Travel : Barcelona Last Part

The reason why I am silent from blogging these days is due the fact that some unintended and unnecessary things coming our ways.

Well,as happy as some things happened and is happening in my life that I wrote here,there were not all bright and sunny days.Let's say,shit happens.Well,I just hope that after this rainy season comes out the rainbow.Fingers crossed!

Well,this is the last part of my Barcelona trip and soon come my updates to Swiss 2 weeks ago.I have to speed up because the next trip is coming this weekend.Woohoo!Let's say,this trip is so much needed to give me a state of mind from all these chaos :P

Haha excuse.

So,on the last day,the first thing we did in the morning was heading to Sagrada Familia once again because our ticket reservations took place as first entrance in early morning.The reason why the visitors are allowed to enter only based on timing reservation is similar to the rules of Park Güell.

It was a sunny and bright day in fact.

We stopped at Costa for a quick breakfast just opposite to Sagrada Familia

Once Sagrada Familia was opened,we didn't need to queue and were accessed with the quick entrance.I would like to recommend to people who want to buy the entrance tickets into Sagrada Familia to buy them online,in order to avoid long queue and time waste.

The design inside the very Sagrada Familia,is just magnificient.But be noted that if you are short,like me(164cm) :P ,you might need to strengthen your neck muscles to look up most of the time :P and this might give you some muscle pain afterwards :P

This is from the back entrance,and this part was constructed much later than the front entrance,thus you can see the color of the material used here is still whiter than that used for the front entrance.

As what I read,the ceiling depicts how it looks like in jungle.Gaudi liked to put the element of nature in his architecture

In modern world,the discrete craftsmanship from Gaudi's ideas are too time-consuming and complex.Thus,the modern technology takes place in creating the crafts as done by the modeling machines,mostly.Sagrada Familia is planned to be finished by 2026,also in commemoration of 100th year since Gaudi deceased.

After Sagrada Familia,we decided to walk back to the hotel to get our luggage.On the way we stopped at a playground to allow Alayna to have her time all to herself.Well,some people might see us ad bad parents for always bringing our daughter on tours since she was barely 2 months old.Our policy is,wherever we go or travel to,we will never leave our kid(s) with our parents because we want them to experience many things possible in their lives,one way is by traveling.

She didn't care much about Barcelona or other places she's been to,she'd rather pay attention to this small happy place:P

After picking up our stuff at the hotel,we walked some more towards the direction of Passage de Gracia(the shopping road) because I wanted to shop/window shop on our last day in Barcelona.I wanted to get myself some autumn jacket as Barcelona is the home of my 2 favourite brands,Zara and Mango!

Well,price wise,Zara and Mango here are almost similar to the ones back home,but what makes it interesting is the choices here are a lot more,and also many items are on sale because of the off-season.Managed to grab an autumn jacket,a small pouch and spent some money at Zara Home.Oh,my,they have I think the biggest Zara Home I've ever seen.

Casa Mila,also by Gaudi at Passage de Gracia

From the rooftop of Casa Mila

And then we walked some more towards the direction of Place de Catalunya again before we turning right towards La Rambla because I wanted to have another round of Paella for the last time in Barcelona and because I wanted to visit La Boqueria again.We came across one halal Spanish cafe serving Paella not far from La Boqueria,and again I had a big plate of Paella all to myself :P

Was very satisfied as both times I ate Paella while in Barcelona turned out to be decent!

And then we walked some more in the nearby neighbourhood before departed to the airport to catch our flight back to Stuttgart later that night.

Seafood Paella

The neighbourhood

Our plane was loading people inside.We flew with Germanwings

Adios Barcelona!

Travel : Barcelona Day 3 (Last Part)

So,this is the last part of day 3 in Barcelona.After spent the whole noon at Park Güell,our stomach called for some food,so we went to La Rambla again because the day before I saw several halal restaurants and because I wanted to visit the local market selling various products ranging from food,vegetables to meat and poultry as it was closed on Sunday when we were there.

This food market is called La Boqueria,opposite to the Erotic Museum on the street of La Rambla.If you come from the direction of Place de Catalunya,you will see the market on the right side.

This market is so colorful and I was so excited to see many products made of local fruits in various colors.I bought the mango-coconut juice for only 1.50 Euro and it tasted marvelous.And then I bought some fruit cuts from another stall.I literally wanted to buy all juices available because it was so juicy and sweet :P

Oh,we came again here on our last day because I wanted to satisfy my craving of buying another cup of fruit juice :P

The fresh juices at very very reasonable price

And the fruit cuts too

After La Boqueria,we walked some more to find a place for lunch and came upon this one halal indian restaurant.Had a quick lunch there since Alayna was a bit cranky and after that we walked to the funicular station going up the Montjuic not far from the restaurants.This is another famous tourist destination in Barcelona.There is an old castle and what's interesting about this place is that the visitors can have a clear view of the harbour and the seaside from up there.

