Our updates

This Easter we decided to head to Barcelona, Spain for the long weekend. Beats the usual traffic jams trying to get out of Auckland City!

Barcelona was a fantastic city to go to with heaps to do and see. One must watch their step though as loads of dog doo in some areas – pop and scoop hasn’t caught on there that’s for sure.
The weather wasn’t as warm as it normally is in Easter so my lilly whites got to stay covered in jeans – lucky for the locals aye?. But all and all we had a great few days away, and I have to say it rekindled my love of Sangria again!

Having been to a few foreign cities now we decided the best way to get around all the famous sites is to jump on the tour buses that you can get off and on all day depending what you want to do, and how long you want to spend at various places. So get ready for your history lesson folks!

The cities nerve centre is the central Placa de Catalunya, it links the old town to the new extension laid out in the 19th century following the demolition of the medieval walls. It marks the beginning of the famous La Rambla - the most famous street in Barcelona! It heads from the square down towards the sea. It’s full of restaurants, flower stalls, bars, cartoonists, artists, market stalls, and some pet stalls selling turtles, hamsters, fish and birds. It’s a really busy street and pick pocketing if rife so you have to keep everything in your from pockets.

Port Olimpic:
Like Auckland needing the viaduct for the America’s cup, Barcelona needed one similar for the sailing competitions for the Olympics. It’s got shops and tones of restaurants and bars all the way around the marina – which berths 700 boats so lots of food available! Our first night there we went for a savory crepe followed by a sweet one covered in choc and cream which we shared – devine.
A crepe place like that would take off in Ponsonby for sure.

Port Olimpic was a 10 minute walk from the apartment we rented down by Barceloneta Beach.

2nd night there we meet up with Kylee who I used to work with in NZ and her boyfriend plus a few of their mates for dinner and drinks. After dinner we decided to check out the Spainish nightlife and hit a few of the bars. Now these bars have people (generally attractive women in skimpy clothes) out the front trying to get you into the bar. Each bar try to lure you in with various bonuses like free glass of wine for the ladies, a free shot for everyone, or two for one drinks. However at 9 euro per drink not sure who got the better deal there….. But we managed to score quite a few freebies with some good negotiation and had a good night out.

Architect Antoni Gaudi was famous for his unique style and highly individualistic designs. Here on the left is Casa Batllo’, built between 1904 and 1906 it was the former home of the Batllo’ family. Had to be quick with this shot from the bus. The shot on the right is of Casa Mila’, built between 1906 and 1910. The stone façade and iron balconies are meant to evoke the motion of waves.

Sagrada Familia:
This is one very massive impressive building. It was one of Gaudi’s dreams to which he devoted much of his life. He was still working on it when he died in June 1926 when he was hit by a tram crossing the road. Obviously didn’t look both ways! Construction of Sagrada Familia started in the late 19th century and is still under construction today with an estimated finish date of 2082! The photos speak for themselves in how amazing this place is, and I had to take a photo of a photo to try and show the whole thing as up close only about quarter of it fits in the cameras view. The main entrance is the shot with all the scaffolding, the other shot is of the rear entrance which is very gothic looking. Looks like it could come alive and eat you up!

Park Guell:
Park Guell is named after Gaudi’s great patron, count Eusebi Guell. The park is situated high in the hills of Barcelona, providing fantastic panoramic views of the city. We ended up coming here on our last days so caught the metro, caught three escalators up this street and then hiked another 100metres up this very steep street to get there – but trust me it was worth it! Although Barcelona was a very hazy city the views we still amazing.

After walking through the park we stumbled across this massive dirt roof that is surrounded by squiggly shaped chairs covered in mosaic – must have taken ages to make! It wasn’t till we walked down and followed the steps that we realised it was the main entrance to the park. The roof is held up by heaps of huge pillars under it. Off to one side there’s a massive curled tunnel of rock, in true Gaudi style this is meant to represent a wave curl – very cool!

The main entrance has the famous mosaic iguana fountain - very hard to get a pic of this fella as everyone wants their pic taken with it! They are currently restoring some of the entrance and fixing and re grouting the old mosaics.

Football Club Barcelona:
For all those football fans! The club was founded in 1899, it has gone way beyond the mere passion for football and become a true social phenomenon. There’s even a two stored mega sport store just selling FCB gear!! But we got a good tour of the club and the grounds and walked the same strip all the football greats they head out onto the pitch. As you will see they get a pretty big Jacuzzi in the changing rooms even.

Palau Nacional:
The square the majestic Palau Nacional sites on marks the gateway to the great park of Montjuic, the setting for the 1929 International Exhibition and of course the 1092 Olympic Games.

Port Vell:
Port Vell is the oldest part of the Barcelona harbor. There is a huge shopping mall here and movie complex here - St Lukes style. It was nice to see a mall again really as all the shops over here in the UK are set out like Queen Street, no malls in site!

Along from Port Vell is another marina with some rather nice boats! The brick building in the background is the history museum.

Barri Gotic:
Barcelona’s history has it’s origins in the gothic quarter which was built on the old Roman town. Parts of the city walls still survive today. The Cathedral is the focus of religious life and attracts big crowds. This was the only place we really saw beggers with babies, cripples and homeless holding out cups for spare change. I didn’t get a great shot of the entrance though, as like many buildings over here in the EU and UK they all seem to be covered in scaffolding for repair. But we did go up onto the roof and have a look around. Right in the middle of Barri Gotic there is this outdoor area that the cathedral surrounds.

I arrive home for two weeks on the 6th May so looking forward to catching up with you all!