Chilly and Relaxing in Barcelona

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Barcelona. If it had been a bit warmer and it rained less, it would have been perfect. The kids bonded with their grandparents and hardly missed us and my parents said they were angels.  It was so successful that we're already planning to have them spend a week with their grandparents next summer.

Self-serve bicycle rental - they have outlets all over the city, so you can drop your bike off at any location

Barcelona is the perfect place to visit for 3-4 days. We walked so much, wouldn't it be nice to get your daily walking dose by just going to work every day by subway? It rained non-stop our first day and it was miserably cold. We strolled down les Ramblas, Barcelona's Champs Elysee. Les Ramblas is lined with shops, eateries, an impressive food market, street entertainers and on a sunny day, it's one of the most festive places in Barcelona. We were there at least 3 out of the 4 days for one meal or another. The rain still didn't let up, we visited the Picasso Museum which provided a fairly good biography of his life although I'm still not a fan of his art.  We walked in the rain to Poble Espanol in the Montjuic area which is a lovely Spanish village  to enjoy sangria, tapas and an excellent Flamenco performance. I'm no expert but the dancers, singers and musicians were very entertaining and seemed authentic and not touristy.

Street entertainer on Rambla

Street Entertainers on Ramblas

On Ramblas, in front of the vegetable market

School children having lunch outside the cathedral

The next day was beautiful, sunny and fairly warm for this time of the year. We strolled through Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter), saw the exquisite Gothic Cathedral and visited the History Museum of Ciutat. The museum excellently displayed and preserved  a Roman excavated site, definitely worth a visit. In the afternoon, we visited one of Barcelona's treasured sites, Sagrada Familia, a Roman Catholic Church designed by Gaudi. and still  under construction. Since Gaudi's presence is felt throughout Barcelona, this is a must-see place to get an idea of who Gaudi is. That night, the original plan was to go see an opera however the tickets were sold out so we settled for a ballet. It was a lovely ballet with a unique storyline but I still would have liked to see the opera.

Cathedral at  Barri Gotic

Cathedral at Barri Gotic - Gothic Style

Sagrada Familia - Simply stunning inside, the picture doesn't do justice.

One face of the exterior of Sagrada Familia

On our last and final day we took a train ride 30km out of Barcelona to a monastery in Montserrat. It is a small sleepy town in the mountains and gave us a different perspective from the city life in Barcelona. That evening, we strolled along Montjuic to see the Catalan Art Museum however we arrived at closing time so we stayed back to see the lights at the fountain but had to pass on the museum. The museum's building architecture itself was a sight to see.

Montserrat Monastery

Candles lit at the cathedral in Montserrat

Outside the cathedral at Montserrat

Inside the cathedral - It was hard to get a good picture with so little light.

View of the monastery from the top of the funiculaire

So that ended our dreamy vacation in Barcelona. More on food and shopping coming up in the next posts.