Barcelona

We were incredibly lucky to get a cheap flight from Sao Paulo to Barcelona with Singapore Airlines. The plane was pure luxury, and it was a nice way to transition from South America to Europe for the next leg of our trip (free drinks!). Ben had never been to Barcelona before, while Patricia had been twice already and loved it, so we were both excited to arrive in Spain after a long overnight flight from Brasil.

We rented a lovely apartment at the "Welcome In" with shared kitchen and bathroom a few blocks off of the famous Las Ramblas, and it was a great place to catch up on some sleep and access the sights of Barcelona. It was also very close to La Boqueria, the colourful food market, so we took full advantage with shopping nearly everyday for amazing items including freshly baked bread, local eggs, fresh seafood, and seasonal fruits.

We sidled up to a restaurant stand inside the market one morning for breakfast and watched the organized chaos behind the counter produce one amazing dish after another.

On our to do list for Barcelona was: eat great paella, drink good red wine, see everything Gaudi, and stroll the gothic quarter. Ben was also really motivated to see an FC Barcelona football game as they are currently the best team in the world and boast players with incredible creativity and talent. In all things we were successful and had an amazing time!

The football game actually happened to be on our very first night in Barcelona and so we dragged ourselves to the stadium after our long overnight flight hoping that the play on the field and the atmosphere in the enormous stadium would keep us both awake and entertained. We got more than we could have hoped for when a local season ticket holder offered to take us to sit in his family's seats and to watch the game with him. When asked how long he had been coming to games here he replied with a grin: "I was born in these seats!". I guess that's the only way to be in such a great location that close to the field and mostly covered by the grandstand roof. Barcelona put on a show with Lionel Messi, the best player in the world, scoring a hat trick to break the team’s all-time scoring record! By the end of the game Patricia had picked up some of the songs and was singing and clapping along with the rest of the crowd. An incredible night and a memory not to be forgotten.

A trip to Barcelona is not complete without seeing Gaudi’s huge influence on the city and on architecture worldwide. We took a day to walk by a few of his very unique buildings in the city, noting the skull shaped balconies and bonelike columns at one location and the very curvy organic façades.

We also spent hours marvelling at the unfathomable vision on display at the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. Work has been ongoing on this project since the late 1800’s and current projections claim another 20 to 30 years is required for completion! Gaudi used nature as his inspiration and when you stand inside the Sagrada you feel as though you’re standing in an enormous forest, with canopies of leaves overhead and light streaming in through breaks in the trees. He must have been unbelievably persuasive in order to convince people to pay for these crazy schemes!

If this wasn’t enough, Gaudi seems to have created the original Disneyland experience at the fantastical Park Guell. The mosaics everywhere on display were amazing.

Patricia even got to kiss the lucky Gaudi lizard, so hopefully the rest of our trip will go off super smooth!

The gothic quarter in Barcelona is a fantastic maze of small alleys, dead ends, plazas, patios and surprises. It’s great to just get lost in the twists and turns and see where you end up. We bumped into some great street musicians using the surrounding structures to beautiful acoustic effect, had beer and food in the sunshine and just enjoyed meandering around as life passed by on all sides.

On the main strolling street, Las Ramblas, Patricia got mauled by one of the living statues, an experience that resulted in a few shrieks and left us giggling for a long time afterwards.

While navigating the narrow streets we also got a chance to meet up with friends of the family from Brasil. Juba owns a shoe store in Barcelona with a really unique twist. The shoes are manufactured in the north of Brasil supporting local rural production and the soles of the shoes are made from reclaimed car tires avoiding a lot of waste in the landfill. Patricia bought a funky pair of sandals and we totally recommend you see the full selection online as they will ship to your destination. The brand is called Caboclo.

If all of this is not enough, Barcelona even has a reasonably nice waterfront to explore. After all of the food and wine we felt that maybe a little exercise was needed...

We’ll miss you Barcelona, but as Patricia said, somehow it feels like we’ll be back.