Barcelona, Spain (2025)

A cool thing about Barcelona is that the beaches are very close to the city. In fact they are within walking distance from most places in the city. Apparently these beach's did not exist until the late 1980's when they trucked in tons of sand because they were built specifically for the 1992 summer Olympics. The Olympics really changed the city and the creation of the beaches was a net bonus. Apparently before there was the beach there was not much here but some docks and walls to keep the water out of Barcelona.

Now they have miles of beaches and with it you get the beach life. Since these beaches have not been here very long the beach life mentality has not anchored in the nutty people that are drawn to beaches. That being said there was still some pretty cool things going on from people selling there wears to beach sand castles to bars that are n the beach. All in all it was pretty cool, I was here in the off season so the beaches were not "packed". I can only imagine what this place is like in the dead of summer. Since it was not packed, I got to spend some quality time just chilling on the beach for a day.

All in all hanging on the beaches of Barcelona is always a solid way to spend the day.

If you get a chance to take a bike tour through a city that you happen to be vacationing in, I recommend it. First off, I like biking and I bike nearly every day of my life (I have not owed a car in over 25 years) So I have no choice but to embrace biking. It's the best way to get around a city in a pretty fast and efficient way (weather permitting). Barcelona can be hard to traverse because of the narrow streets, and I thought I knew how to get to my rendezvous point. Lucky for me I left the hotel with an "hour" to get to my meet up. I have been to this square the day before and knew it was about a half an hour from my hotel. In classic fashion I took a wrong turn a few times and did not get to the rendezvous point till 10:55 AM. that was kind of stressful because I was really looking forward on going on this bike tour, and I did not want them to leave without me.
.

Once I got to the meet up location, we got our bikes which were your classic European cruising bike (Which had a very strange feel compared to my bike back home.) Bikes are a lot like golf clubs; each bike and each club have its own "Feel". So, once I got used to the "feel" we were sort of on our way. Our first stop was the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia. I was actually here the day prior, so I thought I knew all about it. (I was wrong) But my guide was pretty awesome and filled me in on a lot of the history of the church that I was not going to read in book somewhere.

We then headed cross town to our next stop which was the Arch of Victory, which is a memorial arch. It was built by architect Josep Vilaseca I Casanovas as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair. The Arch crosses over the wide central promenade of the Passeig de Lluís Companys, leading to the Ciutadella Park that now occupies the site of the world fair. It is located at the northern end of the promenade, facing the Passeig de Sant Joan. My hotel was located right down the street from this Arch, but I did not know its history. My bike guide did and its pretty interesting. Instead of this Arch being build Gustaf Eiffel was prepared to erect the Eiffel Tower here for the world's fair. However, the people of Barcelona did not like or want that steel structure built so they went with the Arch design by the architect Josep Vilaseca I Casanovas!!! Crazy how one of the most famous structures in the world was almost build here but the people did not want it. (Which was true for Paris as well, but that's a story for another day.)

After leaving the Arch of Victory we headed to our next stop, which was the Sagrada Família, which is a church under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). To put it mildly this is a pretty cool church and was glad we did a swing by to check it out. Our guide gave us some cool incite and history on this church. (Since I had toured this church 20 years ago I decided not to do it this time.) But I was able to walk around for about 20 minutes to take some really cool pictures from the outside of the church. This church when first being constructed Relied solely on private donations, Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. Then in July 1936, anarchists from the FAI set fire to the crypt and broke their way into the workshop, partially destroying Gaudí's original plans. So the fact that there was not much movement on this church for like 50 years did not help in its completion. I have a hunch this church will never be complete because they have only been working on it since March of 1882. Our guide said it will be completed in 2032. (We will see).

The last stop on this tour was the beaches of Barcelona. I was digging the beaches. It was very chill and not humid or windy right on the water. I can see why the beaches get packed in the summer.

I got up early specifically to conquer the large hill that overlooks the city where the Castell De MontJuic is postioned. Since I knew I was pretty far away I got an early start. I also saw there was a "Wind" warning for today, but this wasn't anything I was particularly worried about. Everything was fine in the city while I was walking no real wind to speak of (yet). As I finally made it to the hill I started climbing and climbing. Massive staircases after massive sets of staircases. As I got higher up the hill I thought it would get windier. However, it really never did. After about an hour of climbing this hill I finally made it to the top where the Castell sits, and I have to admit the Castell was large but it was not very impressive as castles go. It was more of less the just a large square fort that was very thick. But it was not very ornate or even all that cool. however, the one thing that is very impressive is the view of the city from this castle. THAT was what was cool about this Castell. The view of the city and the view of the Mediterranean. Now once I bout my ticket and went into the Castle that's when all of a sudden the winds started howling. and oh boy did they howl. As I was walking around this castle, I got kind of nervous that I was going to get blow right over the wall. I'm thinking the wind gusts were in the 50 to 60 mile an hour zone.

