Rambling on Las Ramblas

Barcelona, May 5-6

After flying back to the mainland, we drove into Barcelona for an exceedingly pleasant two-night stay in far nicer weather that we had experienced on Mallorca—very fortunate, indeed, for the city has beautiful boulevards, including "Las Ramblas," perfectly designed for strolling in warm temperatures. Working as usual out of the Michelin red guide, we found an excellent hotel, with a garage across the street for Valeriu, that put the city’s attractions within walking distance or an easy subway ride. We saw the sights in the city’s old section, the Barrio Gotico, but most of our touristic activity was focused on the art of Antonio Gaudi (1852-1926).

Foremost among Gaudi’s works is, of course, the Sagrada Familia church, still less than half-finished after 124 years of construction although activity has recently intensified as some of our pictures show. Buying tickets to enter the site, we were delighted to find we were entitled to a discount as “jubilados,” a term that sounds much nicer than “seniors.” However, even at non-“jubilado” rates, the visit would have been well worth the price since the architecture and sculpture are breathtaking. To avoid an hour’s wait for the elevator (not to mention the two euro fee), we decided to climb the stairs up the church’s hollow towers but quickly found that we were the only people over 30 who had chosen that route. However, the line moved so slowly—the elevator would have been quicker—that claustrophobia was a bigger threat than myocardial infarction.


Sagrada Familia

View from towers of Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia nave under construction

We strolled away from Sagrada Familia to see other buildings Gaudi had designed, stopping at a street fair to buy empanadas and watch kids play on an ancient fire engine the city’s “bombers” (firemen in Catalan) had supplied for the day. Then we took the subway to the Park Guell, a city recreation area where Gaudi had designed a number of buildings and other features, including an undulating ceramic bench that stretches more than 100 meters. We have no idea what influence, if any, that Gaudi had on Walt Disney, but the much of the park brought Disneyland to mind, without reference to their relative artistic merits.


Street Fair


Gaudí's Casa Mila


Gaudí bench in Parc Guell


Georgia on the Gaudí bench in Parc Guell

Again, Michelin steered us to two excellent, but inexpensive, restaurants, including Can Culleretes, reputed to be Barcelona’s oldest, where we enjoyed Catalan specialties with a bottle of the restaurant’s excellent open wine. The only problem is the dining hour, generally beginning at 9:00 p.m., which puts a strain on us Sun Valley types accustomed to eating much, much earlier. So far, however, the wait has been worth it.