You know, I think these Europeans have the right idea....life is all about enjoying the little moments. I caught these cute older people taking a stroll through the park, arm in arm, just enjoying the moment and each other. How cute is that!
The Barcelona Cathedral draws a lot of people, natives and tourist alike, to the courtyard, where one can peruse the vendor booths set up in the courtyard, or meander through the shops in the narrow alleys branching off the courtyard, or sit in a cafe and drink hot chocolate or soda while listening to the street musicians playing for tips.
If you sit in one of the outside cafes across from the cathedral you start to get a sense of surreality (is that a word?). There's little bit of
everything here - the old world flavor of buildings just dripping with history; contemporary music squeezing itself between the traditions of Spain and the Catholic church; shop keepers trying to sell old Spain to the new tourists who are busily rushing from one place to another, afraid they might miss something. But it's in these small quiet moments that I think I found the real Spain.
Like this lone musician here, playing his Spanish guitar in an alley way between the Iglesia de la Santa Maria and the cathedral.
Or in the mystical beauty of the church on Mt. Tibidabo, on a rain-soaked morning. We went exploring in the fog-shrouded stone and found even more mystery here.
There is something so calming about a quiet church, enveloped by mist, that just calls to your soul and begs you to believe, if only for a moment.
And those of us who do believe, find ourselves even more enthralled by the sheer beauty and magnitude of the moment....
And then we find ourselves stuck, in the tight confines of the winding staircase that we thought we could fit in quite easily, and realize that these staircases weren't designed for the physically challenged (DOH!)
At that moment you realize that it's time to move on to something of a grander scale perhaps.....like La Sagrada Familia. This particular cathedral has been under construction since 1886 and is still not completed yet. The sheer magnitude of the building itself is overwhelming, but when you really get a closer look at the details on the outside facades and the inside of the cathedral it literally takes your breath away. It's absolutely incredible!
It's here, looking at the grand scale of this place, that you really gain an appreciation for the genius and artistry that comes out of the imagination of some people. The architect who designed this cathedral loved nature, you can see its influence in the pillars that look like tree trunks and the ceiling that looks like giant flowers. It really is quite beautiful. Pictures really don't do it justice. We watched the artisans who were working on the building and it seemed like it was such an exact science, every measurement had to be precise and fit just so. I can understand why it is taking so long to complete the work!
If you aren't afraid of heights or claustrophobic, you can go inside the Christopher Columbus monument and go all the way up to the top and get a great view of the city and the Mediterranean Sea.
It's a pretty spectacular view from up top. We shared the view with a British family who inspired us to speak most properly with a British accent the rest of the day. It was jolly good fun!
This river of trees marks the path of the most famous street in Barcelona, known as La Ramblas. This is the main shopping district for the tourists and the hottest spot for night life (if a person is so inclined). During the day it's filled with flower vendors and those selling touristy trinkets. At night the street statues come out -
like this Edward Scissorhands look-alike. People dress up and stand still as statues for so long you think they aren't real and then they make a sudden move that has you so startled you don't know whether to laugh or cry.
This is one of my most favorite pictures because it has such a typical European feel to it - an old man in a beret sitting next to an old wall. It just speaks to me!
There is so much to do in Barcelona that sometimes you just don't know what to do with yourself. We were going to spend a day in France, since it's just an hour or so over the border, but looking at all the fascinating stuff in the city just kept us so busy we didn't have time for France. What a great excuse to go back again!
The National Art Museum is a piece of art itself....it's such a beautiful building. And talk about huge! I think the early Spaniards here must have loved stairs...I swear there are at least ten thousand stairs in this place - and most of them are outside before you even get to the building!
Seriously, I counted every stair and by the time I got to one hundred I had to sit down and rest. I just wasn't going up any more...Lucky for me they had escalators!
There are so many ways to travel in Barcelona -by train, bus, taxi, mo-ped, trolley (called the funicular), and cable car. What a great way to go!
We took this little cable car up to the Castell de Monjuic up on the side of the mountain.....and wow! what incredible views from here....
This castle is more like a fortress designed to defend and protect from the top with plenty of room to torture unlucky prisoners in the dungeons below.....seriously.
We elected to stay on the top of the castle instead of being dragged down to the dungeons where we'd never be heard from again. The view is much better up here. Besides they have these great little towers that are just the right height for me!
I wish that I had room to post all my pictures on here, because these few snapshots of Barcelona really don't do it justice. It's an incredibly beautiful city with lots of history just seeping through the old architecture and so many more things to see and experience.
And so by the end of this trip we felt compelled to sit back, put our feet up, look out over the Mediterranean Sea and say...."I could live here..."
