Appetizer Barcelona - Start of an amazing tour in Spain

Tobias Heller
12. März 2017
8 Min. Lesezeit

Barcelona, here we go - after the little excursion along the french coast, finally I made it to Spain - guess I have spent way too much time in Italy - willingly though. I arrive late in the evening rejoining with my italian friend Gianfranco, both being hosted by a friend of him, Isabella. As my Camera broke on a terrible adventure in Marseille, we unfortunately start the following day with looking for a new camera, cause I can't live without it, and running around depressed and a face that apparently suggests that I am not really happy even though I am in Barcelona might not be the best option. Quite a drawback for me, as it consumes a lot of money - but guess it is worth it. After finally deciding to buy one, I feel much better. We are now ready to explore Barcelona.

Sightseeing

Passeig de Gracia - Mixture of Buildings

Spain, what is awaiting us? Now that I am fully equipped again, I feel eager to explore this city. A good schedule is key to success as we will be here for 4 days and Barcelona offers quite a lot to see. We start that morning to explore the splendid boulevard Passeig de Gracia, which offers a mix of architectural styles. On the way we find amongst others Casa Milà designed by Gaudi, one of the most famous buildings around here in a catalan style of art nouveau, as well as Casa Batlló, which you'd easily recognize with the customarily queue in front of it. The street is busy, plenty of standard european shops offer possibilities for shopping and strolling around.

Food & Markets

Mercado de la Boqueria - Trap of Delicacies

Once you are on La Rambla, a promenade that stretches over one kilometer, don't miss to go to the adjacent Mercado de la Boqueria. Here be advised that it wouldn't be wise to go in there with an empty stomach. As you enter your eyes won't be able to fix on a single thing, as there is an overflow of delicious food, drinks and specialties: candies ranging from jellies to chocolate, fruit cut nicely in convenient little boxes to go, sandwiches, tortillas, empanadas,.... the list could go on and on. We stroll through the crowded hallways of the market, lost in all those mouthwatering things, and as soon as we get out of those halls we find ourselves loaded with cut fruits and freshly made irresistible smoothies, which we devour sitting down at the busy Placa de Catalunya.

Sightseeing & Churches

La Sagrada Famila & Arc de Triompf

Of course there is one of the most famous land marks of Barcelona, the Sagrada Famila. Arriving there finding the enormous church flanked by several cranes don't bother to be puzzled, thinking you hit a bad timing to visit the church as there are repair works going on. This church hasn't been finished yet, and it so happens that construction works are still going on for the next years. The cranes sitting on top of it somehow are a weird widely accepted part of the Cathedral as it is the standard condition you'll find the church in at the moment.

We walk further on to pass the Arc de Triompf, interestingly this has been erected for the occasion of the world exhibition. As you pass through the huge portal, a long broad street will pop up, with palms flanking both sides and various artists and street performer are collectively gathered here. A man performs athletic spinnings in a metal ring with a wide circumference, musicians play their tunes and soap bubbles are to be seen from afar, floating up in the air until they dissolve into the blue sky.

Parks

Parc de la Ciutadella

We decide to visit the Parc de la Ciutadella, definitely something that should be on a Barcelona list. It is a lively, green park situated in the northeast edge and contains a large fountain with an open square in the front, where people are buzzing around busily like bees. A mani is dipping a rope into a bucket with soapy water, an sends huge bubbles that break the light flying around. The fountain itself is impressive, with dragons placed in a circle around the pond, their chests gently overgrown with deep green moss, shooting out a jet of water from deep down their gaping fanged mouths, whilst another fountain shoots up high in the air sending a spray of water around. Broad stairs lead upwards onto the platform, on whose front a waterfall tumbles down. On top of all golden horses pull a wagon with a triumphant woman inside.

Day 1, 12.04.2017

Barcelonas Beach - The water is yet to cold

Late that afternoon we start our stroll along the Harbour and Beach of Barcelona. The warm sand underneath invites us to take off our shoes, and even though a chilly wind is blowing we wrap ourselves in our jackets and lay down for a while taking a rest, meanwhile watching a kitesurfer trying his best to stay stable on his board. From time to time a young asian woman would pass, offering "masajes". We turn down the continuing offers with a polite and court "no gracias".

