I visited the place in 2014. I was in Stuttgart for work and wanted to visit the city on one of the weekends to witness some of the meritable works of Gaudi and Picasso and enjoy the many other treats it had to offer.
One random day, upon hearing that certain people acquainted with another acquaintance of mine were planning a trip to Barcelona, I also booked the relevant bus, train and flight tickets several months in advance, not having thought much about how to get there, beforehand.;)
I did not know them much. In fact, I only saw a couple of them, barely few weeks prior to the trip in October and another 2 just before the trip. But eventually, it turned out to be a positively eventful trip on an extended weekend.
TRAVELLING, CLIMATE, PLANNING ETC
Barcelona climate stays reasonably moderate till November or so with sunny patches, so we didn't think too much about the weather.
DAY 1
We traveled from Stuttgart to Frankfurt by train and then from Frankfurt to Hahn by bus. Then, the main part was Hahn to Gerona by plane. If I recall correctly, we traveled by Ryan Air. And once in Gerona, also another 1.5 hour journey to the main city by bus. This whole series of trips itself takes a bit more than 1/2 a day both while going to and returning from Barcelona. So, even though in theory, it was around a 4 day trip, it was effectively like a 2.5 day trip in terms of spending time there.
I think once there, traveling by the underground train or by walk is pretty reasonable to visit most places. Get hold of a map which shows all locations and then based on one's itenary, one could visit the places. Residents and fellow tourists are helpful too. For this trip, I only did the itenary planning beforehand, leaving the other things to my other travel mates. There were so many places to see in Barcelona that we only decided to visit the most feasible, from our point of view and at the same time, achieve our travel objectives, which was basically to have a good time.
The first day, we finally reached the main city in the evening, so the point was to locate the flat where we intended to stay, not far from La Sagrada Familia Church. We didn't tire ourselves too much that day. We took some pics of the church at night and collected some provisions for the days to follow. We encountered a woman who was selling pizza nearby like a hawker. Except that we all agreed that she was trying to sell something more than pizza.:) We hit the sack early that day.
DAY 2
La Sagrada Familia Church: This being nearest to where we were staying, we decided to visit this first. It is an unfinished church by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, who started building it in 1882. And then there is a lot of history regarding why they stopped constructing it in between and then resumed the same. The interior was completed recently and there are generally huge crowds to visit the same. But the exterior is no less splendid. Having plans to visit other sites, we mostly enjoyed this from the outside. Looks like a semi castle, semi church belonging to some fabled land. Nevertheless a beautiful gargantuan monument, which makes for great viewing from all sides and a nice lake in close proximity, which is also great for taking pictures.
Casa Mila, Casa Batllo & Casa Amatller: This was on the way from the church to La Rambla, the most happening street in Barcelona. The 3 of them are located in the vicinity of each other on the street Passeig de Gracia. "Casa Amatller" designed by Josep Puigi Cadafalch, "Casa Batlló" by Antoni Gaudi. A little further up the street Passeig de Gracia on the opposite side is one of Gaudi's most famous buildings in Barcelona named "Casa Mila". There is also a "Casa Lleó-Morera" somewhere nearby. I'm not sure if we saw this one. But they were all great to look at. But I don't think we spent much time in the interiors, although it is believed to be really good. Whatever we did see was great though.
La Rambla:The Spanish poet Federico García Lorca said about La Rambla, "It is the only street in the world which I wish would never end." Appreciate the thought, but it does end. Not too late either. The whole length is quite walkable starting at Plaza Catalunya and ends at the "Monument of Columbus" at the Port Vell harbour of Barcelona.
Plaza Catalunya itself is a nice place to take a break with a nice pond and statue and a huge circle which is a great place for pigeon feeding. The hustle-bustle going on around is also interesting to watch, with people hurrying around to get to their intended destinations.
La Rambla is supposed to be the human heartbeat of Barcelona and the longest tree lined avenue in the world. Deemed to be a collection of small streets. Maybe it is, although one could also make sense of it as a continuous stretch. If you want to see a lot of people around going about their varied activities, this is the place to be.
The type of stalls / buildings / shops on this street are also quite diverse ranging from high profile ones to a regular marketplace where I also saw rabbits being sold among other eatables. Never having seen rabbits in such a state before, I was a bit taken aback. But then, it's also not surprising.
Further down the street, there are several turns which lead to some other sites of note. But we didn't go to all of them. As you near Port Vell, near the beach, there are also several people posing as statues and various figures which makes for funny viewing.
Gothic Quarters:The Barrio Gotico gothic quarter is the medieval city of Barcelona from the middle ages. It grew around the old Roman town of Barcino which is the oldest part of Barcelona. The gothic part of the city has a main marketplace in proximity to the quarters and yet another grand church very close to it. Some other churches and plazas also materialize as you explore further on foot. Best to do so as only then can one fully explore the narrow corners, alleys and Roman walls. This is somewhere in between La Rambla and Port Vell although not directly adjoined to the main road. We also rested awhile here in the shades before proceeding further.
Barceloneta Beach: Upon reaching Port Vell, some further walking gets us to Barceloneta beach. Barcelona has many beaches, this is supposed to be the most frequented one. We decided to visit this first instead of the aquarium at Port Vell, because 3 p.m. was a good time to be at the beach, with loads of people and the sun shining without inhibition.:) Great place to be. The water level goes very quickly from very shallow to very deep, say in about 2-3 m distance when you enter it. Took me by surprise. The water came upto my neck or more in no time.
