Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Barcelona is Amazing! Wish You Were Here!

We've been in Barcelona for a little over 2 weeks, and I have barely written about it on this blog.

And what's even worse is that we have less than a week to go!  So much still to do, and so much to write about!

I apologize!  I have so  much to write about-- I've been loving spending this extended time in Barcelona, and you can find photos and brief observations on my personal facebook page (many of them are public, so even if you don't know me personally you can take a gander), my twitter account, and my instagram.   (And I urge you to follow me on those last two if you don't already!)



A post shared by Adam G (@kafclown) on

Rather than write a step by step chronological account of our time in Barcelona (as I did for our shorter 6 day London extravaganza:  See here for a sample post about a couple of our London days.)

I think that I'm going to try to write about different themes of our time in Barcelona.  The food.  The art.  The fun.  The joys and troubles of parenting a kid on vacation in a foreign country.

The Magic Fountain of Montjuic:  It first started entertaining people in 1929.  Now, thousands of people attend every show!
My son, in the Nativity Tower of La Sagrada Familia.
It's a long long long way down!
Some of those posts might morph into longer reviews (for example, we spent a delightful day at the second oldest amusement park in Europe (Tibidabo) and had a whole bunch  of fun.  That's worth a whole post in itself.  Or the day we went to go see the Castellers perform (it's an ancient Catalan tradition where teams from different cities practice making human pyramids of different shapes and dimensions.  People from all walks of life get together to perform on this team as part of a civic pride and just fun.

Or La Sagrada Familia, the masterpiece of architectural madman and genius Gaudi, who designed this massive and breathtaking church knowing they would not be completed in his lifetime.  It is expected to be completed in 2026, 100 years after his death!

Or just about any of Gaudi's works, which are all over the city!

Selfie in front of La Catedral in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter
Or  Las Ramblas, one of the main touristy streets of Barcelona, which has all kinds of walking and touring right outside of it (and most importantly, leads directly into the Gothic Quarter, a series of winding streets and shops and cathedrals and colleges and tapas bars and markets and all sorts of other great stuff for a tourist such as myself  (and my intrepid son) to get lost in and around.

I love getting lost in the Gothic quarter, because you never know what will be around the corner of the little winding street.  It could be an ice cream shop, or the public library with homeless men playing chess with tourists, or it could be some 15nth century sculpture garden that has somehow managed to remain undisturbed for all these years.

On Las Ramblas, there is a fountain (The Canaletes Fountain)  whose plaque reads (translated) "If you drink water from the Canaletes Fountain, you'll fall in love with Barcelona forever and no matter how far away you go, you'll always return."

Let it just be said:  I drank from the fountain!

So bear with me, and stick around, as I slowly get around to writing about this amazing city.

 Even after I've returned to my own city!
(cue the song My Sweet Home Chicago by Buddy Guy and Jr. Wells!)

No comments: