Sightseeing Barcelona – Oct 3, 2009

 

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.

Sightseeing Barcelona – Oct 2, 2009

Cassa Batllo (Top Left), we saw this amazing architecture (one of many by Antoni Gaudi) just of the Passeig de Gracia train/Metra stop. According to Wikipedia, Passeig de Gracia one of the major avenues in Barcelona and also one of its most important shopping and business areas.

One of many interesting facade/buildings (Top Right) we saw on Las Ramblas (La Rambla).

View of Columbus Monument (Top) from Las Ramblas. This monument serves as a reminder that Barcelona is where Christopher Columbus reported to Queen Isabella and Ferdinand after Columbus' first voyage to the Americas.

Port Vell (Top), waterfront harbor in Barcelona which was about 15 minutes walk from our apartment and less than 5 minutes from Las Ramblas. There’re shops, restaurants, Imax and the Barcelona Aquarium in the same area! Food was pretty affordable on the other side of Port Vell.

 

We caught a Flamenco show in Barcelona @ Tarantos for Euro 7 per person. The show lasted about 40 minutes and was quite interesting. We learnt something new; Flamencos is not just a dance…it is also of a musical form which we experienced the first half of the performance. The dancer came out at the later part. Drinks were pricey at Euro 4 per bottle of beer, that’s expected and there’s where they get you! =) It was a pleasant experience nevertheless!!

Bikes for rent (Top Left). We don’t know how much this cost, but you see tons of these bike rental stations. Pay for the bike at the self-service booth and my guess the booth will tell you which bike to take. Ride to your destination then park /return the bike at the designated parking. I think they probably charge by the minute or something!

Plaça de Catalunya (Top Right) at night. This was at the north end of the Las Ramblas and is a large square in the city. You’ll be surrounded by fountains around this square.

Around & About Barcelona

It’s probably about time I got my lazy ass together and share stories and pictures from my trip. I’m still in post vacation syndrome and missing all the great times and yummy food we had in Europe.

Barcelona, Spain is a very nice tourist friendly place to visit; delicious food (Tapas & Paellas) and friendly people. Although, I read countless stories about pickpockets and muggers, we’re lucky we did not encounter such incidents. It definitely helps when we’re always very conscious (and semi paranoid??) about our surroundings and we were traveling in a group of 4. And yes, we do try to avoid dark scary alleys!

Having live in the US and exposed to the Spanish language, we find it easier to communicate in Barcelona. It also helps when people in most places (usually very touristy) understands/speaks English. And they are very friendly and nice! =) It was a tough transition when we flew to Italy as we had Spanish stuck in our heads!

We spent 3 nights in Barcelona and stayed in a wonderful apartment (MH Apartment Liceo) less than 5 minutes from Las Ramblas where the party goes on until late night. The nearest metro (Liceo) is also about 5-10 minutes from the apartment. There were tons of restaurants and shops @ Las Ramblas. Eating on Las Ramblas itself is pricey, so go into the equally busy side streets were you could find better bang for your buck!

Subways in Barcelona are clean, convenient, fast and punctual; they come about every 5 minutes or so! You can get one day (Euro 5.80), 2-days (Euro 10.70), 3 days (Euro 15.20), etc which gives you unlimited rides on the bus and metro within Zone 1 which you would most likely be in as a tourist. Single tickets are at about Euro 1.35 per ride. If you get the T-10 ticket (10 rides), it’s only Euro 7.70, which was what we used since we could use it on multiple people. We only used about 4 T-10 tickets (Euro 30.80 total) the 4 days 3 nights we were there. We did tons of walking in between!

We took the train to and from the airport into the city, before changing onto a metro to get to our apartment. The train ride cost us about Euro 2.80 per person per way and it perhaps took us about 1 hour to get into Barcelona city, that includes waiting time for the train which comes about every 30 minutes or so. We switched from train to Metro @ the Passeig de Gracia station. It did take us to figure out that we needed to take the train into Barcelona before getting onto a Metro. The info lady who was helping us does not speak English, and we do not speak Spanish.

