Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria (Top Left), large public market in Barcelona which is also one of city’s foremost landmark with an entrance from Las Ramblas. There were cured meat shops (Top Right), fruit stores, bakeries, pasta stores, seafood stores, poultry stores, meat stores, vegetable stores as well as a couple eateries in the market. It’s open 8am – 8.30pm everyday, Monday thru Saturday. I guess I got the wrong information as I thought it was open at 7am….that explains why the market was just opening at 7.15am.
Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família or more commonly called Sagrada Familia (Top) is a privately funded Roman-Catholic Church that has been under construction since 1882 and is expected only to be completed in 2026. This was another spectacular work by Antoni Gaudi (1852–1926). Entrance fee is Euro 11 to see the church up close. As impressive the structure is, I’m not sure if it was worth to pay to go in as there weren’t much to see in the inside. Many tour buses just stop on the outside and let the tourists take the pictures from the gates. We got the combo ticket (Euro 13, save Euro 3.50 if you get it separately) which gives us entrance to the church and Casa Museu Gaudi (Gaudi Musuem)in Park Guell. It wasn’t worth the savings (or in our case extra Euro 2) to go into the Gaudi Musuem.
Some random yet cool architecture/house? (Top Left) we saw on our walk up to Park Guell. Without a great map, we took the longer and more “zig zag” to the side entrance of the park…..Of course we only found out we went to the park thru the tough way after we saw a different bigger, grander entrance upon arrival! Park Guell (Free Entrance) is also designed by Antoni Gaudi. Yes, you’ll see his name is everywhere in Barcelona! The park is about 20-30 minutes from the nearest Metro stop.
Casa Museu Gaudi (Top Right) is where Gaudi once lived is now a museum with various theme rooms and furniture from obtained from the places Gaudi designed. Entrance to the museum is Euro 5.50 if you buy the ticket separately. If you buy it with the Sagrada Familia entrance pass, you save Euro 3.50. Nothing too interesting in this small museum. I would definitely advice not to pay to go in there. Save those Euros for some desserts/pastries later!
Park Guell (Top) is filled with whimsical interesting sculptures/architectures. All cleverly designed by Gaudi. Each part of the park is intriguing, each more than the previous. We probably spent at least an hour in the park discovering each different design.
Casa Mila or better known as La Pedrera (Top Left) is another building by Antoni Gaudi completed in 1912. Entrance is about Euro 10 to see the amzing designs in the apartment as well as the different odd structures on the roof top of Casa Mila. We had a little too much of Gaudi that morning, we decided to take a pass and just observe the building from the outside!
Assorted pastries (Top Right); these were some of the delicious pastries we saw in the many pastry shops. Who could resist these yummy treats? =)
La Seu (Barcelona Cathedral) (Top Left); before the church was built, there was a Roman temple then a mosque. Construction of the church began in 1298 and completed in 1448. The site where I researched this attraction said that entrance was free. When we got there, a fee of Euro 5 was imposed to enter the cathedral. We decided yet again to skip! Yes, we were cheap frugal!
Palau de la Música Catalana (Top Center) is a concert hall designed in the Catalan modernista style. We stumbled upon this building during our walks around Barcelona.
Random fountains (Top Right) are easily found around Barcelona. Some of these fountains have unique elaborate designs, some just plain. We stumbled upon this drinking fountain which during our walks around Barcelona. I forgot if this drinking fountain was working or not…. we stumbled a few non-working ones.
Arc de Triomf (Top Left) was built for the 1888 Universal Exposition/Exhibition which took place at the Parc de la Ciutadella. It served as the exhibition’s entrance.
View of the Arc from Parc de la Ciutadella (Top Right). This park is Barcelona’s most central park with a zoo, lake, musuems and water fountains in the park.
wow... really nice photos...
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