Finally, Barcelona!
This little city has always been on our list of places we'd like to visit and this past November, we decided to do just that. We've only heard good things about Barcelona and we were really excited to spend a week in the heart of Catalonia Country. We were told that November was a good month to go if we wanted to skip the heat and the lines, but it actually turned out to be one of their warmest Novembers in a long time and without the crowds. So it was pretty perfect for us. We also only traveled with a large backpack for the four of us (which was a first) and while it does make packing difficult, trying to decide what's important and what's not for a toddler and an infant, it was so worth it. It made traveling much, much easier since we had two pairs of hands available instead of the usual one parent with the kids while the other handles the luggage.
Going on a little tangent here… when we were looking at hotels for our stay, Scott was having a hard time finding anything that was convenient and in our price range. Whenever we look for hotels, we typically do the"star rating" bit and usually check the 3+ box. You have to be careful when looking for hotels in Europe because some may not live up to the "American standard" so you could end up staying at some hotel sharing a bathroom with ten other people and sleeping in a closet. Which is fine if you're not carting around a tiny circus. Anyway, this time, we weren't getting any good options so Scott, deciding to risk it, didn't check any boxes and suddenly, a crazy amount of "hotels" showed up. I say "hotels" because most of the hotels listed were actually airbnb type places without the option for ratings. So we ended up "renting" a flat for a week (a week in a Barcelona flat cost us the same amount as one night in a London hotel… kind of crazy), which we've never done before and now we're hooked. It was probably one of the nicest places we've ever stayed in and right around the corner from Sagrada Familia, one of the cities most popular destinations. We were also right by a main metro line as well as a cafe, a bunch of Tapas bars, a MEXICAN RESTAURANT(!) and, because this is my level of homesickness… STARBUCKS (during the holiday season, people!).
Anyway, it's taken me a while to get all my photos together because I took so, so many but here we go! First on our list of tourist activities was the Sagrada Familia. It was breathtaking. A Gaudi masterpiece. All the little details that went into the planning and the fact that it's still being built, makes it a must see. We were told that usually it's crazy in the high season, but because we were there in the fall, there wasn't that many people. Also, did I mention that Barcelona is a city for families. I mean we skipped lines left and right. People got up from their seats to let us sit on the train… we even walked into restaurants and we weren't given the "look." So while there wasn't much of a line at the church, we were escorted to the VIP (i.e., the ramp) entrance so we wouldn't have to stand and wait that long.
So back to the Sagrada Familia. If you're interested in more info, I posted a link up top with the wiki page so I won't bore everyone with the history. As a fan of all things art, this was a concrete masterpiece and one that has taken a very long time to build. A church made out of this kind of material is not a normal thing, and from far away it looks like it's just a building that has a bunch of indentations on it, but up close… yup. Gaudi had me at pink and gold. We also went in the early morning (I would definitely recommend going based on the angle of the sun), which made the light amazing inside. It was just a rainbow of colors everywhere.
Anyway, enough chit chat. Here's the first of the Barcelona photos. This is one of those places that I think photos do not do it any justice, but I tried my best. So Enjoy!
△The pops of color! △
△So much detail!△
△The one thing I noticed right away when we walked in was this place of worship was that there was so much light and so much space. We've been to PLENTY of churches and this has to be the least depressing one that I've ever been to. And it didn't smell weird. So there's that.△
△PINK! △
△Like I said, we were literally around the corner and so for the week we were there, we would let Max unwind before bed at the playground across from Sagrada Familia.△
△This was taken with my iPod camera, so a little fuzzy but so worth sharing. Superhero Max Hunter to the rescue!△
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