Just at Home in Barcelona

We have finally come to the major portion of our first trip, Barcelona. After a surprisingly pleasant and relatively short trip from Zaragoza we got to our hotel at about 11:45am. After getting our rooms settled and a talk from Hans about the dangers of pickpocketing that Barcelona has in store we had the full day to ourselves. A group of five of us went to lunch and ate down by the waterfront. It was gorgeous outside. The sun had come out and the temperature was in the mid-60s.

Barcelona waterfront

Without much of a set gameplan today and a lot guaranteed to be seen in the coming days, we decided to wander. We set our sites on the La Rambla which is a large outdoor pedestrian mall/street. It was interesting to see the locals and tourists all interacting in one destination. There were also many side streets that branched off from the main one. We circled around and walked up and down without really having a destination. It was nice to just go with the flow.

Side street off of La Rambla

Serendipitously, we came across some intriguing points of interest. The biggest one was the Palau de la Música Catalana which is a concert hall located near the main La Rambla street. It was such a beautiful building. It was very ornate inside and out with what looked like a modern addition onto it. We had missed guided tours by half an hour so just looked around.

Palau de la Música Catalana

We headed to a park following the Palau and some coffee. There was a triumphal arch called the Arc de Triomf. We decided that it was time to sit and sketch. After about 45 minutes and each of our sketches in various degrees of completeness it was time to go. We walked down the Passeig de Lluís Companys, a wide pedestrian promenade, on the way back to the hotel. It was a nice, little park with ample open space. We ended the night with dinner at a hotel restaurant about a 15 walk away. It was pretty good and nice way to end the first night in Barcelona.

Arc de Triomf

Tomorrow we go see some of Antoni Gaudí's buildings. We are also going to see my most anticipated building and I am super excited! It will be a lot of walking so bring it on. Look out for the next entry.