Barcelona touring day 1

We took the train to Barcelona on Sunday, then checked into a very modern 4-star hotel. We started our touring on Monday with a walk to the Sagrada Familia, where we had breakfast at a cafe across the street.

Sagrada Familia

After breakfast, we took the Metro to the old city, and toured the cathedral and the old Roman city. We walked over the the Ramblas, and walked down to the waterfront. We started at a section of street performers.

Ramblas street performer

The next section had artists showing their work and offering to do portraits. We went down to the waterfront, then to the Drassanes Maritime Museum. Outside they had a wooden submarine.

Submarine at Maritime Museum

The building had amazing stone arches with bays that would hold a full size ship.

Drassanes Maritime Museum

After the museum we walked across a cool pedestrian bridge to a shopping center.

View from top of Columbus Monument of harbor

We were planning to take the cable car to Montjuic, but read in our guide book that it closed for lunch in 15 minutes and we were at least a half hour away. So we had lunch at a waterfront cafe. While eating we read that there was a tram that went up to Montjuic. So we decided to take it instead. Big mistake. It went up through a tunnel, and at the top, the view was hidden by a bunch of restaurants.

So back down the tram, and on to Parc Guell. The guide maps are less than helpful in figuring out which metro stop is closest to an attraction. We guessed, and found ourselves at the closest one, but it was still a 600m walk. We can do this! Unfortunately, after 2 blocks we were directed left and up steep hill. It was so steep that it had steps on the sidewalk, and several sections had escalators. We pressed on, and found ourselves at the back entrance. Nice view, but not what we were looking for. So we walked around and down to the main entrance. The Gaudi designed courtyard and buildings made it worth the walk.

Parc Guell

Parc Guell entrance

Parc Guell

We walked another 1200m to the other Metro stop. This was longer, but easier, since it was just a slight downhill slope.

written by

DRKester on October 1, 2007 from Barcelona, Spain

from the travel blog: Spain 2007

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