Trip to Spain 2007

The facades and doorways are striking as you wander down these timeless boulevards….

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Even though it’s closed and being restored, I shot a pic through the door of Casa Amatller

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Which lead to just a random shot into an apartment lobby

It’s so amazing that these old building have been preserved and cared for and are actually still being used. I can only imagine what they must look like beyond the amazing facades and entry-ways….

Took a walk to see the Antoni GaudÃi buildings.

Casa Batllo

Casa Mila (La Pedrera)

Sagrada Familia

We hope to tour some on the inside later. Maybe even get some night shots.

We knew it was going to cost us a bit to eat here so we decided to take matters into our own hands. There’s a huge El Corte Inglés across the street from the hotel and they have a grocery store in the basement.

After we got up from our siesta, we walked over there and laid in a supply of bottled water and non-perishable food stuffs for about 20 euro which will feed us for a few days. That is a huge weight off our shoulders. Rather than pay 15 euro each for breakfast in the hotel we have a package of muffins and some granola bars we can take to the nearby Starbucks and have a continental breakfast for just a few euros.

We’ll still eat out, but we have some sustaining snacks to get us through in a pinch.

After we dropped the supplies back in the hotel we went out again to see The Mercat de la Boqueria, or simply La Boqueria which is an open air market featuring fruits, vegetables, meats and fish all displayed quite nicely.

We plan on doing a bit of shopping at the bocaria during our visit. I’ll leave you with a few pictures of what will be dancing through my head after I hit the hay here in a bit…

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After checking into our hotel we went exploring a bit. The hotel is located right at the top of the legenday La Rambla.

Birds and flowers for sale every few feet and more street performers than you can shake a stick at. We’ve been constantly warned to protect our valuables as pick-pockets abound on this crowded avenue.

We walked to the end to see the Columbus Monument

The details in this thing are impressive

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From there we walked down to the waterfront at Port Vell and enjoyed just sitting in the sun and watching the cable cars go overhead

From there we wandered back to the hotel and decided to take a nap for an hour. That was much needed and put us in the right frame of mind. I was reeling a bit from the change. Barcelona is a large city, like New York or Rome. Coming from the quaint small town charm of Seville and Granada it was a bit daunting.

It’s also very expensive here, just like the aforementioned large cities.