We arrived in sunny Barcelona on Palm Sunday. After meeting our apartment hosts and enjoying some drinks on the rooftop, we headed down to the beach.
Barceloneta Beach is the beginning of a three mile man-made stretch of sand along the city and the sea. It was packed, our first indication of how busy this city was going to be.
Our first dinner was in a Basque pintxo bar, the kids liked it, parents not so much.
The apartment we rented through Air B&B was on the rooftop, 107 steps, and left a lot to be desired. In many uneven levels, painted red with psychedelic posters, it served its purpose but will consider the price of location next time. It was in an amazing place, right in the Born, walking distance to the Gothic Quarter and the beach.
On our first full day we walked to the Christopher Columbus Statue at the base of Las Ramblas. Then we proceeded to walk up the grand boulevard to La Boqueria Market. The market is crowded and bright. We bought cut fresh fruit and fresh juice and explored the stalls of meat, candy and spices.
We walked back to the apartment through the Gothic Quarter, stopping in the Barcelona Cathedral.
We picked up a little souvenir for Lauren on our walk. She immediately put it on and started dancing.
Every afternoon ended at the beach. Perfect weather for 6 straight days. A perfect vacation.
On Tuesday I took the kids to the Barcelona Zoo. It was full of animals, which is surprising when you're used to visiting the The National Zoo in Washington. The kids don't particularly love zoos in general but this one had an exotic bird exhibit with Blue Macaws (like Blue in Rio) and a dolphin show to rival Sea World, which was the main attraction for us.
Back to the beach!
Jesse arrived on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning we all headed to Park Guell to check out Gaudi's work. It was huge and different with great views of the city. Best of all we were all together again.
In the afternoon my parents toured the Sagrada Familia while we took the kids to rest, but beforehand, we all enjoyed the view from the playground across the street.
Thursday we climbed the tower to ride the cable car or Aeri del Port. What a thrill! We could see all sides of the port, beaches and views to the hills of the city. From the other side we walked around Montjuic and back to the apartment by subway.
That afternoon Jesse & I had our turn to tour the Sagrada Familia. It was such a different visit from the typical European cathedral and really spectacular to witness a cathedral focused on the story of Jesus, versus a monument to the saints and Catholicism. We went up the Passion Tower and walked down again with great views of the city.
Meanwhile my parents took the kids to the Catalunya History Museum, which they loved and met us down at the beach afterwards.
That night we went out in El Born and at midnight, the brightly lit streets are full of revelers, including children. I love Barcelona!
Dad left early on Good Friday for the States and we walked over to Port Olympic which basically includes a lot of upscale restaurants, two large office towers and an enormous marina. We spent the last day on the beach watching the kids play in the sand.
Friday night we tried to see the Magic Fountains at the base of Montjuic but were duped along with about 3000 other people when they didn't begin at 7, or even by 8pm. So we tried Tapa Tapa for dinner and grabbed a cab back to the apartment on our last night in town.
