A few fabulous days in Barcelona
Many tourists come to Barcelona on cruise ships; it is a huge port for cruise ships. But I arrived from Dakar via Air Sengal, on the heels of a cruise on the coast of West Africa. (to see that West African trip, click here )
My quick trip to Barcelona was made so terrific by the staff at the hotel Casa Sagnier (Rambla de Catalunya 104). This is the perfect place for a solo traveler to stay, particularly one like me who just showed up without doing much advance research on the city. The friendliness of the front desk people at this small hotel extended to their being available via WhatsApp to answer questions as I traveled the city.
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What other hotel does this? I checked in early
after my flight from Dakar, and when the room
was not ready, the folks at the hotel desk
escorted me to the cafe next door, for a free Catalonian breakfast! |
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| Pippi Longstocking likes it here too! |
Another example of the hotel's great hospitality: I took the Barcelona version of a hop-on/hop-off bus tour (Barcelona Bux Turistic) , and decided to hop off at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, located on Montjuic mountain, and when I was finished with my several wonderful hours at the museum, and noticed that the cable car ran practically overhead, I sent a message to the hotel and asked how to get tickets to the cable car -- and they answered promptly. Made for a wonderful day!
This info about the museum is from Conde Nast Traveler: "There are four zones—Medieval Romanesque, Medieval Gothic and Renaissance, and two Modern Art rooms—and each genre is like a maze, every turn transporting you to a new mood, artist or medium"
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if you want, you can get off on the road further down
on the mountain, and walk up the stairs... |
There is so much to rave about in this museum's collections. Clearly worth more than the few hours I spent there. Among the treasures: the museum has a collection of Romanesque panel painting that is one of the most important in the world. Many lovely displays of polychrome furniture from the medieval times in Catalonia, including alart frontals. This was an affordable alternative to furniture in precious metal, which only a few rich churches could afford to purchase.
The Gothic art pieces in the museum's collection were also wonderful!
The trip to the museum was enhanced by a tasty meal in the museum's lovely dining room - Singularis & You/ Oleum Restaurant with a 30 Euro fixed price menu featuring many choices. Highly recommended.
Barcelona architecture. Everywhere you look, there are fabulous pieces of public art and architecture. Some of them inspired by Gaudi, others by artist like Ray Lichtenstein, and some just by the good design sense of ordinary contractors who adhered to a very high aesthetic. It is all eye-candy, every where you look in this city.
The one big tourist attraction that everyone seems to want to see is Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, and a quick explanation of the larged unfinish church in the world is this ~ "the construction begand in 1882, is today one of the emblems of Barcelona, known around the world and visited by millions of people. The part built by Gaudí was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The Construction Board hopes to finish the works in 2026, marking the centenary of Gaudí’s death."
You can read more about it from the wiki entry at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia
The church dominates the city and can be seen from practically everywhere. To be frank, I was not that impressed, primarily because of the hordes of people trying to get into the church on tours. I really think you can see the best of it by walking around it, and save yourself the wait, the cost, and the crush.
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| hordes of visitors! |
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And just to prove I suffered through the crowds,
here I am. Not going again. |
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Lots to see if you simply walk around the block,
and it's free. Highly recommended.
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May 6, walking around Barcelona this afternoon … good food options are EVERYWHERE (like San Francisco in that regard), and I stumble on this gem: El Nacional~ interesting indoor architecture too!
May 6 ~ Barcelona window shopping on Passeig de Gracia- not only are the familiar chains like Zara, Chanel, Mango, H&M, Louis Vuitton, etc. everywhere in this fashionable street, but the window displays are interesting too. If I were a size 0, I would be tempted to try on some of these fabulous creations…
Probably my favorite museum was the Museu d 'Història de la Ciutat (City History Museum) in the Gothic district which tells the history of the city of Barcelona since Roman times.
When my beloved sister Kimbro Keck and her husband Michael Gray arrived from London, things got a lot more fun!
We went out to eat at a great restaurant just around the corner from my hotel,
Petit Comite at Passatge de la Concepcio 13.
We went to the old fort at the top of the gondola line ~ The summit of Montjuïc Mountain, which is some 173 metres above sea level, is home to a construction called Montjuïc Castle. It is an ideal defensive site as it offers 360º views of the territory. The first fortress was built during the Reapers' War, in 1640, and has survived to the present day.
We hired a private guide to take use around the Picasso museum. That was a smart thing to do.
Here's a great description of the museum, followed by some of my photos:
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A museum spread over five palaces—we’d expect nothing less for Picasso, who moved to Barcelona as a 14-year-old boy and made frequent trips back throughout his life. Downstairs, a courtyard and Gothic archways lead into white studios that illuminate his works. Upstairs, the rooms are lavish: epic painted ceilings that almost drip crystal chandeliers. Visitors flock here to see Picasso's work, but the special setting is why they come back again and again. If you’re expecting Picasso’s big-hitters, you might be disappointed—for a few minutes. Guernica resides in the Reina Sofía in Madrid, The Weeping Woman at London’s Tate Modern. What Barcelona’s museum has, is everything around those postcard images. In chronological order, it shows every brushstroke (all 4,251 works’ worth) of how he moved from a classically trained painter (see Ciencia y Caridad in Room 3) to a Cubist pioneer, plus some things we never knew he did, like ceramics." (Conde Nast Traveler, https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-museums-in-barcelona).
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| lots of schoolkids go to Barcelona museums! |
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And then of course, a visit to the
gift shop and some souvenirs... |
May 7 - visit to Montserrat. "Montserrat is a spectacularly beautiful Benedictine monk mountain retreat about one-hour northwest of Barcelona by train. Montserrat Monastery is of significant religious importance and the natural beauty surrounding the monastery is breathtaking. Montserrat derives from Latin and Catalan, meaning "Serrated Mountain." This name describes the mountain's jagged, saw-toothed appearance, which is characterised by its unique needle-shaped peaks and rocky formations. These formations have been shaped over millions of years by natural erosion processes, creating a dramatic and distinctive landscape." (description courtesy https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/tour/montserrat-spain.html)
From the base of the mountain, you take a railway/funicular up to the Monastery.
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this is the route of the train...
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this is the historic train; on display but not in use
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these days, the green train takes you...
and when you get there, it's crowded...
but beautiful. |
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| the famous Black Madonna |
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| Many visitors pay respects. |
Kimbro, Michael and I visited the famous Mercat de la Boqueria, a sensational experience for the variety of foodstuffs, colors, aromas!
May 10 ~ and then.... home.....Ah, London foggy London! Always nice to look down and see the River Thames coiling its way through the city and then wide parklands and castles and stately homes. 3 hour layover at Heathrow airport and then a mere 11.5 hours later, land in San Francisco.
