The city of Barcelona sits on the northeastern coast of Spain along the Balearic Sea. It is the capital of the autonomous Catalonia region and with a population of 1.6 million, the largest city of the region. It may arguably be most famously the home of astounding architectural works from the amazing genius of Antoni Gaudí – a number which are tagged by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as World Heritage Sites. Some might call it out for its FC Barcelona football club (that’s soccer for you yanks), or as the host of the Summer Olympics in 1992, or for having the top ranked city beach in the world. Regardless, Barcelona is considered a major cultural, economic and financial center, and tourist destination in Europe.

We arrived via a 4.5 hour high-speed train ride from San Sebastián and given this being the next to last stop before returning to the U.S., our aging bodies were honestly beginning to reflect the wear of our 10-week travel period. In wrestling the 50-lb suitcases over a curb from the train station to taxi, Gary heard a “pop” in his previously strained right calf that forebode several painful days ahead hobbling around. Jillian could commiserate as she had just recently recovered from nursing a sorely strained calf muscle. Ironically, the activities we’d previously booked for Barcelona included a walking and an e-bike tour!

This was our second visit to Barcelona, the first being a decade earlier with the family at the end of Riana’s study abroad semester in Granada. We laughed recalling one memory from that trip which was Zachary’s embarrassment in witnessing topless women and unabashed complete clothing changes on the city beach.

We stayed in a corner room at Serras Hotel Barcelona, a wonderful boutique hotel located a stones’ throw from the harbor. Here we had great views (both from our room and the lovely rooftop bar/restaurant) of the waterfront and all the ostentatious yachts in the harbor. Most of these were yachts for hire, however we discovered the largest one was privately owned by the heiress to Walmart fortunes!

We embarked on the “Amazing Barcelona stories by e-bike” tour, a 3.5-hour vast exploration of the city with a focus on Gaudí highlights – La Casa Milà, Las Casa Batllò and of course Las Sagrada Família cathedral.

Casa Milà was built at the beginning of the 1900’s and was both controversial with it’s characteristic Gaudí soft-curved architectural design, yet also innovative in many of its structural components. The building was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984

Casa Batllò is a renovated residential house that’s considered one of Gaudi’s masterpieces. The exterior reflects the very identifiable curved, flowing facade, roof, balconies and windows with very few straight lines, consistent with Gaudi’s architectural brand. We did return the next day to tour the interior of this home which reflects a nautical theme and the amazing forethought and ahead-of-his-time thinking that Gaudi engineered into his projects. This home was designated a World Heritage site in 2005

The next day we had the good fortune of being the exclusive registrants for a walking and coffee-tasting tour within Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. This beautiful area is the historic center of the city, comprised of a dizzying maze of small, narrow streets dotted with public squares (plaças). The Gothic Quarter previously housed a Roman village and contains many remnants of that past along with modern buildings, and is also the home to a vast artisan community. Such a delightful city to walk in…something to look at everywhere you turn!

We did return to the Cathedral of Barcelona to not only take in the views from the top, but also to explore the interiors of this gorgeous building.

On our next to last day in Barcelona, we took on an experience of the Sagrada Família with an official guide. It’s very, very difficult to provide an adequate description of this iconic cathedral that’s far off the scale of being like no other. This is an absolute must-see venue and be sure to book a guided tour to get a full appreciation of key details that are part of this awesome structure.

The Sagrada Família is still an unfinished project! Construction of the building initially started in 1882 – Gaudí took over as the chief architect in 1883 when the first one resigned, and incorporated his brand into the vision for the project. When Gaudí suffered an untimely death in 1926 (hit by a streetcar), the project was only about one-fourth done. Realizing from the start that he’d unlikely see the project’s completion, Gaudí did create detailed plans and models to guide subsequent architects in the construction. The project has been financed solely through private donations and entrance fees, so progress is dependent on those resources. Because it is such a popular site they have managed to keep working with the exception of COVID related closures. The hope had been to complete the project by the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death, however our guide indicated that deadline won’t be met and the goal now is to finish by 2030. We hope to come back to see the completion!

There’s a great deal of symbolism throughout this project. For example, the exterior eastern-facing part of the building is elaborately decorated and depicts scenes from Jesus Christ’s birth (Nativity), also consistent with the rising sun and themes of things beginning. The exterior western-facing side depicts scenes surrounding the death of Christ and sins of humans (Passion) and by contrast, it’s design is very stark and plain – and by facing the setting sun, its themes consistent with things ending. Gaudí’s original design for the exterior elevation specified 18 spires – representing the 12 apostles, the Virgin Mary, the 4 Evangelists and Jesus Christ – their heights in ascending order with Christ’s the tallest. The Glory facade, the last of the three facades and still under construction, will be the largest and most monumental, and will represent the ascension to God. It will also depict various scenes such as Hell, Purgatory, and will include elements such as the 7 deadly sins and the 7 heavenly virtues.

The interior design of the church provides another innovative phenomenon with geometric columns that while being beautiful, serve as critical support to the church and negate the need for exterior buttresses typically seen in other gothic-style churches. The interior is all about light given the expansive stained glass windows with incredible displays that change depending on the sun’s orientation.

Gaudí built a schoolroom on the project site for children of the construction workers. Even that structure displayed the flair of his architectural design in the roof installed on that building.

I will conclude this post with a shoutout to the food of Barcelona. Another great discovery of our walking tour was a food market where you could source a wide variety of fresh seafood, meat, cheeses and produce along with a restaurant serving up this fare in such delicious combinations that we returned twice to eat there!