March 2014

Another trip to Barcelona, after our ski vacation in Flims.

  Stephan had a conference in Valencia.  As we were already in Europe having been in London for one conference and then skiing in Switzerland we had decided to stay and spend the extra week in between visiting Spain.

We flew to Barcelona from Munich.  The brand new airport was very attractive and clean.  We picked our car and drove to the city.  Our hotel was also excellent.  We settled in our suite and decided to walk around the city.

The concierge who helped us getting our bearings warned us about muggings and pickpockets.  This was not very comforting for us, so we hung onto our wallets and cameras even tighter...

El Palace - formerly Ritz - was renovated in 2009.  The Caelis, a Michelin Star Restaurant in the hotel, was hard to get in but the financially enriched concierge found us room at the very early hour of 8:00 p.m.  We were the first ones in the restaurant and it got full by 9:30.  After all this is Spain, right?  The food was nouvelle cuisine and very attractive, it also tasted great.

Our first walk through the city took as to Placa de Catalunya and then Pesseig de Gràcia.  We walked up the street and visited Casa Milà, a Gaudi masterpiece .  Walked up to the roof and then the apartment on the top floor.

Casa Milà

Stephan enjoying the view [above], and the never-ending construction of Sagrada Familia [below]

The flat in Casa Milà

Casa Battlò  

Parc Güell

Entrance

Parc Güell logo [above, right]

The Large Square  -  It partially sits over the Market Place columns carved out of the hill [below].

Washerwoman Portico

Gaudi House in the park

Ceramics on the garden & the walls of the house and the interior of the house.

Waterfront and lunch at La Gavina in the marina 

The Giant Lobster [above]

Roy Liechtenstein's The Head of Barcelona, or El Cap de Barcelona in Catalan [below].  It is a surrealist sculpture created for the 1992 Summer Olympics

After lunch that day we walked to the Picasso Museum and were thrilled to see his earlier works.

Inside staircase and the courtyard of the museum 

EL Castillo de los tres Dragones (Castell dels tres dragons, in catalán)

Arc de Triomf and Custom House [below]

Sagrada Familia

Finally, on our last day, having done online reservations we got to go and see the progress(!) of the construction of Sagrada Familia.

Everything looked fine except one of the interior doors with 'The Lord's Prayer' on it.  They had managed to squeeze in 58 languages - including Arabic and Aramaic - but Armenian was nowhere to be found!  That really upset me.  Especially given our sad history for having accepted Christianity...

Back to : Barcelona 2007,  Spain, Europe