Barcelona - Day #2

A full day of Modernisme sight-seeing around Barcelona

For my only full day in Barcelona, I bought an all-day public transit pass for 5.80 euros ($8) and definitely got my money's worth.


I was impressed with how clean and efficient the Barcelona subway system was. Trains came about every 3 minutes, and the sign always listed how long it was until the next one. The only negative about Barcelona's subway and public transit is that it doesn't have its tourist act together like, say, London or Paris. Trying to figure out which stop for which site was difficult; I needed a guidebook.

My first stop of the day was Casa Battlo, a Gaudi building. This is the one that looks like it has scull balconies and a dragon-scale roof. It is so beautiful in person! Although it is expensive to tour, I wish I had.
	Of course, there was construction here, so it was difficult to get good photos. You can see the red-and-green metro sign; the metro exit brought me right up to the building!

My next stop was Casa Mila, another Gaudi building. Admission was very expensive: 9.50 euros ($13).	The tour starts on the apartment level. An audioguide was included, but I didn't find it useful.

Next on the tour is the attic, where the curves Gaudi used are visible.	The final stop on the tour is the roof. While not colorful like Park Guell or the facade of Casa Battlo, the roof of Casa Mila has unusual shapes. I was there on a sunny, hot day; I was glad I had put on suntan lotion!

La Sagrada Familia was visible from the roof!	While Casa Mila definitely wasn't worth $13, the roof and its views were enjoyable for a few minutes.

This was the only bit of color on the roof.	I really liked the shape of this chimney.

A man from Oregon took this picture for me, with Casa Mila's roof and La Sagrada Familia in the background. I took his picture, too, then I took the picture of a couple from Lansing :) Americans were all over Barcelona that day!

I took the stairs back down. This is a view of the building's central atrium.	This is a view of the building's fanciful gate and painted ceiling.

I took one last picture of Casa Mila before heading off to Park Guell.

I took Bus 24 to Park Guell.	Here I am at the Park's gates.

The two gatehouses looked like something from Candyland.	Here I am with the famous dragon fountain. It was mobbed by tourists taking photographs, but I somehow managed to get a shot in :)

Above the famous fountains is the Hall of 100 columns.	More impressive to me were the colorful, gorgeous mosaic ceiling medallions.

This outdoor colonade was shaped like a wave.

There's always a reason to take a trip, something that draws you somewhere. I went to Portugal to see Sagres's wind compass, I went to Croatia to see Plitvice National Park, and I came to Barcelona to see this mosaic bench. It is absolutely gorgeous and was worth the trip!

More shots of me and The Bench. I met a mother and daughter from California, and we traded cameras to get pictures with the bench.

OK, only one more gratuitous bench shot :)	From the top of the bench terrace, there was a nice view of Barcelona.

After Park Guell, I went to Burger King for lunch and to visit the tiny bit of Palau Guell that is open to the public during renovation. My next stop was La Sagrada Familia, a church Gaudi started. I was too cheap to go in, so I enjoyed the view from the outside. The longer you look, the more interesting details you notice. This side is called the Passion Facade, and it is not Gaudi's work. It was done by Josep Maria Subirachs, and I prefer it to Gaudi's Nativity Facade (below).

These are two views of Gaudi's Nativity Facade. While interesting, it is more Gothis and messy than the cleaner Passion Facade.

Next, I took the subway to the Parallel meto station (which connects to the funicular). I then took the Montjuic funicular to the top. I expected something like the Peak Tram in Hong Kong, but this funicular was a non-event. If I ever go to Montjuic again, I'll take the gondola, the bus, or the outdoor escalators.

My only must-see sight on Montjuic was the Olympic Stadium from the 1992 Olympics. This was the Olympics where the cauldron was lit by an archer (pretty nifty!).

I walked down Montjuic. The left photo shows the magic fountains of Montjuic, which, of course, were not running the day I was there. The right photo shows the road that runs by the magic fountains and up to the Olympic Stadium. This is where the Tour de France came a little more than two weeks after I was there. (David Millar, on a rainy day breakaway, was caught by the peloton just when he got here, and Thor Hushovd won the stage on top of Montjuic.)

My second-to-last sightseeing of the day was the Barri Gotic self-guided walk in the Rick Steves guidebook. I veered off to see the Palau Musica and found out I should have booked a tour here instead of going into Casa Mila. The facade is colorful, beautiful, intricate mosaic, and I got to see pictures of it at the Olympic Stadium souvenir shop. I'll visit it on my next trip!	I continued on the walk and saw the Roman towers to the right of these bronze letters that spell Barcino, Barcelona's old name.

I went into the Cathedral of Barcelona when it was free. There are geese in the cathedral cloisters!	My last destination before dinner was the Olympic port to see Frank Gehry's fish. (I also went to the Diagonal Mar shopping center, but as it was June 24, St. John the Baptist's Day, everything was closed and deserted except for the movies and food court.)

I took the subway from the Olympic Port, got off at the Barceloneta stop, and walked to the Maremagnum mall, where there was another Fresc Co.	Here was my final dinner in Barcelona: lemon Fanta, glass of water, salad, pizza, other items from the hot bar, and "gazpacho." I also had some of the yummy chocolate ice milk for dessert. After dinner, I walked up the Ramblas (at 10:30 pm, after dark!) back to my hotel.

The next morning, I packed up, checked out, walked 2-3 blocks to the Aerobus stop on Placa de Catalunya, and took the bus (4.25 euros, $6) to the airport. My reservation had been accidently deleted by an agent, so I had several hours of extreme worry that I wouldn't make it home as scheduled, but it all ended up working out. It was a fabulous trip, but two week of travel is enough for me; I was glad to get home. Thank you for looking at my photos!

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