Barcelona (September, 2022)
Day 1
While we were on our trip to London, Nick got Friday through Monday off from work for Labor day, so we planned a weekend getaway to Barcelona. We had been meaning to visit Spain, and technically we have been to Spain before when we went to the Canary Islands a while back. But they’re so far away from mainland Spain that we sometimes forget that they’re part of the country.
Anyway, we were getting excited for our trip, but I must have eaten something that went bad because when I woke up, my stomach was not feeling well at all. Food poisoning is bad enough, but when you have an hours long journey ahead of you, it’s even worse. I medicated myself with Pepto and Immodium to try to get through it as best as I could, but yeah, it wasn’t pleasant.
Fortunately, we made it from our hotel in London to our hotel in Barcelona relatively unscathed. At the time of our trip, Spain required masks on planes, trains, and taxis, so we were required by Vueling Airlines to have a mask on for our flight, which we were fine with. But one woman in the front was being quite belligerent with the flight attendant, and another man came to her defense shouting that masks aren’t required (which is incorrect with regards to Spain). After many minutes of mask drama, they settled down and we were in the air. And in reality, even in Spain, the mask mandate wasn’t being enforced very well. While we wore our masks on the train, half of the riders weren’t.
Once we got to our room, I basically slept for hours in an attempt to recover from the food poisoning. I felt bad for Nick because instead of discovering a new city, he stayed in the room to do work while I was sleeping. Weeks prior to our trip, I had booked a reservation at Moments, a two starred Michelin restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental whose head chef is female, a rare accomplishment in the culinary world. I would have cancelled it, but they were going to charge us a cancellation fee, so feeling a little better, we decided to go.
Amazingly, I had enough energy to change and walk 10 minutes to the restaurant. We were originally planning to stay at the Mandarin Oriental, but due to the extremely high cost of the room, we decided against it. But going to their restaurant gives us an excuse to see their lobby, which I realized I never took a photo of because I was probably more focused on not needing to use the bathroom the moment I entered.
However, I did get a photo of the table when we were seated:
The restaurant has a nice, open feel to it, with plenty of space between tables. The kitchen is open to the dining area, so you can see some of the action going on. We were greeted by our server, who handed us the drinks menu which, if you turned it around, looked like it was a large banker’s bond:
It was a nice little touch that added to the experience. After ordering our drinks, we were provided with the current menu:
This season’s menu is based on the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The number at the beginning is where the goal is located in the full list, followed by the actual goal itself. It’s an interesting concept, but we weren’t entirely sure how food was going to translate into this much higher ideal.
I had also found a previous menu of Moments online, where the tasting menu took the diners through a geographic tour of what appeared to be the wonders of the world (both old and new). So I guess the theme changes completely throughout the year, so that’s fun.
Unfortunately, about four dishes into the menu, I was starting to feel queasy, so I told our server about the food poisoning, and that I didn’t think that I could eat any more food. She was understanding, and so they continued to serve Nick his dinner, while I sat and watched, and asked him to tell me about the dishes so that I could live vicariously through him. It was one of the strangest dinner experiences I’ve had in a while. Here are the photos of the dishes of the tasting menu. Like me, you can also just look at the food and not taste it…
At this point in the evening, I was feeling horrible again, so we went back to the hotel to get as much rest because tomorrow would be our first full day in Barcelona, and we had many things planned.
Day 2 (Casa Batlló, Casa Amattler, Casa Milà)
The next morning, we made our way to Casa Battló, a house designed by renowned Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. This would be the first of many sites that we would visit designed by him. I booked the “Be the First” ticket option, which gets you in at 8:30 or 8:45am, before the general admission entry begins. This means that fewer people will be in the house for the first part of the visit, making it easier to get some good photos.