Beer is definitely cheaper in Barcelona. We learnt that when we ordered coke @ a restaurant thinking that we’ll save a buck or two. It turned out that our miserable can of coke was Euro 2.30, beer of the same size was Euro 2.80! Also, in certain places they charge you for bread even though they brought it to you without asking you. Some places charge you bread per portion, some per person! And in some places they charge you a service fee of about Euro 1. Having experienced how much extra charges we ended up paying for sit down dinner, we often opt for fix price meal offer or the ones with no service charge. And we started asking the price of everything before we order. Oh yeah, a cuppa cafe in Spain (and Italy) is about Euro 1 and they are actually espresso…… don’t expect your regular size coffee! =)

We found it weird when we got out of the apartment at about 7 am the first day and it was still dark outside. Not only that, there weren’t really a place to get a cup of coffee unlike in the US where coffee places open at 5am!!. There’re people loitering around Las Ramblas who we suspect are party goers from the night before! The market which supposedly open @ 7am was just getting into business. McDonald’s, Starbucks and Dunkin Coffee (you read it right, it’s Dunkin Coffee, not Dunkin Donuts) weren’t open for business at 7 am. It was Saturday morning and it felt like midnight! It wasn’t until about 8am when Barcelona “wakes up” and businesses open! We managed to get our coffee from one of the few shops open at about 7.30am that morning………it was the most expensive cup of coffee ever! What we thought was a Euro 1 cuppa coffee ended up to be Euro 3.50 when the shop owner “prowled” over some unsuspicious tourists. We ordered coffee (cafe), and before we knew it the owner asked if we wanted milk and showed us a mug which we agreed not knowing that was going to cost us more Euros!

On the other hand, we saved a couple Euros per person per day by bringing our own water bottles! We filled them up at the many drinking fountains available in Barcelona (and in Spain)! =) Thanks Rick Steve for the great idea!!!

Pictures coming up next!!

My Euro Trip

This was my second trip to Europe. The first being about 4 years ago during X’mas time, hubby and I flew to London. This trip is the longest trip I’ve had in another country other than Malaysia. The four of us (Hubby, Rob, Seyda and I) started talking about a trip to Europe some time last year. Before we know it, we set a budget of USD 3000 per couple which we then increase to USD 3500 (thank god) months before the trip.

Seyda and I played major parts of planning the whole trip from where to go and when to go. We filled in the husbands of our grand vacation plan later! =) We shopped for flights relentlessly and did many searches on hotels and places to go. It was only when our round flight from Boston to Barcelona – Rome to Boston with Swiss Air (thru Expedia.com) was on sale for about USD 500. This was about USD 200 cheaper than the current price offered by other airlines. We booked it immediately and that was when I knew the Euro Trip is ACTUALLY coming true!!

Everything happened so quickly after that…..and before we know it our backpacks were packed and we’re on our way to the airport. About 12 hours later on board Swiss Air (so comfy, I’ll fly with them again!!) we finally landed in Barcelona where we spent 3 nights there. From Barcelona, Spain we took a budget airline to Venice, Italy where we spent one night there. We then bought regional train tickets and took a train from Venice to Florence where we spent 2 nights there. Finally, saving the best for last…..we took the train from Florence to Rome where we spent 3 wonderful nights.

Many gelatos and USD 3800 later (Yes we went a bit over!), we were left with wonderful memories and great pictures. I had lots of fun and I hope my traveling partners enjoyed this trip as well!

Coming back to the US after the nice Spanish and Italian sunshine was tough…….We were greeted by the chilly New England autumn weather. I shall share pictures from my trip later. I took about 2500 pictures and have finally finished uploading them to my Facebook (Check those pictures out if you’re my Facebook friend!). This time, I took the time to write down descriptions for each of the pictures I took so that my parents especially (and friends) know what they are.

Oh Yeah, during the trip we started talking about possibly doing a Mediterranean trip to Southern Italy, Greece and Turkey next year. Lets see how far this discussion will progress! =) I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

I’m Back

……from my Euro Trip to Spain & Italy. It was a wonderful 10 days with beautiful things to see, wonderful warm weather and yummy food. I’m having a Paella, Tapas, Sangria, Pasta and Pizza Withdrawal right now…. I miss the food there!

Haven’t really gotten the mood to start blogging…..but I’ll be posting something soon…after I get all my pictures sorted out…2500 pictures to be exact! Yes I was very camera happy! Stay tuned!