Bye Bye Barcelona

I was a little disappointed when I first saw the city of Barcelona as I had heard so many raves about it and it just seemed huge, crowded with tourists and non spectacular. Now that I have been here three weeks, I am won over and have found many of it’s charms worth while. Gaudi is what I think makes this city special as it would be much less so without his incredibly unique work here.He sets the tone for this enchanting, artistic, European metropolis.

We have actually gotten to know the beaches near Barcelona better than Barcelona itself since we needed more rest than busy city life, but what we have seen we enjoyed. We will be back for most tastes and more good Catalan food. Luckily it is in a spot that we will pass over and over, so we can continue to explore Barcelona, her nearby beaches and the Costa Brava. We were here last fall and we will be back again this fall and see how different it will look then.

This is a nice time of year to be in Barcelona and the weather has been (mostly) sublime. We had a little rain, but most of it was at night, so it has felt like all sunny days. We don’t usually do tours, but they had a small one initiated at our campsite, so we did that and it was a nice way to get an overall feel of the city which is quite spread out.

We do prefer to make up our own tours, but this way we did see things that we would never other wise have seen like the Olympic stadium or Barcelona Soccer/Football team center. We also got to meet some fellow campers and there were some kids for Mozart to play around with and we were allowed lots of freedom. Still I am too slow for tours and need to go at a slower pace for photos, so you will not see on us many.

As I stated earlier, the L’Eixample was my favorite area of Barcelona. I was not that thrilled with the Gothic Quarters, but we did all enjoy the famous market called Boqueria and walking to and around the sea port. Of course, you can not miss the Ramblas and some fascinating statues that come to life for a coin which Mozart liked along with all the bunnies and pets in that outdoor area.

We were glad to watch circles of people doing the regional dance of Catalunya called the Sardana when we visited the top of Parc Quell on a Sunday. The bands in the stands played the traditional music and there was a feeling of festivity in the air there and all around Barcelona. The city gets quite cold and wet in the winter, so I think everyone was in the mood to celebrate spring and the great weather.

I really wanted to see the Picasso Museum, Miro foundation, Aquarium, more Dali houses (we loved the museum in nearby Figureo that we saw last fall) and more of the Costa Brava. Those things and more will just have to wait until this fall or the next time we are in this area.