Day 1, 12.04.2017

Barcelona - a short insight into history

It is a fresh start into a new day, and on the list is a free walking tour around Barcelonas historic center. The tour guide, a middle aged woman with british origins welcomes us to the sightseeing and will lead us around for the following 2 - 3 hours. Sometimes grumpily taking part on these tours as Gianfranco loves to do those, whilst I instead feel limited as I have to follow the crowd and can't explore on my own, I have to admit that our tour guide is one of the most enthusiastic story tellers I have ever encountered. Plus the historic fact about Barcelona and Catalunya itself are not as boring as other cities historic tales, so I listen mesmerized, deeply focused for the whole length of the tour. At that point I can recommend to do a free walking tour in Barcelona, it is really worth the time.

Sightseeing

Plaça España - Palau Nacional

For the rest of the afternoon we plan to walk all the way to Plaça España, which is a bit off center off Barcelona, but there is another interesting hot spot, that shouldn't be missed while staying in Barcelona. As soon as you are at Plaça España you will find two high towers protruding up into the sky and in the south you might already spot a fantastic building with impressive active fountains in front, which is the Palau Nacional. Following the street we arrive at the bottom of the building complex, making our way upstairs, passing the fountain and the Plaça de les Cascades until we reach the top from where we find a nice view over to Plaça España, and we arrived right in time for the sunset. We sit here, enjoying a snack and the simple fact to be in Barcelona, a deeply interesting and captivating city with so much yet to explore.

Sightseeing - Stroll

Bunkers - Park Guell & Castell Montjuic

We get up early in the morning in order to do a tour which would lead us across the north-west of Barcelona, starting with a long walk up to the Bunkers. At a certain point we seem to look lost as we check our GPS on the phone in order to find the right way to go once the street splits up in two possible walkways, because an older man asks in spanish what we were looking for. He directs us the way accompanying us to the place where steep stairs start to climb up, with an escalator going the same way sloping upwards. We choose to skip the escalator, climbing up the stairs on our own. Finding ourselves in front of a park, we proceed on the path steadily climbing, at a junction again we are puzzled which way to take best, therefore we ask a young man accompanied by his dog, who - like before - walks us a bit along the right way. Later on we find that the bridge we want to cross over is currently under repair, luckily the elder man has meanwhile overtaken us, showing us another pathway up - he made our day. Once on top, I do not feel like being in Barcelona anymore. A small street with unsophisticated plain houses to both sides leads to the bunkers, an old dog with sagging lips sits in front of one of the entrances where long a curtain made of long fibers of tissue replaces the door, swaying back and forth slightly. Then finally we are up at the Bunkers.

The Bunkers themselves are not really the most amazing thing to be seen, basically it is an assortment of leftover stone formations of former bunkers, which served the air defense during the second world war, but the walk up the steep hill is definitely worth it, solely because of the great view that is offered here into every direction. You can see right down onto Barcelona from a bit further off the center as well as to what lays behind in the northwestern area. Not many people are gathered here around this time, and the ones that also decided to walk up all the way are mainly locals, that apparently like to meet up to enjoy a chat and certainly spend the sunset here, which I reckon is amazing.

From this point of view a way imbedded amidst yellow blooming flowers is leading down once more, as we want to make our way from here to Parc Guell, which takes us a while until we wind our way around the streets, but signs confirm that we are heading in the right direction. And also the massive bunch of tourists that is lingering around once we get closer to the entrance - oh yes I am not the biggest fan of tourists, though in terms I am one of them indeed. My dislike only goes to the fact that they come mostly as a crowd, those strange creatures, some of them deeply in love with themselves while taking so many selfies you'd think their father owns a mini sd card company. There is also the stereotype that thinks that as long as he is on vacation in another country, they can behave like little shitheads, with no respect for the culture imposing their own habits upon others. Oh I could go on about that, but I leave it for now - more too come later for sure!

From Park Guell we walk down to the next available metro line in order to cross a considerable distance over to Castell Montiuc. When we get out of our metro line at the bottom of the castles hill, we find a special line going upwards. Uncertain if is supposed to be a special line or if the common metro line ticket is valid for this journey , we decide for the latter and step in, saving us a lot of time. At the upper station we get out and find to our right large outstretches of a garden, with blooming flowers, children's playground, slides, water ponds and furthermore. The walk up the rest of the distance to the castle is highly enjoyable with the warm air on the skin and the blooming flowers all around. When we arrive at the massive castle with it's plain outer wall, we solely half circle it instead of going inside, finding some men practicing archery on a large lawn below and we linger here to watch them shoot their arrows from quite a long distance away, most of the time finding their goal precisely.