Gaudí is known for his amazing designs based on nature, and Casa Batlló was a prime example of that. Even from the outside, you can see the color chosen sort of resembles water, and the balconies appear to be like masks or skulls:
Inside, the use of wood and stained glass is prevalent. He loved bringing light into the interior spaces, which is highlighted in the center of Casa Batlló, where you can see the sun coming in from the many windows at various levels:
Going up the first flight of stairs, Gaudí added a grand staircase with a wood railing, and also intricately carved wood panelling on the other side:
And then in the dining and living rooms, you continue to see curved wood doors with stained glass windows above, and also on the exterior windows. Some of the stained glass lamps resembled tortoise shells and the fireplace opening looks like a mushroom, further reinforcing how much nature inspired Gaudí’s design:
The patio offered the first glimpse of his amazing mosaic work:
We continued ascending the house to the top, where we could see one of his famous catenary arch designs used in a hallway:
The rooftop offered more whimsical mosaic sculptures:
It was time to head back down a long flight of stairs to the entrance, but the stairwell was surrounded by chains from a different artist. It was a stark contrast to the design of the rest of the house:
We then headed off to our next attraction, Casa Amattler, which is literally next to Casa Battló. While both of these homes are categorized as being designed in the Modernisme style, they are quite different. To me, Casa Amattler had sort of a gothic feel to it, with stone features and faces on column capitals. While there was also a significant use of wood in the design, it didn’t seem as ethereal as Gaudi’s use in Casa Battló. There were certainly some similarities though, such as the use of the circular stained glass motif and the use of natural light. But after visiting Casa Battló, Casa Amattler seemed rather small (the tour only covered one floor), and the design wasn’t as interesting:
We concluded our tour in the chocolate shop, because the Amattler family were renowned chocolatiers, and we ended up buying a couple of small tins of chocolates to take home with us.
Our next stop would be another Gaudí designed home, Casa Mila, but we had some time before we needed to go there, so we headed off to the Las Ramblas area to wander around. First we stopped by Plaça de Catalunya, which is a huge plaza with fountains and sculptures, and also ruled by pigeons apparently:
We continued on and eventually headed down some side streets where Nick got a small cup of drinking chocolate from one of the shops there:
On this one tiny alleyway, it appeared that there were multiple chocolate stores, which would have been amazing for me if my stomach wasn’t still recovering from food poisoning.
It was wonderful just to walk through various narrow streets and enjoying the architecture and sights of the city:
Eventually, we made it to the Cathedral of Barcelona, which is characterized by its gothic architecture:
We didn’t have any time to go inside, but maybe we’ll do that the next time we’re in Barcelona.
After a 30 minute walk, we made it to our entry time for Casa Mila. While Gaudí spent most of his life working on the amazing La Sagrada Familia, he continued to work on other projects as well, such as Casa Mila, which would end up being the last residential home he designed.
Like Casa Battló, Gaudí utilized wood and glass throughout the home and furniture. The inner courtyard, which is exposed, funneled in the natural light from above, illuminating the area beneath.
While the lower floors, where the living areas were located, were fascinating to see, the main feature is up in the attic and the roof. In the attic, you could see how Gaudí implemented numerous catenary arches to support the roof and also to insulate the home below:
And on the rooftop, besides having a great view of Barcelona, there were numerous ‘warrior’ sculptures and rolling stairs to enjoy:
After a break for lunch and for me to rest and recover, we headed off to the Arc de Triomf and Park de la Ciutadella. While not exactly the same as the Arc du Triomphe in Paris, it’s still impressive in its own right. The park is huge, with large amounts of green space to enjoy, as well as various sculptures and a massive fountain:
We saw many people laying on the grass, taking a stroll along the many paths, or enjoying a drink on a bench by the lake. It was so nice to just walk around and take in the joy that everyone had just being surrounded by so much nature.
Next, we headed off to the Moco Museum, but on our way, we encountered a large building that appeared to have some ruins displayed in it, so we took a short pitstop to check it out. We didn’t have much time to spend there, but we did read up about how the ruins are part of the old city of Barcelona in the 1700s, before the Siege of 1714 destroyed it:
It was a short walk to the Moco Museum, which showcases modern and contemporary art (hence the name Moco) from renowned artists, including Andy Warhol, Yayoi Kusama, and Banksy. There’s even a small exhibit by TeamLab here:
I think we spent about an hour there, but the artwork was worth the short visit.
