Barcelona: A gorgeous city that was just as I imagined.. and more. Last stop with my Mom.

Everyone I know who has visited multiple cities in Spain told me that Barcelona was their favorite… and now I know why. The city is amazing and has everything: historic quarters, bustling shopping areas, a beautiful seashore along the Mediterranean, etc. I can go on and on.

There is so much to do in this beautiful Spanish city, so we had come up with a short list of the must-sees for the three of us. After a scenic but long 4-hour train ride from Valencia, we checked into our very nice 2-bedroom, 2 bath place right near the very famous Sagrada Familia church. Then we did a bit of siteseeing, including walking around the church, picking up some groceries, and eating a nice meal at a tapas restaurant. We went to bed early after a long day of traveling.

The next day, Jos had nice coffee and hit a bakery before heading to our scheduled tour of Sagrada Familia church. Jos had booked us on a self-guided tour, with the added bonus of going up into one of the towers. Take a look at the photos and check out the church online…words and a few of our pictures do not do it justice. The church was designed by the famous architect, Antoni Gaudí. He started work on the building in the 1880s, and it is still under construction, and completely funded by private donations. That said, it is great to see huge crowds every day, since ticket sales are one of the main ways to collect enough money to continue building the church.  Originally, the church should have already been finished, but delays because of World Wars, unrest, and sometimes lack of funding, slowed down and/or stopped building along the way. Currently they are expecting to be done sometime this decade.

The church has so many architectural features that I can’t name them all. Inside is built into a summer and winter theme (blue/greens and red/oranges), with more sculptures and carvings inside and out that I lost count. Every sculpture and carving show the life and history of Jesus Christ, in the most amazing detail. The ceilings and inside columns are immense and go up hundreds of feet. An amazing architectural design from a brilliant man from the 1800s. Unfortunately, it had been a windy day with strong gusts in the morning, so at the last minute, they would not allow us to go up into the towers. I think we missed out on seeing another special spot in the church with, I’m sure, some amazing views. It really wasn’t that windy……  After we finished our tour of the church, we jumped on the subway to the La Rambla area, where we walked the Rambla, and looked at the goods for sale. My mom went into a famous outdoor marketplace on her to-see list. My Mom loves to shop, but she likes to be with others, so next time we always went with her. We had lunch at a lovely vegetarian restaurant that Jos had eaten at during her last visit to Barcelona. Not sure my Mom loved the vegi menu. 😊

We then walked around the waterfront and bay, and eventually made our way to the Gothic Quarter. This was one of my favorite places, with historical buildings and churches everywhere. We did some more shopping, looking for scarves and shoes for my Mom. While we were walking around, we found a mojito bar!!!  Now, of course everyone knows I never pass up a good rum drink, and you also know from my earlier blogs in Spain that my Mom has taken a liking to virgin mojitos, so, of course, we had to try out the place. The mojitos were amazing, and they had a popcorn machine, and who doesn’t like popcorn with their mojitos?? 😊😊

We finished our walking tour of the Gothic Quarter by visiting a 1,000-year-old church, which was like many other churches in Spain: cold and dark. I can’t imagine how it would have been 1K years ago, with no heat and lights. I have a real appreciation for the well-maintained churches in Spain.  The Spanish people take great pride in their heritage, churches, old architecture, etc.

After dark, we walked around the ancient alleys and tiny streets of the Gothic Quarter, where it was very easy to get turned around and lost, which we did a few times. The streets were very narrow, sometimes only 5 or 6 feet across. Probably not good for claustrophobic people, and certainly not good for cars! We were in search of our next of the Top 50 bars in the world, Dr. Stravinsky’s. This bar was also highly recommended by our friends Karyn and Kip. Their cocktails were excellent and delicious. They even had an amazing Ron Zacapa drink on the menu…. and Zacapa is one of my favorite rums. Mom talked it up with a couple from the US now living in Portugal, and enjoyed, yes, you guessed it: a virgin mojito drink. It was the end to a wonderful but long day in Barcelona.

The next day, we got up early (coffee and bakery) and jumped on the hop-on/hop-off bus. It's a great way to see such a large, spread out city. The route was 2 very long loops, and we got to see so much, from churches to the Barcelona football stadium to the beaches/waterfront, etc.  A really nice day. At one point, we jumped off to grab a bite at a very nice Japanese restaurant. We also found an amazing bakery, so we had an early dessert. After that, we did a little shopping and finally found a nice scarf for my Mom. Towards the end of our tour, we jumped off the bus to walk along the waterfront on a lovely boardwalk along the sand and sea. It was perfect weather, just cool enough for our jackets, but sunny on our faces. Our last stop was to see a few more of the buildings that Gaudi had designed and/or built. Amazing, unique architecture…. like something out of a fairytale. Just before we jumped on the bus to head back to our Airbnb, Jos spotted a chocolate store: Chocolate Amatller, a brand that has been making delicious treats in Barcelona for over 220 years. We all went in to get our fill of samples and to buy some really delicious chocolates…..Jos loved the dark chocolate with almond…..I liked the milk chocolate with caramel….and my Mom loved it all. 😊😊 After we got back to our place, we went out to take another walk around the lovely neighborhood and found a pretty good tapas restaurant.

My Mom and I talked about taking a trip to Spain together in 2018. When Jos and I had finalized our plans for the European part of our global tour, I called my Mom and told her let’s meet in Spain.  My Mom had always wanted to visit Spain and was very happy to hear that we could make it work to have her join us there. We had a lovely time touring Spain with my Mom, and hope that she and her husband, John can make it back there one day. So much to see and do. The next day, we unfortunately had to say goodbye to my Mom. I accompanied her on the train to the airport, then after saying goodbye, I returned to our apartment and crashed on the couch. My respiratory bug was lingering and I was exhausted after a week of non-stop sightseeing. I slept for two days, while my wonderful partner took care of shopping, buying meals, etc.

We had decided earlier in our trip to stay a few more days after my Mom left, which was fortunate. I was able to finally get over my illness, and we had a day to get out on our own. We had a lovely time walking through the Gothic Quarter, had a fantastic meal and stopped by Dr. Stravinsky’s for one more nightcap. The place was extremely crowded since it was the weekend, and it just wasn’t as good of an experience as we had earlier in the week. I’m glad we got to go there on a slower night where we could sit at the bar and talk with the bartenders. 

The next day we were so excited to be heading to Rome!!!