Barcelona - Part 3

 Saturday we took the funicular up Mont Juic. Not a lot of pictures that day but you do get a fabulous view of Barcelona spread out below you from the fort.

 Sunday was a busy day, starting with the Picasso Museum. Really amazing with huge numbers of paintings and drawings from early in his life. He was a very skilled painter by the time he was 14! Who knew?

We then tried to go to the Chocolate Museum, but arrived there 5 minutes before closing. Bummer! But the narrow streets of the old town are very cool.

We finished up the afternoon by touring the Palau de Musica. It is totally amazing, with nonstop ornamentation.

Back to the apartment for a short nap, then dinner - have I mentioned that the food has been fantastic? - and then back to the Palau de Musica for a performance of the Grand Gala Flamenco. An outstanding evening of music and dance. No pictures allowed - sorry!

Monday was Gaudi’s Casa Batllo. We saw the outside of this unbelievable building when we were here in 1978, but this time we got to tour the inside too. Absolutely jaw-droppingly incredible!

We had plunked for the “gold” tour, which let us in to a few rooms furnished with the original pieces.

Up on the roof we got to see his fantastic “dragon” rooftop tile work up close.

A late dinner had us up late enough to see the Sagrada Familia lit up.

Tuesday was Parque Guell day. We had been a little concerned about how to get there - no Metro stops near the park - but it turned out that the V19 bus ran from right outside our door to a few minutes walk from the park. This was the only time we had signed up for a guided tour. There were supposed to be 14 people in our group, but most of them were no-shows and it was just us and one other couple and their toddler. Our guide Mark was very good and made the tour very interesting.

Tomorrow is our last full day, and we don’t really have a plan for it yet…

Barcelona! - Part 2

 On Thursday we got our tour of the Sagrada Familia, including a trip up into one of the towers.

The interior is truly incredible, with Gaudi’s fantastic branching columns. It is very light and airy feeling.

The stained glass makes the stone interior glow with many colors. Going up into the towers is a very different experience than when we were there in 1978. Then we had to climb up all the stairs - now they whisk you up in an elevator. You do have to walk back down the 438 steps, but at least gravity is working in your favor. The openings are all protected by grilles and most of the stairs have railings, so it is much safer now. It was also cool to see workers actively moving the project along.

On Friday we took a train out of town to the Colonia Guelph to see Crypt. This was built by Gaudi and was where he developed many of his techniques. It was intended to be a large church, but work was suspended in 1914 and never resumed. But the crypt is probably my all time favorite work by Gaudi.

No plans yet for tomorrow…