For a while, I lost sight of my fellow companions who seemed to be frolicking in some other part of the beach. I made conversation with an American woman who seemed to be just standing there, near the water, taking in the events. She was there for some work and visited the beach at times. Got her to take some pics of myself swimming around, near the shore. I later walked around the beach exploring what other people were upto. There was also some British guy, having a lot of fun in the water.
Upon rejoining my companions, we sat around for a while, checking out some works of art in the sand - A castle with a moat around it, a crocodile and a guy urinating, full throttle. All very nicely done. God knows by whom!
The temperature was between 24 - 27 degC with a lot of sun and clear skies. Nice day at the beach even though the water felt quite cold despite the sun.
L’Aquarium: At Port Vell, near Drassanes, far end of LA Rambla. It consists of 35 aquariums and is supposed to be the most important Mediterranean themed aquarium of the world spanning 2 floors. It also features a few excellent underwater tunnels with sharks and all kinds of sea life all around you. Quite nice, because I've never been to such a place (of such magnitude) before. Entry fee is around 20 Euros.
There was a tunnel stretch with Sand Tiger Sharks all around you, among other things, which was quite memorable - Sand Tiger Sharks are believed to be 1 of 15-20 species of sharks out of the known 250-300 to have ever attacked humans. The thing with them is that they look more evil than they actually are. Anyway, it made for some good pictures. At one point, I had 3 huge ones hovering directly over me. Only 2 of us visited this, as the other 2 were kind of taking a break after the beach visit.
Following this, we decided to revisit our flat with the intention of visiting the Magic Fountain after dinner.
Magic Fountain: This was a great place to visit. We took the tram this time to get there quicker. The feeling is quite close to 'magical', basically a series of fountains which start and end at different times, alternating between different patterns or maybe not entirely periodically similar patterns, with varying colours and music.
There were a lot of visitors. This was built in 1929 and is believed to have 2.5 million visitors annually.
On our way to coming here, we also noticed 'Oktoberfest' celebrations going on, nearby. Seems to be a common kind of celebration, throughout Europe.
After a busy day, we headed back to our flat.
DAY 3
Having covered sites on one side of Sagrada Church the day before, we decided to try the other side the next day. But we were all kind of tired from the long day before. But we made a conscious decision that we would visit the beach again, irrespective of how much we would cover.
I think in the morning, all my companions wanted to revisit La Rambla or some other place. Camp Nou was very far. The funicular to Montejuvic Hill was also not working on that day. And my companions did not want to visit Tibidado Hill for several reasons. I on the other hand, wanted to visit Parc Guell. So I did, deciding to meet up with them later to visit Picasso Museum.
Parc Guell: It has lots of varied vegetation and bridge like structures all around the park. Parc Guell is a UNESCO Worid Heritage Site with some of Gaudi's top architectural works! But many of them were in the 'Monumental Zone' which seemed to have a crowded entry. I, on the other hand had agreed to meet up with my friends at a certain time. So I didn't explore this zone much. It is regarded highly nevertheless with Salamander Fountain being the prime attraction of the 'Monumental Zone'.
Entry fee is around 8 Euros. It was built with the original intention of making it a residential garden city of 60 houses. Later on, it was converted into a public park. A lovely one at that. Here, I was mostly with strangers, but had a great time. One could walk up Carmel Hill to get here. But I took bus 24, which directly gets you to this place.
Picasso Museum: I eventually rejoined my original companions at the Picasso Museum, who were already in queue to enter.
Unwilling to get into a long queue again, I entered the museum from one of the other gates. Entry was anyway free on that day (first Sunday of every month), so it was just about getting in. Some nice woman was kind enough to let me in. Rejoining my companions here, we set out to explore the museum.
World famous painter Picasso, was born in Malaga but lived in Barcelona in his early years, between 1895 - 1904. He spent his formative years here as an artist and considered himself to be from here. The Barcelona collection is supposed to be unique.
I perused through whatever was on display, not being particularly knowledgeable about paintings but found all of it to be quite absorbing and very nice and some were on really strange topics.
The museum is located in various magnificent gothic mansions in the medieval part of Barcelona called El Born.
Following that, people wanted to visit Barceloneta beach again… to cool off. So, we did set out for the same. But I wanted to try some local specialty first. So, I asked them to go ahead while I tried Fideua Seafood (Paella Noodles with Mussels, Shrimps, Squids, Antichoke Heart, Sweet Pepper and peas) somewhere in El Born near Picasso Museum. Seemed quite yummy.
I later rejoined the others at the beach, not far from there. This time crowds were less dense, It being a tad cloudy and around 6 p.m. But the beach is always a happening place.
DAY 4
Next morning, we checked out of our flat and traveled back to Stuttgart in the same fashion in reverse order of DAY 1. Some of us bought some souvenirs in nearby stalls near the church before doing so.
I got the feeling that Barcelona appeared more expensive than Stuttgart. But with a plethora of places to visit. Also, I noticed that women were very demonstrative about their affection for other women. Quite publicly. In general, too.
In conclusion, I'd say it was a nice place to visit with so many options for a tourist. But places although walkable were maybe not as close as one would want. That combined with the fact that the nature of the places of visit require a lot of attention to detail, one would be best advised to plan one's itenary beforehand. But a good visit with pleasant memories, regardless!
