Our Final Stop – The City of Counts

We begin the next leg of our journey at the Madrid Atocha railway station. The original trainsheds have been converted into this atrium area with cafes and a tropical garden.

After going through the baggage x-ray checkpoint, we stopped at this candy store to get Ellie a few sweet treats for the way.

Today we’re taking one of the AVE (high speed) trains over to Barcelona.

They do go pretty fast.

Before we know it, we’re out of the busy city and speeding through the central Spain countryside.

Veria keeps an eye on us from her backpack perch.

There’s an onboard lunch offering on this 3 hour ride.

We arrive at Barcelona Sants station mid afternoon and it’s really, really hot in the underground train platforms.

A quick taxi ride over to our home for the next 4 nights.

It’s on one of the many lively streets of Barcelona. These restaurants are in the boulevard directly across from the hotel.

Ellie loves the staircase in here with the digital mural behind her.

Of course, we go out to check out the rooftop pool.

And the view from up there.

Much later, in the Spanish afternoon (8:30 PM), we head to one of the boulevard restaurants for dinner. Our area had misters which were welcome in the hot evening.

Ellie discovered a mocktail that she really liked at the nice price of 13€, which was about 3 times the price of a glass of wine.

I try some gazpacho and calamari. Not bad.

The next morning, I pop up to the rooftop to take a pic of the early morning city.

And then walk out in search of something better than room coffee, over past the Plaça de Catalunya, the main square of Barcelona. It’s almost deserted at this hour except for many pigeons.

Unfortunately all of the fountains are dry.

Wandering a little more through the leafy streets.

Over to the Arc de Trimof, which was built for the 1888 Worlds Fair.

There’s a lot of bike lanes here, so nice to see.

Some typical apartment buildings in the Eixample district.

An atypical one – Gaudi’s Casa Batllo.

And Casa Amatller next to it.

Back over at our street, Rambla de Catalunya in the beautiful boulevard.

After breakfast, we head across the street to the metro station.

To the Montjuïc Funicular Railway.

This brings us up to the Telefèric de Montjuïc (cable car).

The views are great from up here !

Ellie was resistant to going and feeling like a slug but then I caught her taking all sorts of pictures and videos of the view.

We arrive at the top of the hill, at Montjuïc Castle.

There’s a few old cannons at the top which are good for climbing.

And a good view of the Port of Barcelona below.

Back on the cable car for more great views.

And again back on the funicular.

As we return to the hotel, the station we disembark at was full of people camping out now, with big backpacks and blankets. They didn’t seem to be bothering anyone but it was a little disturbing nonetheless.

Barcelona has a reputation for pickpockets but I didn’t see any (although I guess that’s the point….). In Madrid Ellie had her first experience with a crazy and very aggressive woman begging on the metro one night who was yelling and pleading at anyone who would look at her, pounding on the floor of the subway car, etc. Thankfully she moved along further down the train after a naive tourist family gave her some coins in our seating area.

This interesting sculpture outside the station is a tribute to Catalan set designer Francesc Soler i Rovirosa, which depicts a naked woman holding a rose.

A look up the Rambla de Catalunya. There’s one lane of traffic on either side of the wide central boulevard, lined on both sides with lime trees and a sidewalk and restaurant terraces in the middle.

Back to that nice pool to freshen up after our sweltering walk.

And then off to discover a new ice cream joint !

We needed it.

Late in the afternoon I headed over to Gaudi’s masterpiece – La Sagrada Familia, one of the highlights of Barcelona.

The tour begins with a drink at this rooftop terrace overlooking the basilica.

And then right over to the Nativity Facade, which is currently the “main” entrance and probably the most famous one. However, the planned main entrance to the church is yet to be completed, not without some controversy as it will require expropriation and demolition of several city blocks.

The interior is just stunning, particularly the stained glass windows and how they bring light inside. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves here.

After enjoying the interior, we head out to the Passion Facade which is strikingly different, much more brutal and blocky.

It’s hard to believe this building has been under construction for 140 years, and still has at least 3 years to go!

We go to the same restaurant right across the street, as Ellie was happy with the “red drink” and the spaghetti there. She’s had enough of chatting with me, though.