Barcelona

I have just got back from a short visit to Barcelona with my two daughters. It was such a good trip I decided to do this page as more of a diary/blog of our trip!

Carrer del Bisbe, Barri Gotic,  Barcelona

My two daughters are aged 14 and 11 and as its school holidays and I have great memories of Barcelona from a visit with my husband about 7 years ago I decided it would be a great city to go to with the girls. Husband is too busy writing a different site to come and the girls constant reference to shopping in Barcelona seems to have put him off. Girls and I are very excited though when I showed them our appartement on the internet they were worried by the advice given by the owner to be very careful of potential pick-pocketers - apparently the city is rife with them!

First night at Barcelona

Our Eurolines coach arrived at about 4 in the afternoon. As it was slightly early I decided to ignore the advice of our appartment owner  not to take the metro as there are too many delays but to take a taxi. Bought a book of 10 tickets, an absolute bargain at around 7 euros and we proceeded to try and fight ourselves and luggage through the turnstiles. This proved a compllicated exercise for three females but fortunately a kind spanish man took sympathy on us and helped us all through. Unfortunately I think we  wasted one of our tickets in the first failed attempt to get through. Not to worry, with 3 people and 10 tickets one was always going to be a spare. Better not go wrong again though.

Arrived with no problems at our appartement situated conveniently near Placa Reial.

Placa Reial

Carrying the bags was difficult though. Must buy one of those suitcase trolley things everyone else seems to be pulling. Appartement was very nice but decided to head out straight away and explore. Walked onto Las Ramblas which was heaving. Girls were very impressed by the living statues.

Las Ramblas

Headed down towards the seafront where there is a great wooden pier, which is also a bridge which can open up to let one of the many yachts through. Apparantly Barcelona is one of the busiest tourist ports in Europe. The pier leads to a shopping mall, Maremagnum, an  Imax cinema and an Aquarium. Inside the shopping mall is a H&M and so the holiday is already a success for the girls and I am already a few euros poorer.

Around the Barri Gotic or old town

First day and due to the clocks going back we were up and out by 9am. Amazing. I have a very good book of Spain, The Dorling Kingsley Travel Guide of Spain which has loads of pictures. (Also travelled with the Rough Guide to Spain for more detail). It also has suggested walks for each of the main areas of Barcelona. As our appartement is in the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gotic) we decided to start here.

We started at the Placa de Sant Jaume which has the impressive Catalonian Parliament building, the Palau de la Generlitat. Started wandering in for a look but a policeman started looking agitated, apparently it doesn't open until 10am. Ah well.

Palau de la Generalitat

Onwards up the lovely Carrer del Bisbe which has a lovely kind of arched bridge across the narrow street, and as you walk up lots of gargolyles are looking down on you from above.

Carrer del Bisbe

Arrived at the side entrance to the Cathedral, La Seu. This led to a beatiful cloister, very lush with plants that I have as indoor plants in my house, and, rather bizarrly a family of geese. Apparently no-one knows who brought the first geese but they have been living in the cloister for five centuries.

Cloister of the Cathedral of Barcelona, La Seu

To the side of the cathedral is a beautiful little square, the Placa del Rei. This was once the courtyard of the Palau Reial Major, home of the counts of Barcelona. It is also here that you can visit the Museu d'Historia de la Ciutat and visit the underground remains fo the old Roman city of Barcino.

Palau Reial Major

We decided to have a picnic lunch in the Parc de la Ciutadella. Spoiled for choice of delicious treats in the shops but eventually managed to choose. Walked the long way round to the gardens so that we could look at the Palau de la Musica Catalana. Unfortunately the girls didn't want to go to a concert here but I think that is a must for my next visit. The building is lovely with beautiful mosaic columns but the most amazing thing is its massive stained glass, domed roof. Designed by Lluis Domenechi i Montaner it was completed in 1908.

Palau de la Musica Catalana

The Parc de la Ciutadella is a great place for a picnic. Parrots flying around in the trees, lots of long palm-tree lined avenues, fountain designed by Josep Fontseré and Antoni Gaudi and partly inspired by the Trevi Fountain in Rome, quirky buildings and it was warm and sunny even though it was end of October, AND to cap it all some kind of concert was going on in the square opposite and so we were blasted with Beachboys music and the sight of lots of people all in orange t-shirts dancing away. All very summery and just what we needed. For those of you with children there is also a zoo in the parc, apparently specialising in primates and with a rare albino gorilla called Snowflake ( Floquet de Neu). At the entrance to the park is the fort-like building, the Castell dels Tres. This was built as a cafe/restaurant for the 1888 Universal Exhibition and now houses the Zoological Museum. It is quite interesting to see in Barcelona that a lot of the lovely buildings were built either for the 1888 Universal Exhibition or the 1929 International Fair.

Castell dels Tres at the entrance to the Parc de la Ciutadella

Then it was back to the appartement for a quick siesta, back down the pier for another mooch around the shopping mall and then back to the appartement to get ready to go out for dinner. I decided we would go to Les Quinze Nits which I had descovered with hubby 7 years before. It still seems to be going strong.  You still have to queue for half an hour, it is still very good value, the food is still good but I don't think it is as good as I remember it being 7 years before. For eating with kids though it is absolutely fantastic. For a more gourmet experience try somewhere else.

Around Eixample

see next page: Eixample

see: Montjuic

 

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