gaudi, el gotik y mas
Cordie and I enjoyed 4 nights in the ‘el gotik bario’ area of Barcelona. We rented a studio apartment that was very clean, cool, had a queen size loft in which was close to the ceiling but not close enough that we felt claustrophobic. There was a love seat sofa underneath with two bar stools in the kitchen which made for just enough space for us to both sit comfortably.
The location was also perfect as it was in walking distance of the beach, (Cordie’s first time in the Mediterranean Sea)
Picasso Museo, the unfinished church by Gaudi (Sagrada Familia-a looong walk) and Caso Batllo. We also went into a museum in which had old Roman ruins underground-and was one of our favorite things we did in Barcelona as it explained the full history of the city and how during the Middle Ages the people had just built their palaces on top of the older structures leaving it hidden until the city decided to ‘create’ a road Via Laietana which still runs through the city today. :)
We both really enjoyed the Parc Guell, which was started by Gaudi with the intention of being a neighborhood in which he ‘designed’ all of the houses…however, that never happened and the park is more of a place to view the city, has more hiking trails than we had planned for and definitely adds quite a bit of flavor to the neighborhood that surrounds it. All of the pictures below are from there.
Neither of us realized how big Barcelona is (4.2 million people) or how busy it would be with tourists in October… so we made the most of seeing the ‘sites’ quickly then spending time getting lost within the maze of streets to experience all of the culture that surrounded us.
Above on the right is one of Gaudi’s famous houses. We also were 2 mins away walking from the only cathedral in the city, we went there our first day and took advantage of going on the roof top to see some of the city even though it was mostly overcast and cloudy.
One of my favorite things to do is yes-try different restaurants to experience different foods and make sure you find ‘the best’ BUT I LOVE to find a place for some consistency even if it is for 5 days. Alsur Cafe, which was perpendicular to our little street became that for us. We had at least coffee and brekky there everyday if not followed by a meal later in the day once we found ourselves back. It was located in a quiet courtyard (except they have Sunday Brunch all day and was extremely busy then) with young families passing through and warming decor with a great ‘playlist’ of music which made us want to sit there for hours and just observe our surroundings.
There are many more pictures from our time in Barcelona which will be put into the Gallery at a later date! Apologies that not all of the pictures are in order next to my descriptions of how we spent our time in Barcelona. Thank you for reading and hope you have a fantastic day!
We are on our way to Rome now.