Barcelona 2011 - our appartment and Barri Gòtic

Visiting Barcelona was one of these lucky punches you always hope but never, ever can allow for. Both being quite well travelled we simply expected a couple of relaxing days with some interesting things to see and paths we had not walked before. But Barcelona ROCKED! What we discovered there was a wonderful city, lovely people, lots of interesting sights and brilliant museums, first-class public transport and gorgeous weather. A definate must-go and a definate hasta pronto. Finally I found my European Miami, but this one being only two hrs flight away, whoop-whoop!

But first things first. We wanted to rent an appartment, because we love having our own fridge and the opportunity to store our own orange juice - eating out is nice, but not all the time. The appartment should be in the town center, something I definately recommend, because this means you spare the journey into town, get out of the house and are basically in the middle of everything. We finally found something with www.nicestay.net, they were extremely cooperative and assisted us in finding something quiet but still only 2 minutes walk away from the Ramblas. The service was excellent, they were perfectly on time, the appartment looked just like on the photos. Quite a relieve after getting up at 3.00 a.m. in the morning and flying into Barcelona very, very early. (And you know how I like flying, thank you very much.)

 Then we ventured out to explore...

The Barri Gòtic is more or less the historic heart of Barcelona. You find lots of medival buildings and monuments there, small lanes and of course lots of shops, tourists and even many residents who enjoy to chill in one of the many tapas bars and restaurants.

Santa Maria del Pi is one of the lovely old churches in the Barri Gòtic, the name meaning "Holy Mary from the pine trees" - the trees have long gone, but the atmosphere there, especially in the warm sunlight, is extremely peaceful. Service is still held inside, it is a living, breathing church that is always open to visitors and worshippers.

The wonderful window inside Santa Maria del Pi. It really comes alive when the sunlight streams in...

After the Placa Sant Jaume, where you find the Casa de la Ciutat (the townhall) and the Palau de la Generalitat (the parlament) make a left into the Carrer del Bisbe and head right down to the cathedral. You will come past the famous bridge between the two houses (which is well photographed of course) but which acutally has been added to the buildings only in the 20th century.

Whereever you look you feel like saying "Wow" all the time.

The cathedral of Barcelona. As you can see it is work in process, the cranes around do not integrate themselves very well into the facade, but still we enjoyed the view, sitting down on one of the benches, having a coke. The square in front is kind of a meeting place where people come to enjoy the mild evenings, so there is lots to see while people live their everyday lives around you. A clear sign that the towncenter of Barcelona is not simply left to us tourists.

Don´t ask me what this is, but we found that Stefan looked nice in front of it. Obviously it is a new part added to the old facade of the cathedral - I guess they would call it "art."

If you feel like a little bit of shopping in the later evening, then feel free and go ahead! The shops are open until late, and even in the typical tourist shops I have not seen any cheap trash, in fact even small souvenirs were rather stylish and well crafted. Oh, and the sweet shop you see here was gigantic. It smelled like heaven, and when you pointed your shivering finger on something, the shop assistant instantly gave you a small bit to try. And it smelled like chocolate, lemons, fudge.... Yum!!

Barcelona is a very vibrant city throughout the day. But in the night it definately comes to live with a big bang! People are out and about in the mild night-air, meet friends, hang out in one of the zillion tapas bars and stay up until very late. If I knew how they do it to survive with so little sleep, I would do the same. *sigh* Who needs sleep and who wants to live forever??

For us it had been a long day. So we went home to catch some sleep, dreaming of this wonderful city around us...