Barcelona

We had a “Gaudi” day on which we visited an apartment (Casa Batllo), a cathedral (Sagrada Familia) and a park (Park Guell) which were all designed by Antoni Gaudi. I’m not into architecture or anything but this guy was seriously talented – he took inspiration from nature and his modernism was way before his time.

The apartment was amazing: lots of natural light, gorgeous wooden detail and no straight corners anywhere, with lots of reference to the ocean. The cathedral was spectacular, decorated with so much detail. Gaudi started building the church in 1883 (he died in 1926) and still today it’s not yet completed – 2030 is the target!

The park was really awesome as well… apart from us getting lost for a good hour and wandering what the big deal was about in the seemingly dry barren park! We finally came across the main event (with hundreds of other tourists). There’s a large concrete area surrounded by stone seating all with lovely ceramic detail. There’s also water features, statues etc all covered in ceramics. The pictures say it all. Absolutely breathtaking!

At night we wandered down Las Ramblas where we saw some fantastic artists and street performers. There is also a lovely marina area which is very pretty with lights at night.

We got a ticket for a sort of hop-on-hop-off bus which just did a mini tour of the area near where we were staying, including the 1992 Olympic site (surprisingly a bit of a buzz to see!), a castle, gardens, fountains etc.

On our last afternoon, when we were knackered from sightseeing, we headed to the beach. It was the busiest beach we’d come across so far, constant hassle from people offering massage, cold drinks, even clothing and fresh coconut – which I did try some of, negotiating him down to a quarter of the initial price of €2 for a piece, what a rip-off. We hadn’t planned to go to the beach which is no problem for Niki in his boardies… luckily I was already wearing my bikini top and Niki thought it hilarious to snap a pic of me swimming in my pink knickers!

That night we went to a restaurant by the beach where I tried gazpacho - cold tomato soup… it was strange, tasty I guess, but too weird for me. Niki ordered paella which is a dish Spain is also very famous for. It’s a rice dish cooked in a special flat pan that they bring out to the table, usually with seafood. They often leave the “shells” on the shrimps so it can get a bit messy and you often take a mouthful of rice and get a crunchy orange antenna in your mouth! Mmm tasty!