This castle is more of a military fortress, with roots dating back from 1640, built on top of Montjuïc hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The castle is infamous in Catalan history because of its role in the civil war from 1936 to 1939. Lluís Companys, who was the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, was executed upon orders from the Spanish State at Montjuïc Castle in 1940.

After hanging out of an hour or so at the Catell De Monjuic I started heading down the mountain on my way to the Muro Museum (to which I found very underwhelming) the winds really started to pick up and trees started coming down. At this point I was nervous one of the many trees that I was walking under was going snap and come crashing down on my head. As I ascended the hill and got closer to the city the wind did not let up and there were branches and trees down all over the place. Luckily Barcelona inner city does not have many trees so once i got into the city I was a little less concerned even though there are the occasional large tree in a square were people sit outside at a table for afternoon cocktails.

What was interesting about this windstorm was that there was no rain or storms to accompany it. It was a very sunny day!

When it comes to stickers some cities in Europe are real cool with having them all over the city...and some citys will not tolerate having there cities plastered in stickers. Barcelona is a city that seems to not care all that much one way or the other. So that being said I took a lot of pics of some of the weird stickers that I thought were interesting.

So take a look:

I was not sure what to expect when it comes to this Cathedral. It looks very pretty from the outside but that is all sort of "Fake" since it was all added on the last 1800's because that was the style of the time. (the neo-Gothic façade was constructed over the undistinguished exterior that was common to Catalan churches) Apparently, this Cathedral was more of a shoe box look to it prior to all the Neo-Gothic structures that were added. I saw some churches in that style throughout the city (Which was kind of interesting). They were not necessarily, "pleasing to the eye" on the outside but when you went inside, they were pretty impressive architecturally speaking. This particular Cathedral was constructed in 1298 and is in the style of a gothic cathedral however the chapels inside the church are Baroque. It cost about 16 euros to get in, but I think it was totally worth it if you're into looking at old catholic history. (Which I am).

The cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Cross and Eulalia of Barcelona, co-patron saint of Barcelona, a young virgin martyr who, according to Catholic tradition, suffered martyrdom during Roman times in the city. One story says that she was exposed naked in the public square and a miraculous snowfall in mid-spring covered her nudity. The enraged Romans put her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolled it down a street (according to tradition, the one now called Baixada de Santa Eulàlia). The relics of Saint Eulalia are entombed in the cathedral's crypt.

The cloister, which encloses the Well of the Geese (Font de les Oques), was completed in 1448. I actually thought this was one of the cooler cloister's that I have ever seen. It was sort of dank, very lush with palm trees and very quiet. I actually spent some time just sitting in this space to take it all in.

My first day in Barcelona was sort of uneventful. I landed in the morning and had to traverse the subway system and got off a few stops away from my hotel, with the express purpose of trying to get familiar with the city and the medieval streets that are narrow and not named on my map. I did this for a few hours just bumming around within the city with my heavy backpack. (to which I had to stop multiple times to rest) After a few hours I landed at my hotel and ditched the thirty pounds I had been lugging around on my back. The weather was fantastic, so I bounced back pretty fast and headed out to explore the city and just kind of bum around. (Basically, just a day to get familiar with my surroundings.)

The next morning, I had to figure out how to get to Park Güell. I had a 10AM tour set up and I had no idea how long it would take to get there. (I left at about 8:15AM) It took about an hour and half, so I was right on time when I showed up at 9:45 AM for the tour. I was not sure what to expect of this park, the tour was a good idea since the guide pointed out things I would have never noticed or saw. (This was not like any other city park I have seen before.)

Park Güell is a complex of parks and gardens in Barcelona located in the La Salut neighborhood of the Gràcia district in Barcelona. It is situated on the southern slope of the Turó del Carmel hill, that overlooks the city. I must say the view of the city was pretty amazing. I was not expecting that. In the late 19th century Barcelona commissioned architect Antoni Gaudí, (a leading figure of the aesthetic movement in Catalan modernism) to design this park. Construction took place between 1900 and 1914, and the park officially opened to the public in 1926.

The park was originally part of a failed housing development by Count Eusebi Güell, inspired by the English garden city movement. The name "Park" reflects this English influence. Only one house was ever built, it was built as a show home in 1904 and it remained unsold. Güell persuaded Gaudí to purchase it with his savings. Gaudí moved in with his father and niece in 1906. The house, designed by Francesc Berenguer i Mestres, became the Gaudí House Museum in 1963 and was declared a national monument in 1969. One of the main reason this park-housing development never took off is that it was too far from Barcelona at the time and no one wanted to live so far away since there was no tram to get from this housing development to the intercity.

What is sort of interesting is that this park fell into a sort of "disrepair" in the passing century and by the late 1980's it got a complete face lift and renovation which had everything to do with the Olympics being held in Barcelona in 1992. In fact the 1992 Olympic games really transformed this city from bring in beaches to its coast, to having the housing become much more expensive than in previous decades. (I can't believe 1992 was 33 years ago.)

At the end of the day this is what a park looks like when it is designed by a genius.