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Casa Battlo
After a lazy Sunday in Eindhoven, Emma and Jan said goodbye to oma Bep early Monday morning and caught the first flight from Eindhoven Airport to Barcelona. Good fortune had it that a
direct bus connected the airport to their hotel, Hostal Live on a main street near the City center. We had nothing scheduled for our first day, but wisely went for the top attraction (at least in Jan's recollection) first:
Casa Battlo. It is a large house designed
by Gaudi, each level more amazing than the other. We did the full audio tour. The next day we walked around the
old town and otherwise just enjoyed Barcelona.
Park Guell
On Wednesday, we had booked tickets to two other Gaudi highlights:
park Guell and the Sagrada Familia. To allow a sleep-in, we took a cab to the park for a 10am start - the rest of the week we walked everything. The park was designed by Gaudi for his friend and benefactor Guell and has now become so popular that it is reserved for locals during some periods of the day (when tourists are banned!). We walked the full length of the
park, queued to get on the main square with lovely, tiled
benches and left for a short walk with lunch to the Sagrada Familia.
Sagrada Familia
Work on the Sagrada Familia has progressed a lot since Sarah and Jan visited about 20 years ago. Perhaps raising the entry price to 26 euro helps. It has not stopped tourists from swarming the Basilica. Still,
cranes continue to surround the building. We did the audio tour (free) and
towers (an additional 10 euros), including
views from the
roof.
The light inside the church and the architecture in general is stunning, while the outside sculptures and downstairs crypt, which was for a long time the only finished part of the church, are beautiful as well.
Coffee and empanadas
The Thursday we limited ourselves to hanging out. Like all days in Barcelona, dad started the day with a
coffee and croissant (under 2 euros) in a local bar for some reading, while later we did some
shopping. Some evenings we had
empanadas for take-aways, while others we sat down for dinner.
The last day we stored our bags at the hotel and walked to the Picasso museum. Picasso never set foot in Spain during the dictatorship, so did not see most of the works in the exhibition in his later life, but still left them to the state. We rested in a park, walked to the beach, were we could see the Americas cup sailing in progress - we had no idea it was one - and finally made our way to the airport for the flight home.
Updated 4th January 2025
