The City of Barcelona

Douglas and I had an amazing time on our self-guided 6-day tour of Barcelona. The month of October is an ideal time to visit such a beautiful city. Its Mediterranean climate feels magnificent and made sightseeing that much more enjoyable. It was never too warm or too cool. It was absolutely perfect. There was light rain the night we arrived but nothing that prevented us from wandering about our neighborhood. I looked at the forecast for the week of our stay and showers were predicted for three out of the six days we were there. To our fortune, the skies were on our side this trip. After our first night we never saw rain again the entire time.

October is also a preferred time to visit because it’s no longer tourist season and, “for the love of cookies,” the kids are back to school. I enjoyed my adolescent years. I like children and young adults and I look forward to having my own one day, but vacationing where a bunch of teenagers or college students are present is not my idea of a pleasurable or relaxing experience.  

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain behind Madrid. We chose Barcelona because it was much more budget friendly for us versus Madrid, which is known to be significantly more expensive. The city of Barcelona is divided into approximately 10 districts. We stayed in one of its most popular ones, L’Eixample District.  After several times of butchering its pronunciation, I looked it up and found it pronounced as eye-SHAM-ple. During our vacation, I’m sure the district neighbors were very grateful for that particular Google search I performed. 

L’Eixample District is located in the middle part of the city. It was elegant in style and known for its well-to-do neighborhoods. The atmosphere is relatively quiet and the streets are safe, unlike the other popular areas such as Las Ramblas. Approximately two blocks from our hotel was the district's most trendy and upscale street, Passeig de Gracia. This would be why all the hotels I looked up on Passeig de Gracia were $200-$400 a night for the cheapest room available. By staying at a hotel that was right off the main street, we saved a couple hundred dollars and our hotel was phenomenal! 

There were tons of shopping options in this area - none that were within our “family planning budget” but it was great to see. Passeig de Gracia is filled with chic boutiques, luxury shops and swanky restaurants. We mainly dined at establishments on the side streets. They were delicious and relatively inexpensive. 

 

Somebody has a soft spot for watches. Too bad we weren't in a cheaper district.

A man can dream though...

As we strolled down the popular street, it led us to another upscale shopping area, Plaza Catalunya, also known as Plaza de Cataluña. It is a large square that is considered to be the city center. There were two large malls there, a huge supermarket, and tons of small shops. The area reminded me of the main center of the Village in New York City. There were plenty of benches, restaurants, and a small park area where many pigeons established their homes. There was even a large water fountain that changed colors at night. 

Barcelona displayed one of the finest examples of modernist style of architecture. My description of our hotel in my previous blog is a prime example. In fact, nearly all the hotels found in that area are known for its modernized features and style. We were fascinated by the intricate designs of the buildings and the bright colors used. While walking we noticed that all the buildings had cute balcony fences on them. It was such a Spain thing!

Even the streets were not shaped like the typical ones I’m used to seeing. The intersections were very wide and the street corners didn’t fit a typical square pattern. The corners were all at an angle off from the main road. I wish we had taken a picture to show as an example. I discovered later that those were called chamfered corners, which are cut at a 45-degree angle. This design was made with the considerations of vehicle and pedestrian traffic in mind. It’s a lot easier and less dangerous to cross a street or turn a corner with such a design made. That was some pretty innovative thinking by the great architects of Barcelona. The city's most famous citizen was Antoní Gaudi. He was a well-respected architect who contributed to the cities rich history and modern design today. We took great pleasure in visiting historic sites that he designed and helped to build. I’ll share more about that in the next entry.

The street signs were not found at the edge of the street attached to a pole as they normally are in America; rather, the street signs were engraved in stone on the corner of each building.

The location we stayed in deeply enhanced our Barcelona experience. Everything was within walking distance and we surely put plenty of miles on our shoes. I was very grateful for the comfortable footwear I packed. My feet thanked me at the end of the trip. 

We also took full advantage of the expedient Metro system. A Metro Station was always nearby. The cost was approximately $2.50 one way. I do regret not buying a 3- or 4-day Metro pass. It would have been a much cheaper alternative to buying a single ticket every time we rode the train. Barcelona’s Metro has about 11 different lines that run all throughout the city. The Metro in Barcelona reminded me of the subway system found in Washington D.C. and even New York.  New York definitely has a more extensive transit system, but the convenience is still there. Mostly I was astonished by the cleanliness of all the train stations and the trains. It was quite impressive!  

I did notice a difference while trying to exit the train. Douglas and I stood in front of the door when we reached our stop. All other doors on the train opened but not ours. It wasn’t long before someone moved in front of us and pressed the green button on the door. At first I thought the person was rude, but immediately after, I realized they just wanted to get off the train like us and not miss their stop. You have to press a button or turn a knob to get on or off the train. That is the only way the doors will open. Although that is a cool feature, I still like the old idea of train doors opening automatically. After all, who has time to press a button that is right in front of them? 

Barcelona also has a Light Rail that runs above ground and their bus system is just as great as their trains. Both trains and buses run very frequently. The average time we waited for a train to arrive was two minutes; the longest was five. Traveling throughout Barcelona by foot and train was a wonderful experience. I highly recommend it for anyone planning to visit.

Light Rail

The people of Barcelona were very friendly and helpful with directions. In the beginning of our trip there was a slight language barrier. I always assumed the primary language spoken in Spain was Spanish. Although I took several years of Spanish in school, I’m far from fluent. But I can understand and speak most of the basics. Douglas is even better than me. His conversational skills in Spanish are pretty impressive. Therefore, it was odd to see that people found it a bit difficult to understand the basic Spanish vocabulary we were speaking. During our trip we both learned there are two languages spoken in Spain, Spanish and Catalan. I looked up a little information on the history of the Catalan language since I was unfamiliar. According to Wikipedia, Catalunya (also seen as, Catalonia) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is comprised of four provinces - one being Barcelona, which is the capital of Catalunya. Catalan was originated in Catalunya. It was declared its own language with the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of 1979. Now maybe I’ll get at least one Jeopardy question correct.

Machine used for redeeming any ticket purchases

Local Hospital

Mailbox

Popular mode of transportation in Barcelona

unique looking Smart Car

The city of Barcelona is so charming. It was fun to observe the similarities and differences between this foreign city and others where I have resided. 

Next up...our experience visiting some of the most famous landmarks in Barcelona.