So Friday morning we set off on the bus to Barcelona, a comfortable coach for just £4 each. Luckily the weather was just perfect for a day trip, beautiful blue skies and sunshine, just a cold wind meant you needed a jacket. We arrived at the centre of town and then had to decide where to go, Barcelona is a massive city with much to see!
A stop for coffee sitting on a bustling street side cafe was enjoyable until we got the bill - 15 euros (£12) for 2 coffee and croissant! Talk about inflated city prices!
We decided to head for the Sagrada Familial - the church which was designed by and became the lifetime work of the architect Gaudi and is said to be the most unusual church in the world. Sadly Gaudi never saw his work on this extravagant church completed - he was run over by a tram in 1926.
Work on the church started in 1883 but it is still a work in progress with towers still being built and restoration work in progress on the older parts of the building, many of the towers instead of being topped by religious icons have a basket of colourful fruit, huge snails and lizards clamber down the sides of the spires.
From the church we continued wandering round the city admiring all the unusual buildings, characterised by Gaudi's love of towers, quirky chimneys and unconventional designs.
La Pedrera, another iconic Gaudi design, was built as an apartment block but now houses the Gaudi museum and has no straight walls within it!
The route back to the bus stop took us past a multitude of designer shops from Tiffany to Bvlgari, on the corner of the street we saw the military police showing their force hanging around with machine guns slung across their fronts, a stark reminder of the heightened security necessary in many cities across the world, particularly after the Paris shootings last November.
And so we headed back to the campsite on the bus having merely touched the city of Barcelona but saving many more of its sights for another visit one day.
No comments:
Post a Comment