Weird Statue

What's up with this statue? It was right outside our hotel in Barcelona. I don't quite get the sexy giraffe thing. Different, would'nt you say?

Rambling down Las Ramblas

Las Ramblas is a main street to walk down in Barcelona. The "Old Town" surrounds it and it is where the street performers gather to show their talents. It ends at the port. One night after dinner we decided to ramble down Las Ramblas.
There is a main walking sidewalk down the middle of the street. There is one lane of car traffic on each side and then more sidewalk. Trees line the middle section and a cool breeze blows. You have to be aware of pickpockets here.

The street begins at Placa Catalunya. It is a huge square with beautiful fountains.

Off the main street of Las Ramblas are many little alleyways to shop and are full of restaurants and hotels.
Following are some of the favorite street performers. We could not decide if this was a woman or a man.

Everyone loved the Gargoyles

The famous market, full of fruit, vegetables, and meat.

This was everyones favorite performer. He acted like he was being blown by the wind and was trying to walk against it.

Look at this guy!

There was a lot of beautiful buildings everywhere.

Of course, these guys pulled the biggest crowd and they were sooooo good. I couldn't believe the way they threw themselves down on the stones.

I hope you enjoyed your ramble down Las Ramblas

Casa Batllo - Gaudi Apartment Building

This is the Casa Batllo designed and built by Gaudi. It is so cool at night. We went to the magic fountains and when we popped out of the metro station, we were here! We came back to see the inside a couple of days later.
This building looks like something out of 20,000 leagues under the sea. Could this be were the movie makers got their inspiration? The balconies are so dramatic.

It is hard to see in the photo, but it is very colorful on the facade of the building between the balconies.

This was the living room on the first floor.

Another picture of the living room. Check out that light fixture!

This is the inner courtyard of the building. It went all the way up and was open to the sky. This let light in throughout the building and rooms.
It was tiled in beautiful blue and white. It was lighter at the bottom and got darker towards the top.

Inside passage ways. They reminded me of being in a submarine.

No comment needed!

On the roof were these beautiful mosaic chimneys.

This cross was on the roof near the front of the building. So beautiful.

The front of the building had this spine that went all the way across it.

In the backyard terrace. A lot of mosaic designs.

Need I say more?

Sagrada Familia

The Sagrada Familia, a cathedral that began construction in 1886 under the design and care of Antoni Gaudi, will be completed in 2026. Gaudi loved God and put all his own fortune into the building of this cathedral. It is being built by donations only. No money from the catholic church, or the city, country etc. The cathedral seems to be melting to me. It is full of detail and symbolism everywhere.
The front of the church shows the Nativity of Christ. It is sculpted in a form that is familiar to us. There is a lot to see on this facade and you need a pair of binoculars to really see the detail.


On the opposite side of the cathedral is the Passion of Christ. A controversial sculptor, Josep Subriachs, was hired in 1986 to sculpt the Passion. He is very avant garde and had no concerns about what Gaudi wanted. He did things in his own style. He was an atheist when he began the work and now he is agnostic. I hope that through his sculpting of the Passion, he becomes a christian.
He did give a nod to Gaudi in the design of the helmets of the soldiers. They look like the chimneys at La Pedrera that I showed you earlier.
You can tour the inside of the church around the perimeter. They are still under construction, but what is done so far, is beautiful. I love the stain glass windows.

These are going to be magnificent when they are finished.

I love the gold bursting from these arches.

Barcelona - Day 1

After 20 hours of traveling, we arrived at our 4 star, luxury, upscale, boutique hotel at 10:00am and THEY HAD OUR ROOM READY!!!! We could check in! No, stow your lugguge and come back in 6 hours! We stayed at the Murmuri Hotel on Rambla de Catalunya and it was AWESOME!!! We LOVED this hotel. Great customer service, nice upscale rooms with all the amenities, comfortable beds and pillows, English speaking TV, amazing bathrooms and for a bonus: a balcony! The area was very quiet and relaxing and in a really good section of Barcelona. Close to great shopping, restaurants and Gaudi buildings.
It was decorated in Silver leaf, velvet, silver beads, and purple in the lobby and restaurant.

The lounge was light blue, white and black. Loved it.

We had separate rooms behind this single door.

Our room

The girls room

We were very impressed with this hotel. Especially the Handsome Husband, who has stayed at many 5 star, luxury hotels. We couldn't believe this hotel wasn't 5 star and the cost of the rooms were so low. So we checked in and took a 3 hour nap.

Barcelona's streets are wide and on a grid pattern. Very easy to follow a map throughout. The streets had wide sidewalks on each side of the street and some of the bigger street had a sidewalk down the middle filled with sidewalk cafes. Every building was ornate and had wonderful balconies and architecture. A feast for the eyes! It was very hot, but a cool breeze blew down the streets and was refreshing.

The Casa Mila (La Pedrera) built by Antoni Gaudi was a 2 minute walk from our hotel, so we headed on over. Gaudi was Barcelona's premier architect. He built only in Barcelona and he created in the Modernism style. He designed everything in a building, from the overall structure to the most minute detail. I loved it. It is so different from anything you will ever see and it has it's own beauty. This is the entrance to the Casa Mila. Every detail in the style of the structure. This building was built in 1906-1912. Just think how unusual it would have been then...and is now!


This is the courtyard when you go through the doors. Beautiful iron work, curved lines, mosaic painting and lots of light.

He designed alot of the furniture that would go in the apartments. Here, HH and I are sitting in one of his chairs. It was really comfortable.
We then headed to the roof, where these amazing chimneys and ventilation towers adorned the terrace. My girls immediately thought the chimneys looked a lot like "Dementors" from Harry Potter!

Me, Katie and Delaney on the terrace. All wearing orange, not planned but noticed.

We then took the metro and headed over to the Placa Espanya for the Font Magica show. This was a beautiful, impressive street. I saw the Tour de France go down this street one day. Fountains lined the street on both sides and then an impressive collection of fountains were in front of the museum. We grabbed a seat on the pedestrian bridge and waited for the show to begin.

It was a great show with music and lights. It started at 9pm and went til 11:30. You could come and go as you pleased, it was free and it was worth the metro ride to get there. This concluded our first day in Barcelona.