We arrived in Barcelona on a Sunday after travelling from Perth and spending the night in Frankfurt. It was our first European holiday since Covid shut the world down. We’d been internationally since the Perth borders opened in March, taking a quick trip to Singapore, but there was something about this month-long trip to Europe that involved higher levels of anxiety. Regardless, we managed to overcome whatever fears we had — Covid, Monkeypox, pickpockets — to get on a plane and fly to the other side of the planet to celebrate Simon’s 40th birthday and to see family and friends.
Jet lag is still a nightmare, no matter which way you slice it. We landed at a decent time in Frankfurt (and had flown business class so we travelled in comfort), but the broken sleep and the body clock shifts made us a little weary. It hit at about 4pm and we foolishly gave into it; getting up to go to dinner was not pleasant. But we had a full day to explore Barcelona before that.
We landed around midday, caught a taxi to our hotel in the Gothic Quarter, near to the cathedral (not La Sagrada, the Other One), and checked in. Simon and Julian came to find us soon after, and we went off for lunch and a wander around this Spanish city.
My desire to see Barcelona has waxed and waned over the years. Seeing La Sagrada Familia and experiencing this party town put it high on my list but over the years stories of rampant pickpocketing and the (not unjustified) anger over hoards of tourists had pushed it lower, leaving me not really knowing what I wanted.
Fortunately, Julian had sorted out the tickets for La Sagrada so we walked through a typically warm Spanish summer afternoon to the bustling cathedral which I’d argue is Barcelona’s busiest attraction. Despite the number of people, the size and scale of the cathedral makes it seem less crowded than smaller venues.
Gaudi’s architecture is…well…very Gaudi. I really liked the nature-inspired compositions and details, and the little “hidden” elements that catch the eye and celebrate (in Gaudi’s opinion) the divinely created world. I loved the way the building muffled the sound of hundreds of people to create a muted, reflective experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed the spilling of light through one section that created a rainbow and enhanced the feeling of light and space.
Unfortunately, after about 20 minutes, I was pretty much cooked. Glen and I had foregone audioguides, and instead I chose to sit on a pew and soak in the ambiance (while trying not to feel too much rage of the cost and extravagance of religion in general).
We went up one of the towers — the Nativity Tower — and I became anxious when the guide said the tower going down had no railings around the centre. We took this to mean that that there was a big drop down the middle that you could simply step down into, but I was extremely relieved to discover that that wasn’t the case and going down was completely safe.
With our visit to La Sagrada finished, we headed off to Guell Park, taking a taxi through the narrow streets and being dragged by another car who turned out to be a very crap parallel parker. Our driver had a good laugh about this; I couldn’t wait to get out.
Guell Park was a housing estate that Gaudi was asked to decorate. It covers a lot of ground on the side of the hill so there was plenty of walking to be done. There are aqueducts and bridges, courtyards and “castles”, three crosses and ponds. Being so spread out, we weren’t too overwhelmed with the large number of tourists that had paid to explore the park, except when we got to the mosaic terrace with its views over Barcelona and over the lower buildings in the complex. They’re all pretty and Instagrammable, but I would have liked to have taken a picnic blanket and lain down on one of the few grassed areas, listening to the buskers.
From Guell Park we walked back to our hotel, which took a while, but gave us the chance to see the city (and have an ice cream). Once we got back to our room, Glen and I collapsed into bed, falling asleep for not nearly long enough to feel rested, but definitely long enough to feel ill, then went out for dinner at a tapas bar, doing the European thing of eating late (whereas Glen and I are Old Men™ and eat around 6pm usually).
The next few days were mostly spent out of Barcelona (Girona, Montserrat) but we still had some time in the city to do a couple of extra things. Mostly involving food.
Dinner one night was at the harbour which required us to walk through the massive street parties that were taking place. We found out the next day that the parties were the modern celebration of the fishermen leaving the village for a few months and returning, all compressed into three days of partying. There was a lot of music and a lot of dancing going on. If I’d been awake enough, I’d have stayed and listened, but as it was, I was very happy to head home to bed after dinner.
(The things that I’ve loved the most are the random discoveries and moments, of people sitting in front of the cathedral while buskers play music in the square, of stumbling along perfectly lit gothic buildings that reveal a different side when the sun goes down.)
One morning we went for breakfast, which took us down La Rambla. My entire perception of what “La Rambla” was had been wrong. I thought it was an esplanade along the waterfront. Turns out it’s just a wider median strip that runs down the length of a street where there are stalls and restaurants. I don’t understand what the big deal is.
After our trip to Montserrat we visited the national museum at the top of the hill and tried to go to the restaurant (it was full) then wandered through the park to the Joan Miro Foundation. It displayed a lot more of the artists’ paintings that I was expecting –– I much prefer his sculptures. Also we finally found out how to pronounce his first name.
I really loved one of the treatments they employed in displaying the art; instead of just showing the front of some paintings, they also showed you the backs so you could walk around it entirely and see the inscriptions on the backs of the canvas.
Our last day in Barcelona saw us visit the Gaudi House (it has another name but I can’t look it up right now, Casa Batlo? Balta? Something like that). A rich industrialist family bought a house in the early 1900s and thought it wasn’t chic enough so they hired Gaudi to make it beautiful. Again, Gaudi’s nature-inspired design shone through in all aspects, including a lot of “under the sea” elements and even a dragon backbone-inspired roof treatment.
The interpretative guide was pretty good, employing augmented reality in addition to the standard audio guides (though the effusive narrative about the architect’s/artist’s genius I found a bit cringey). My absolutel favourite part of the experience was at the end where you go into a cube-like room and an artist’s interpretation of Gaudi’s work, employing scanned images of his work and influences, is moulded into a spectacle visual display with sound that takes place all around you, including above and below. It was so good we saw it twice. Easily the highlight for me.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?