Disclaimer: I got into all sorts of details because kat's going there so I wanted to give her all sort of useful information. Also, I'll probably have pictures in about two weeks, they were taken by another guy from the group and have yet to make their way to me.
Since the French seem to like having holidays all over the place - and I certainly don't mind - we had an extended weekend last week. (started on Thursday) So* I, a friend of mine and three of her friends decided to take full advantage of it, rented a car and went to Barcelona.
We left Thursday morning from Grenoble. I was the lucky one that didn't have to drive and also can sleep anywhere - moving or still. So I brought my mp3 player, turned the volume to the max and slept almost the whole 9 hours to Barca.
If you think driving there is a problem, then try to find your way in Barcelona! We had a hotel reservation on a side-street from La Rambla (one of Barca's main streets, if I understood well), but by the time we got there we found out that our reservation had been canceled. We had to confirm it until noon - the English reservation form we got through e-mail didn't say a thing about this... We could stay for one night, so we went to see the place. Awful!!!!! Wow, were we glad afterward that we missed the deadline!
Anyway, long story short, we found a youth hostel with a grate view of a plaza on the other side of La Rambla and stayed there for the whole weekend.
Day 1 (actually, afternoon): After checking in and having a brief lunch we decide to go in the port nearby. For those interested there was an English battleship docked there!
We also visited the aquarium - right there in the port, the building is called Maremagnum. Fishy stuff... Among the cool things: a huge aquarium with a tunnel underneath parts of it, sharks and all inside!
Day 2: Woke up early, bought a 4.8€ metro ticket for the whole day, and really started our visit.
First stop: Sagrada Familia. There are some excellent information panels inside about where Gaudi, the designer, took his inspiration from. A full ticket costs about 8€ IIRC, with a reduction if you have an international student card.
Second stop: We walked about ten blocks perpendicular to the main entrance of the Sagrada Familia till we reached two Gaudi designed houses: Casa Mila & Casa Batllo. Some strange architecture there, but we didn't have the time to go inside them to see it all.
Third stop: From there we went to Parc Guell. It's a strange combination, from cactuses to coniferous trees... o_O You'll see some more of Gaudi's architecture and also get a great view of the city and the sea from there.
Last stop: Nou Camp Football Stadium and Palau Reial. Surprisingly, it was not me or the other guy in the group that wanted to see the stadium, but one of the girls! She's a football & car fan... o_O Anyway, it costs around 10€ to go in the stadium (no walking on grass, unfortunately) and the museum. Why would anyone want to do that is beyond my comprehension, but hey, who am I to judge?!
We just walked then to Palau Reial. I don't know if you can visit the inside - we certainly didn't - but there's a nice garden around it, and if you already want to see the football stadium then it's not much of a trouble go see it.
In the evening we wanted to go to Placa de Espanya but we were unlucky to find that just that day an international auto exhibition started and took place exactly there... Talk about bad timing.
I'll be back with day 3 report after a short(*) break.
(*)"short" on the time-scale of the universe...
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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My cousin is just finishing up a year spent just outside Barcelona. He left very Southern Baptist and came back for Christmas carrying a purse. (At least, his brothers called it a purse.)
Some day, I will take a walking trip of the pilgrimage routes through France to Santiago de Compostela. Some day.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Eruve Nandiriel: I have to admit, you look nothing like I thought you would.
Hey, I don't imagine myself the way I am either! So maybe you thought I looked like I imagine myself?! Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Feeling such envy I am, Luke. Barcelona is one of our favorite cities. We've stayed down by the Rambla and on another visit out near the university, and loved both experiences.
Looks like you've already seen Sagrada Familia and the Park Guell. It's amazing how much difference Gaudi made in this great city - he is single-handedly responsible for the creation of its two most wonderful features.
Watch out for pickpockets on the subway <grin>.
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There was another early morning, as we had lots of things to do. First was the "Olympic mountain" with the 1992 Olympic stadium and all. No relation to Olympus, it's more of a hill actually...
There are lots of gardens with pretty flowers on the way up - and down, it just depends where you're coming from... We finally got to some kind of oldfort on top of that mountain, with some not so old guns some of us tried to operate. The people there must have had a day off, there was no ammunition in them... Better luck next time perhaps.
From there we went to the Olympic Stadium, surrounded by some odd lookingarchitecture . The stadium's just a stadium, so no pictures.
Still on that mountain, but on another way down you have the MNAC - National Catalan Art Museum. We had no idea about it but from there you can actually see into the Placa de Espanya! Oh yeah, and there are some funny looking stairs around there.
We decided that since we had come this far we'd better take advantage and go to the seaside. Unfortunately while the air was pretty hot the water wasn't. So the only thing that got wet in there were our feet. And some cloths for those who didn't pay enough attention to the waves.
And now comes "la piéce de résistence". That evening we had the chance to assist to some water-light-music shows in the Placa de Espanya and even the badly-timed auto show didn't manage to spoil the moment. There's a show every half an hour, with different music each time. We caught the 10PM show just near the fountains, then a short Freddy Mercury's Barcelona one, and then we quickly climbed to the museum to get a better view for the 10:30PM show. Of course we didn't have enough of it and came back down for the last one at 11PM. Alright, you've waited long enough... Here are the photos:
And that's about it. Oh, and here's our nice looking rental car: the Barça mobile. I hope you enjoyed my little guided visit through Barcelona, and maybe one day you'll enjoy your own too!
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