We took the red eye over on Tuesday night, arriving on Wednesday morning and heading straight to Hotel Casa Fuster. A Domenech i Montaner designed building, this is the best hotel I've ever stayed in. The service was exemplary, and the people were incredibly friendly. It's right on the Passeig de Gracia, so it's a convenient location for wandering yet far enough from the crowds to seem quiet. Plus, it's just up the street from several Gaudi buildings.
Our first outing in the city was to visit Park Guell. (You pronounce it "Gway" - Catalan is HARD!) The exterior part of the park is open to the public, but if you want to see the Gaudi stuff, you have to pay 8 Euro for a ticket. The line was a bit long - we got there at 1ish and the earliest tickets we could get were for 2pm. So plan ahead. But it's totally worth it.
By this time, I was starving, so we went off in search of food. We found a little shop that served sandwiches (Tortilla Espanola on fresh baguette with an Estrella? Yes, please!!) And then it was nap time.
On Wednesday night, Barcelona was playing (though not at home), so we wandered off in search of a local bar to watch the game. We wanted to find a place where we'd be surrounded by crazy local fans. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find the equivalent of a sports bar in Barcelona. We wandered down La Rambla, thinking that was our best option. We finally found Hogan's--thank heavens for Guinness signs--in time to watch the last half. (Note to self--even if you hate Suarez, don't cheer against him when in Barcelona. Oops!) There weren't really any fun/loud fans at Hogan's, so we went off to find a new place to watch the Real Madrid game. We'd heard good things about a place called 7 Sins, but no go. She wasn't showing the game. And had no recommendations for us. So we ended up stumbling onto a place called Grizzly 72. Apparently, they have naked karaoke on Saturday nights, if you're into things like that. By the time the game was over, we were done for, so we headed home.
Thursday morning, I had made (I thought) a reservation for us to take a guided tour of Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's masterpiece, a basilica that has been under construction since 1882. It was at the top of my to-do list for the trip and the only place I wanted an official tour guide for. We headed down Passeig de Gracia, stopping for a cornetto and cafe con leche on the way. The tour, sponsored by Barcelona Turisme, meets at Placa Catalunya at 10am. Apparently I was so enthusiastic about the tour, I had us there a day early. Fortunately, they had room on the bus and allowed us to jump on. The group was small - about 10 people total, and our tour guide, Dani, was phenomenal. The tour bus goes past Casa Batllo and La Pedrera along the way, so we got a little insight into those two buildings as well. (More on La Pedrera later...)
The building to the left of Casa Batllo below is Casa Amatller, the most famous building by another Moderniste master, Josep Puig i Cadafalch. This block is known as the Manzana de la Discordia or Apple of Discord and is home to building by all three of the Moderniste masters. (Domenech i Montaner's Casa Lleo Morera isn't in the photo.)
La Pedrera, aka Casa Mila
So finally, Sagrada Familia. The building's construction began in 1882 and is supposed to be completed by 2026. Then the cleaning and restoration will commence, and the basilica will be able to be seen in its full glory in 2060 or 2070. I don't imagine I'll see that. But it was fun to take the tour with Dani, who hadn't given a tour in over a month and couldn't stop exclaiming about all the changes that had occurred. The towers were visibly taller.
The "sunrise" side of the basilica, which has scenes from the early life of Christ.
Even though the building was designed by Gaudi, he left room for other architects to put their own stamp on things. After all, it has been under construction for over 130 years. For example, this door which was created by a Japanese architect:
Closer detail from one of the doors. He keeps with Gaudi's theme of life and nature on the sunrise side but creates something his own.
The interior--pillars that are reminiscent of trees, arches that are bird-like--highlight Gaudi's dedication to nature as the ultimate architect.
Much of the stained glass was just added within the last few months. It's mostly blues and greens on the sunrise side, and yellows, oranges and reds on the sunset side.
The "sunset" side of the basilica shows scenes from the passion and death of Christ. The sculptures are angular, stark, modern, and there's almost nothing from nature at all, unless it's representational, like the snake below.
We spent several hours exploring the basilica, the museum beneath it, and the schoolhouse that Gaudi designed for the workmen's children. That last is just a reproduction as the original was burned by anarchists.
Once the tour was over, we decided to wander back toward our hotel. Thank heaven Ed has a good sense of direction. I had no idea which way to go, though I did recognize some buildings eventually, which confirmed that we were actually headed in the right direction.
Lunch, at the suggestion of a Pfizer colleague of Ed's, was at Paco Meralgo. We had our first glass of cava and several plates of tapas to get us through the rest of the afternoon. After lunch, we figured we'd head toward the Palau de Musica Catalana, but we were too late for the last English tour of the day. So we used my 24 Great Walks of Barcelona book to do a little exploring in the Barri de Sant Pere. (Walk #6) Which, of course, required a stop at Picasso, Gaudi and company's favorite cafe, Els 4 Gats for a little sustenance.
The building was designed by Puig i Cadafalch and the facade is really something. I thought I had a photo, but I guess not...
One of my favorite things to do in any city is wander the streets and see what we find. We happened upon the Cathedral at one point that afternoon. It's Europe's darkest cathedral, according to the guidebooks. (Not the best description to get you to drop 7 Euro just to enter.)
But sometimes wandering gets you exactly where you'd wanted to be without your knowing it. Ed, again on the advice of his friend, wanted to visit "the espadrille store". Not that he knew what espadrilles were. So as we were wandering down one of the many old streets, I happened to see a window filled with them. "Here, honey. These are espadrilles." Which happened to be in the window of the very store he'd been searching for. So in we went to buy espadrilles. :) They've been making them on the spot since 1973, and I watched one of the women as she stitched a tiny pair of children's shoes.
After all that wandering (and the jet lag), we needed a nap. So we headed back to Casa Fuster. The concierge had been able to get us a reservation at Bar Mut (another Pfizer attorney recommendation) for dinner that night at 8:15. This was far and away my favorite meal of the trip. Because I'm not one of those people who takes pictures of food, I could never remember to do it this time. So you'll just have to imagine the scallops in parmesan sauce, followed by an endive salad with burrata, pine nuts, and tomatoes, then an egg yolk carpaccio with shrimp topped with crispy curlicue strings of potatoes, and finally a filet of pork with roasted vegetables that was almost more than we could handle. But of course we also had to have dessert. Torreja, which I'd never had before but has jumped to the top of my list of things to order whenever I can find it. We sat at the bar, which was great entertainment. We had spectators...Say hello to the stone fish...
...and entertainment in the form of some razor clams which spent the dinner freaking me out by oozing in and out of their shells as we ate. At first, I thought I was losing my mind, seeing things moving out of the corner of my eye. But no--the seafood is just that fresh!
After dinner, we headed across the street to Stingers, where they serve a bar mix with gummy bears.
Then off to bed.
Tune in later for days 3 and 4...
