Barcelona

As you may have noticed from our calendar on the left, it has been a hectic few weeks to say the least. So, let’s start at the beginning.

At the end of June, our friends Brian and Candace came out from the states. They spent a few days in London, but we also convinced them to travel with us to Barcelona, a city I have long wanted to visit.

We spent our first day in Barcelona walking up and down La Rambla, the city’s main shopping/people watching boulevard. We loved its restaurants filled with paella as well as all of the food markets.

Paella- yummy!

Food market on La Rambla

Next, we headed out to Gaudi’s famous church: La Sagrada Familia. From the outside, the Sagrada Familia reminded me of those sandcastles we used to make as kids by holding wet sand in our hands and letting it drop to the ground little clump by little clump until you have a lumpy looking mound. While the outside, to me, wasn’t very pretty, it was very interesting. The inside of la Sagrada Familia, however, was SPECTACULAR!!! It was like nothing I have ever seen before. Gaudi is said to have been inspired by a forest and wanted the cathedral to invoke the feeling of lying on the forest floor and looking up at the trees. I think he was successful. The stained-glass windows blew me away more than anything else. They were so modern looking and produced such amazing light. The cathedral has been under construction for 100 years and is not scheduled to be completed until 2040, but I would go back just to see what it looks like at the end!!!

La Sagrada Familia

Inside

The next day, we hopped on the train and headed 45 minutes south of Barcelona to the beach town of Sitges. Lined with old Spanish churches and courtyards, this town had a very wonderful old-world feel to it. However, once you delve into the town centre, you are instantly aware of why it is called one of Spain’s biggest party retreats. Bars line most streets and colourful drinks are aplenty!

Brian and Candace in Sitges

On our last day in Barcelona, we headed north of the city to Park Guell, which was also designed by Gaudi. It was originally planned as a city retreat for the wealthy, but was never really completed. It was wonderful to walk through the park and see all of Gaudi’s nature-inspired designs intertwined with the Spanish landscape.

Me and Bobby, Park Guell

Bobby squishing La Sagrada Familia from the top of Park Guell

If I were every to go back to Barcelona, I would definitely plan on staying in Sitges and making day trips into the City instead of the other way around. While Barcelona was fantastic, there wasn’t a lot to do there and it would have been nice to sit on Sitges’ beautiful beaches a while longer!