Barcelona revisited

Sun 23 Apr

Rose early to get ourselves moving for a busy day. Croissants and fruit for breakfast and baguettes for lunch. First to the Fundació Joan Miró to view his collection. Metro and funicular to get there and a lovely park to view while waiting for the gallery to open. There's more in the exhibition than our last visit and Miró's expressionist art is quite exceptional - another of Stephanie's favourites.

Park near the Miró gallery overlooking the city

Studying Miró's work

Sculptural fountain - that's not water, it's mercury!!

Back to the apartment for lunch before a short walk to the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia. Audio guides make this more informative. Lesley was blown away as she hasn't been here before. The light coming in the stained glass window was exceptional today and produced a stunning effect. The museum of the construction, underneath the basilica, is more informative too. Antoni Gaudi's vision was truly inspired. Construction is due to be finished by 2026 - the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death.

Sagrada Familia Basilica above & below

Part of a celebration outside Sagrada Familia

Gaudi overload as we trained and walked up to Parc Güell to walk around this wondrous place also designed by Gaudi - find some images online to see what I mean. Crowds have been pretty thick at all these places so we found it was better to book online beforehand. The sites prefer this as they like to limit the number of visitors at any time.

In the afternoon sunshine in Parc Güell

__________________________________

Mon 24 Apr

Took the Metro to La Rambla to join another "free" walking tour around the Gothic section of the city. We did a similar tour on our last visit three and a half years ago but this one, although covering the same district, was very different. The guide was Irish, with a touch of Irish humour, and was very knowledgeable of the area, the history and the people. The two and a half hours seemed to go very quickly and we came away with a lot more knowledge of Barcelona.

After lunch on the edge of the harbour we walked along the waterfront and back up through La Rambla to view the Gaudi designed buildings: Casa Batlló and Casa Milà. Didn't go into them, though, as the entry prices are pretty steep.