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Travel: Barcelona, Spain Day 2

Travel

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This is a continuation of my travel series covering our Mediterranean cruise in July of 2010. See my Mediterranean Cruise Day 1 post for the introduction. At the end of this post, you’ll also find links to all days and ports of call of the cruise. Today focuses on our second day in Barcelona, Spain by bus and each day this week we will cover each of our ports in Spain, Italy and France.

Barcelona, Spain by Bus – Day 2 Highlights:
  • Riding the Barcelona Tour City bus all over town
  • Seeing so many of Gaudi’s famous buildings
  • TapasFinding a Starbucks
  • Viewing the Olympic area in the mountains
  • Experiencing Spain making the semi-finals in the World Cup
This was the day that we truly realized how amazing and beautiful Barcelona is.  We found a Starbucks right around the corner from our hotel and grabbed a quick coffee and breakfast {okay, mine was more like a dessert but it was delicious}. 
We then made the best decision for our time in Barcelona:  buying tickets to the Bus Turistic.  This is a double-leveled open air bus that drives to all the points of interest in Barcelona.  There is a green line and an orange line and for one price you can ride both lines all day.  The nice thing is that at each point, you can get off the bus and hop on the next one once you are done looking around.  In the interest of time, we only got off at Placa Catalunya for lunch and then once we were done.  However, everything we saw was amazing and made us realize how much Barcelona has to offer and why so many people consider it one of their favorite cities.
 
We started with the green line which covers the eastern side of the city {from the mountains to the beach}.  Photos are in order as we came across them.  I am telling you, ever day from here on out is sensory overload – so many amazing things to see.  For purposes of the blog I am going to keep most photos in collage format to save space, although I realize it doesn’t allow you to really appreciate each site.
Barcelona, Spain by Bus Tour
Barcelona, Spain beaches by bus tour
Barcelona pictures
Running trail along the beach in Barcelona, Spain.

Sagrada Familia, perhaps the most famous building in Barcelona {it has been under construction for nearly 100 years and was designed by Gaudi}:

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain 
I also made a conscious decision to take photos of various windows and doors on our trip {I think I will frame some around our house}.  I know this sounds totally random, but I think when you see some of them you will realize how beautiful they all are. I also had to capture one of these signs that were around Barcelona in various languages and their ginormous garbage cans.  Their buildings and old architecture just fascinate me.
Barcelona walking tour
La Rotonda Barcelona 
Barcelona Architecture
Buildings of Barcelona
Barcelona architecture
La Padrera and Casa Batllo, more of Gaudi’s famous buildings:
La Padrera in Barcelona, Spain
The end of the green line and more amazing architecture:
Casa Battlo
With the end of the green line, we hopped off the bus and had a quick bite to eat at Farggi along with more cafe con leche for me!
cafe con leche
And we’re back on the bus for the orange line!  This side covered western Barcelona from the mountains to the sea again.  Wow, I am getting exhausted just going through all these photos again!

Gothic Cathedral {I also had a shot or two of this on the green line because four or five stops overlap}:
Gothic Cathedral
Passeig Colom including the Columbus Monument.  This all sits at the end of Las Ramblas, which we visited the day prior.  The monument was built in 1888 for the World Fair and commemorates the visit that Columbus made to the Catholic Kings after returning to his first trip to America.
Barcelona
Heading from the marina area and World Trade Center up the foothills to the Olympic area of Montjuic, where the views of the city were amazing.
 
Bus tour
 
Cityscape of barcelona

Anella Olimpica {the Olympic stadium from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona}:

Anella Olimpica in Barcelona, Spain

The drive continues back down the hill.

Barcelona bus tour
Barcelona bus tour

Camp Nou, home of the Spanish soccer team, FC Barcelona:

Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain
More random buildings.  The crazy thing is, almost all building in Europe are this amazing.  They don’t make plain square boxes like they do here in the States.  I love it!
random buildings in barcelona

This trip we hopped off the bus at the La Padrera stop and did some shopping and had some tapas, a must when you are in Spain!  The Patates Braves (fried potatoes topped with a spicy sauce and alioli) and Gambes al’allet (fried shrimp coated in garlic and olive oil) were to die for!  We then walked back towards our hotel, took a photo on the Gaudi bus stops and had some gelato and then a round of drinks at our hotel.

La Padrera
Food in barcelona
Food in barcelona

Our last night in the city ended with Spain beating Paraguay and making the semi-finals of the World Cup.  The streets were so loud all night with all the excitement.  Usually this would drive us nuts but it really was amazing to experience their passion!  We caught the end of the game on TV and couldn’t help but be instant fans of Spain.

Barcelona is truly a beautiful and friendly city.  We definitely plan to go back sometime in the future and give it the full attention it deserves!
Stay tuned for Day 3 and Day 4 tomorrow!
To see the full trip be sure to check out any of the days on our trip by clicking the links below:
  • Day 1 – Barcelona
  • Day 2 – Barcelona
  • Day 3 & 4 – Barcelona and Our Day at Sea on the Cruise Ship
  • Day 5 – Pompeii, Sorrento & Capri
  • Day 6 – Rome and Vatican City
  • Day 7 – Tuscany 
  • Day 8 – Villefranche and Monaco
  • Day 9 – St. Tropez

If you would like to follow along on more of my home decor, DIY, lifestyle, travel and other posts, I’d love to have you follow me on any of the following:

Pinterest / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Google+

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February 25, 2013 · 1 Comment

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  1. Karen says

    February 26, 2013 at 2:45 pm

    Gorgeous pics!!

    Reply

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