We then headed back to the hotel and grabbed some empanadas on the way for dinner.
Day 3 (La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell)
The next morning, we found a cute coffee shop on our walk to La Sagrada Familia. We could actually see the church from the rooftop of Casa Mila, so we knew that it was large, but were still surprised at how imposing it is when you stand in front of it. Even though Gaudí started work on La Sagrada over a century ago, it still isn’t completed as evidenced by the construction work at the top of the structure. We were told that it should be fully completed within the next five years.
There are currently two main sides of the church, and we approached it from the side that depicts the Passion of the Christ, but the main entrance to the church was on the other side, which depicts the Nativity:
The intricately carved statues and reliefs on the Nativity facade is insane; it’s no wonder why construction on this has taken so long. I’ll admit, it’s a little intimidating to enter the main doorway with so many angels watching you as you step in.
The interior of the church is quite different from the Nativity facade. Numerous tall columns rise up to the ceiling, and as they approach the top, they branch out into smaller angled columns. Gaudí wanted it to feel like you were surrounded by trees, with the stained glass above acting as the filtered light through the canopies. Three types of stone were used for the columns, with the strongest stone being used for the largest columns. If you look at them up close, you can see the how the columns are different colors depending on the material being used:
Much like Casa Battló and Casa Mila, Gaudí continued the use of stained glass in La Sagrada Familia. When the sunlight shines through the windows, an amazing mosaic of colors permeates throughout the church:
I had also booked a visit to one of the towers, and not knowing the difference between the Nativity and Passion towers, I chose the Passion one. So we made our way to the line, where we had to put all bags in a locker for €1, so make sure you have a €1 coin or else you won’t be able to lock your belongings.
I originally thought we had to ascend the towers by climbing stairs, but we were guided to a one-way elevator that takes you up 3/4 of the way. You still have to climb up and down some stairs in a very narrow spiral, but at least it isn’t from ground level. From the tower, you can see the entire city of Barcelona as well as a better look of the mosaic sculptures adorning the top of the church:
To exit the tower, we had to go down many stairs, including this amazing tight spiral staircase at the bottom:
Next we walked to our last Gaudí attraction, Park Güell, which was about 30 minutes away by foot. Originally designed as a housing development, after a lack of interest from buyers, it was converted into a park. Before entering the park, you can already see the Gaudían influences in the park sign:
Since we had pre-purchased our ticket, we were able to skip the line to buy tickets and enter at our designated time. The park is large, with numerous winding paths, and unfortunately for us, some of the paths were closed, making navigating through the park a bit more challenging.
Our first stop was to make our way to the top at a sight called the three crosses. But along the way, we could definitely see similarities in the park with the other buildings designed by Gaudí:
Once we made it to the Three Crosses, we took a break to enjoy the amazing view, and also to cool down from the walk:
Next, we headed over to the Greek Square, which is a large open space that also offers views of Barcelona:
We originally thought that the plaza was just built on top of flattened ground, but then we went down a flight of stairs and realized that the entire thing is supported by many columns underneath:
From there, you can walk out the front and down the Dragon Staircase:
Next, we walked over to Gaudí’s house. I think originally there were plans to build 60 homes, but only two were completed, so Gaudí moved into one of them. It’s a small exhibit, but there are some interesting pieces of furniture inside and some cool sculptures in the yard:
We continued to wander through the park. I think we actually spent almost two hours there, mainly because we got lost trying to find the Austrian Gardens as our last stop. And at this point we were hungry, so we headed off to a nearby Tapas restaurant to try some grilled baby octopus and grilled pork:
It was delicious, but really, I was just happy that my stomach recovered enough that I could eat solid food without feeling sick.
We ended our day walking around Barcelona to find a churro, which originates from the Iberian peninsula, but instead, we got a donut:
Our trip to Barcelona was a short one, and despite my food poisoning, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. I think we’ll try to visit again so that I can enjoy the local cuisine, and to also see the works from other artists, like Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí, or to make a day trip to the city of Girona, assuming that I can make a reservation at El Celler de Can Roca.