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Apr 19, 2010 06:00 PM Barcelona, my trip plan of the day
Barcelona (Spain), the capital of Catalonia, is a city full of things to discover, not only reputed for its nightlife, I prefer to say that also reputed for its monuments where famous architects left their mark in each corner of the street like Gaudi, Picasso, Dali…
Visiting the city, it is better to have a good plan for the day, at least it is what I think and believe, you may not share with me this opinion but I noticed that majority of people who, either planning or not, go to the tourism office to ask or to take some info. In my situation, I prefer to plan the most of the things at home before to leave and to do that, I had to look for info on internet.
Once on the city, the plan can be changed if something “particular” happens but in very very rare occasion this thing can happen. One of the plans for a day is to visit in the morning the roman part and the afternoon the Gaudi monuments.
So to start the morning, after eating my breakfast in the hotel, we went to discover the roman necropolis located at “plaza villa de madrid” near to the rambla street. A fascinating old tombs dating from the roman period on which each one has been placed all along the old road to enter to the city.
Thinking about how can be the old way, we imaged it on our mind and followed it until the “plaza nova” where we discovered some remains including entrance, old wall and tower of the roman city called Barcino. Taking what it was the old bridge, we entered in the city and walking around, there are some street musicians playing nice music, some nice shops hidden in small streets, a nice square…
At “calle paradis 10”, we visited the remains of the Augustus temple. There are only 4 columns still standing. Leaving the place and heading to the old roman forum which is now the “plaza sant jaume”, it is a big square where the 2 main Catalan buildings (City Hall and the Catalan Government Palace) stood in front of them.
Time to lunch, since we are near to the market La Boqueria, we decided to go there by taking the ferran street until crossing the rambla street, not very far away something about 7 minutes walking. The market is very nice and a lot of places to eat but very crowdy, since we didn’t have any preference, we tried to find one with less waiting and it is really worth it even if the waiting was a little longer. The food is very good, above all the seafood.
For the afternoon, we went first to visit the Batllo house built by Gaudi, the front has been designed like the sea with reference to the shells, fish scale… and after to the Mila house, just a little up to the street. The building is very impressive, we entered first to the free entrance which was an art exposition and after making the huge line to buy a ticket to visit the building and the roof part. Both buildings are located at “passeig de gracia”.
And to end the day, we went to the Park Guell located at “calle olot”. The park is very beautiful with its particular rooms. There is a room representing the wave of the sea, a big room with columns and nice decoration on the ceiling, the snake square… we got a really nice walk in the park and if you plan to go there, go at the top where you will have a great view on the city.
This was our day plan and if you are looking for more ideas, I recommend you to check this itinerary Theme Barcelona (http://www.world-rt.com/travel/theme-barcelona.php) that we found on internet. All written by a local guy who proposes 12 different routes based on theme like Gaudi, Picasso, Modernism… What we did was to pick up some ideas and built our own itinerary but also we printed some of his theme, moreover there are great local info about this city in his site, very worth to take a look.
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Apr 18, 2010 06:00 PM Barcelona, great holiday
I had really good time at Barcelona, it is an amazing city with such much things to do. Me and friends went to a hostel called Barcelona Sound (nou de la rambla 91 - http://www.barcelonasoundhostel.com/). The particularity is that we rent each other one bed for 16 euros but since we were 4, we were able to rent a room only for us instead to share it with others. For this price, we shared the bathroom and only one secure box to keep our luggage safe.
It doesn’t matter for us since we had few luggages. We started to visit La Rambla, I had the impression that the street is a mix of market and show because from up to down there are flower stand, animal stand, street performers, the human statues, painting area… It is very a show this street during the day. In the middle of the street, La Boqueria, a really big market where we bought some fresh fruit juice for 1 euro (on the right side of the entrance, prices are cheaper) and it was inside that we took our first lunch, there are so many bars to choose but very crowded !!!
The passeig de gracia street is a big avenue with plenty of shops but the most interesting are Batllo and Pedrera, 2 beautiful building of Gaudi. I was disappointed to visit the Sagrada Familia to see few things inside, the outside is so impressive with its 2 different fronts. I will surely come back when it will finish, it should be very very impressive.
Parc Guell is very special, I like the 100 columns room, no one can´t miss it because it is the first things we saw at the main entrance located at olot street. Indeed, there are other entrances to get in. By going on the top of the park, we got a wonderful view on the city. The City Park (passeig pujades ) is a great place to rest and to do a picnic, we bought foods and sometimes we went there to eat, sitting on the grass. The other park I liked, it is the Laberint d’Horta park (germans desvalls), there is a labyrinth that people can get lost, very funny.
Montjuic and Montserrat (http://www.montserratvisita.com/) are other places I liked a lot. Montjuic has a lot of gardensand museums around including the medieval castle and the Olympic game stadium. Luckily without thinking of it, we stumbled during night time to watch the magic fountain, a show of water and light, very nice. Montserrat, I think it is my favorite, a good place to do hiking and it has a beautiful Nature Park.
Districts I liked are the Born and Gracia, it is like a small village with its local people. Moreover, both areas have plenty of places to eat, to drink and to dance. The Olympic area (near the Golden Fish) is also a good place but a little more expensive than the others because of places more fashion.
Cerverseria Catalana (mallorca 236) is really a good tapas places as Ciudad Condal (rambla de catalunya 1). On the rambla del born street, Creps del Born and the Pizza, there are a lot of choices and for cheap prices, around 2 euros for a big portion of pizza and homemade. The city has so many places to eat and to have fun that every ones can find what they want.
Before to go to Barcelona, I was searching on internet some info, except the different links I put above, I put here some other links we used a lot because I know that looking for them can take time. Website of Barcelona information (http://www.world-rt.com/) written by a local guy given many tips and the official website of Barcelona (http://www.bcn.es/), it is great for its many maps that we printed.
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