We went to Barcelona last Saturday (July 8th) for four days. Back on Wednesday the 12th. Sounds really quick I know but we didn't want to spend a whole lot on a trip to Spain right now as we are going home in October. And Richard really wants to build/buy a house in Arizona as soon as possible. And me? Well, I would be perfectly happy to rent for the rest of my life so he wins the day as it doesn't matter to me.
Statue of St. Ignatius Loyola. Loyola was a familiar name to me--Loyola College, now part of Concordia University in Montreal. Loyola High School in Montreal where my brother-in-law went. Richard doesn't have the same Catholic background as I do so he admires the architecture but doesn't really "get" all the statuary and symbolism.
Anyway, back to Barcelona. We dropped Mitzi off at Precious Paws at 9:30 a.m. and headed to Dublin with a short stop for a late breakfast. Arrived at about 1:30, dropped the car off at long-term parking and joined the throngs around Ryanair. Discovered that while I THOUGHT I had brought the carryon-sized bag, I had actually brought the larger one. Richard had mentioned the size to me in the morning but I hadn't paid attention. In the long run, it was a good thing I did bring the larger one as we bought a few things in Barcelona but at the time I was annoyed with myself for having to shell out another 70 Euros.
The flight was late taking off so we didn't land until 9:30 p.m. We took the Eurobus--great value at 11.00 Euros for the two of us--and arrived at Placa Catalunya at 10:15. Another 20 minutes to walk to our hotel and we were very glad to arrive at Vasanta Boutique Hotel. The receptionist was pleasant and the room was fine, if small. We had a small wrought iron balcony that overlooked the street but it had a large tree in front of it which gave shade and privacy. Barcelona was warm even at 10:45, shades of things to come.
I had pre-booked tickets for the Picasso Museum on Sunday morning and golly was it worth it! We arrived at 9:40 to very few people inside so it was easy to see the amazing paintings. The guy was certainly prolific. He went through so many different phases in his painting, I had no idea. I had always associated him with his one-eyed people, there was so much more! Plus the building that the collection is housed in is magnificent. I didn't end up taking any photos of the paintings themselves--I think they didn't allow photos of the paintings, even iPhone photos--but I enjoyed taking photos of the building.
We wandered around the Museum for two hours and then spent a bit of time in the bookshop. Bought two prints (of course) for our someday-house. We have such a large collection of painting and prints!! And no house right now. Oh well, it usually happens. A house to live in that is.
When we left the Picasso, we had a sandwich and a drink at a cafe nearby and then wandered the streets much as we did in Palma. In fact, Barcelona reminded us a lot of Palma except much bigger of course and a little less "pretty." Barcelona has many gorgeous buildings but there are also a lot of derelict ones and those covered in graffiti. I really am not a fan of graffiti.
We were looking for the Cathedral of Barcelona but on the way we stopped into Santa Maria del Mar, an amazing Gothic church built between 1329 and 1383. There was a Mass going on but people were both sitting and quietly moving around. Beautiful organ music and singing.
The Cathedral was only a few streets away from Santa Maria but when we arrived there, we couldn't go in as Mass was on and no one can go into the Cathedral during Mass. We thought of waiting around but decided that it was hot, we were tired, and we would walk back to our hotel and have a rest. We were meeting up with the kids at around 4:30 so a 2-hour siesta sounded quite nice.
More on the next blog.
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