They weren't wrong! Every single person who told us about Barcelona in the days and months preceding our trip, said something to the effect of, "It's so beautiful! It's one of my favorite cities in the whole world!" We are fortunate to be seeing this gorgeous place for ourselves, and now we get it!
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| In front of the Nativity facade at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. We enveloped ourselves in its magnificence! |
Let's see if I can put together some reasons Barcelona is so special to us:
- It's clean and organized. For a big city, it has a bright, uncluttered look, and somehow feels fresh. Bus routes make sense, garbage cans are color-coded and lined up neatly,
traffic lights work and people obey them, motorcycles park where they
should - and that would be everywhere!
- People are friendly in multiple languages - we've got English, Spanish, and Catalan going at all times. My best time so far was having a conversation with a store clerk who knew about as much English as I did Spanish, and together we figured it out! Kellun says the fun part is getting to speak Spanish all day long. She's pretty amazing. I'm hoping it rubs off.
- The architecture is creative and wonderful. It's breathtaking, stunning, intriguing. Everywhere we look are buildings, large and small, designed in captivating ways that appear to defy nature. We continue to marvel.
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| Chimneys of Casa Batllo. We took this photo from the rooftop, at night where we also took the below selfie in the wind. |
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- And what's really fun is that we can have tapas and sangria at 9:30 p.m. at Edelman's and then ramble on over to Els Quatre Gats (a famous Picasso hangout) for more wine and more tapas. And this is AFTER traveling overnight on the plane, followed by finding our respective ways from the airport to the hotel, enjoying a complete city tour by bus, touring Antonio Gaudi's Casa Batillo (the form, the color, the light are elements beyond description and totally delightful!), and a walk down to the Gothic Quarter before walking back to our hotel near Placa de Catalunya.
Yes indeed, the energy is flowing here. We can't wait to see what tomorrow holds in store.
