Barcelona

I have heard it said “The rain in Spain stays mostly on the plane.”

After many cloudy, grey and rainy days in London, that sounded good to me.

A quick two hour flight and short bus ride got us to our hotel on Plaza de Catalunya. 

Highlights:

El Barri Gotic: (Gothic Quarter)

I loved the old Gothic quarter with narrow windy streets, filled with cute little shops and cafes/bistros/restaurants.

Lots of old buildings and history.

I can imagine it would be very easy to get lost here, especially if one had too much to eat and drink.

This looks like an original prototype for Calgary's "Plus 15's".

Modernism, Sangrada Familia and Antoni Gaudi the architect. 

I figure Antoni Gaudi, Spain's world renowned architect, was either a genius, or, very, very weird.

Or both.

His "unique" architecture dots the city.

Gaudi's significant claim to fame is the Sangrada Familia, a testament of his faith and love of God.






The lighting in the church is phenomenal. 


























To help with his design of the church, he created a clay model, upside down, using gravity to figure out the supports required.

He then put mirrors above to see how it would look right-side-up. 

The engineer in John loved the workshop.

Well over 100 years after building commenced, the church is still not completed and is still under construction due to funding issues.



We walked up one of the spires for a bird's eye view of the building and the city. 

For someone that is not into churches or Modernism, I was quite surprised that we spent over 4 hours here.

It was actually very impressive and fascinating.

Montserrat:




This multi peaked mountain is about 4,000ft high, 20 miles and about an hour bus ride from Barcelona.

It was quite the contrast to get out of the city and see the countryside.

The mountains play host and home to the monks of the Benedictine Abbey.

It is also home to one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in Spain: the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat - the Virgin of Montserrat.

Food and wine:

A trip to Spain would not be complete without a trip to a vineyard and wine tasting with tapas sampling.

A traditional vessel to deliver the spirits....

John was a brave man... not only did he do it with beer, he tried his hand at it with RED wine.

Luckily he did not spill a drop. he must have been motivated....

And what post would be complete without talking about food.

The markets had phenominal fresh produce, meat, fish and, my personal favourite - sweets. Even the local McDonald's had upscale pastries!

Three days are just not enough time to take it all in.