We got lucky because our hotel was no where near where we were and we were not sure the cab driver understood which hotel we were saying!  After the stress and exhaustion of the day I was so relieved to see such a beautiful hotel and room.  

Room Service

They even had room service at that hour.  Again, we were lucky, because we had not had dinner.  We ordered the "lunchbox" which was swiftly brought to us.  It was a huge sandwich and salad, assorted dessert and some other stuff.  It was so good I wish I had taken a picture.  

This was also the cheapest hotel we stayed in!  Only $68 a night with breakfast.  The breakfast buffet had a huge selection and everything was delicious.  At that price it might just be the best hotel in Barcelona!

Here are a few photos of our room.

Sagrada Familia

The Sagrada Familia is a church in Barcelona that they have been building for 100 years. Gaudi designed it and Barcelona has decided to follow through with it and keep building it until it is done. There are three different sides, each representing three parts of your faith.

It was 10 euros each to get in and that didn't get us to the top. That was another 3 euros each and the line was about 3 hours long. Needless to say we never made it to the top.

We were able to walk through the entire down stairs and see all the work they have done and that they are currently doing.  I thought the museum at the very end about the building and about Gaudi and how he designed it was fascinating!