We spent quite some time up here before we walked down from the mountain passing the Olympic stadium and walked some more towards the direction of Font Magica de Montjuic,unfortunately the fountain didn't run that day,so we walked until Plaça d'Espanya and took the metro back to the hotel.

The harbour as seen from Montjuic

On the way down the hill

The Barcelona Olympic 1992 memorial tower

The freaking big National Art Museum

Near Font Magica de Montjuic

It was the toughest and most tiring day for me because we hiked up the hills a lot on that day starting from Park Güell to Montjuic.So,after getting back to the hotel I just wanted to rest myself and my feet while my husband went outside again that night with Alayna bringing me back some coffee.Oh,so sweet :)
 

Till then people.Have a nice week!

Travel : Park Güell,Barcelona Day 3 (Part 1)

 Oh,my,I still owe you guys the updates of my Barcelona trip 3 weeks ago although we just got back from another trip to the nature-preserved part of Switzerland over the weekend.

As much as I want to tell you guys how beautiful Switzerland is,I have to first finish my updates on Barcelona.

On the third day,the first thing we did in the morning was going up the hill where the famous Park Güell is.There is however a regulation that tickets bought will only be used for certain reserved time only,meaning the visitor cannot just buy the ticket and go inside immediately after or at any time of the opening hours.

This is most likely to preserve the place from any damage if there are many visitors at one time because this is also a most visited place in Barcelona amongst others.

We bought our tickets online because even if we bought the tickets on spot,we are not allowed to enter the park right after,have to wait for at least 2 hours or so.

So,we decided to buy the ticket for first entrance in the morning because we didn't want to be in rush if we go to other places first and come here later.

A little fact of Park Güell

Park Güell is a public park system composed of gardens and architectonic elements.With urbanization in mind, Eusebi Güell assigned the design of the park to Antoni Gaudí,The park was built between 1900 and 1914 and was officially opened as a public park in 1926. In 1984, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site under “Works of Antoni Gaudí”

Park Güell is the reflection of Gaudí’s artistic plenitude, which belongs to his naturalist phase (first decade of the 20th century). During this period, the architect perfected his personal style through inspiration from organic shapes. He put into practice a series of new structural solutions rooted in the analysis of geometry. To that, the Catalan artist adds creative liberty and an imaginative, ornamental creation. Starting from a sort of baroquism, his works acquire a structural richness of forms and volumes, free of the rational rigidity or any sort of classic premisses 

So,Park Güell is another famous masterpiece by Antoni Gaudi.It is a big place I must say.We started waking from the metro station going up the hill carrying Alayna's stroller because that's the only way to go up there.It was tiring but it was all worth it when we were greeted with a spectacular view of Barcelona city.

This park is separated into 2 parts,one is the paid part where the mosaic designs and stone-made pillars are located and the rest is for free.

This view from on top of Park Güell,one can see as far as the ocean

By now you should have known the typical Gaudi's architecture

Queuing to enter a museum

The famous mosaic dragon by Gaudi

These almost-look-like-natural-stone-formed Pillars are actually all man-made

Each pillar has their distinctive design,if one sees closely

Last day of part 3 will come soon.Till then people!

Travel : Barcelona Day 2 (Part 2)

The continuing story of 2nd of the 2nd day in Barcelona.So,after spent some time at the harbour,we walked some more towards one of the most famous beaches in Barcelona called Barceloneta.All along the way heading to the beach we stumbled upon immigrants selling stuff and I was attracted to see how they do their business,and what method they use to elope when the police or the city council come and chase them away in order that their selling stuff will still be in good confition afterwards.

Well,I don't know why,but seeing these people who work hard day and night just to get some pocket money makes me realize how easy my life is,anything that I wanted my husband or my family will get them for me easily.

Sometimes I never think of unlucky people in this world.Many of them don't wish for the life they are living,but because they were born with it and they don't have opportunity to have a good education because of poverty that makes them work hard day and night,leaving their countries to be in a better place  :(

At a funfair nearby Barceloneta Beach

Some beach bar I am interested in its wall design to attract customers

Barceloneta Beach

From Barceloneta beach,we walked some more towards Parc de Ciutadella,as from what I read this is another recommended park to be visited.

We spent some time here before decided to have a late lunch at a local restaurant not far from the park.Another thing I like about Barcelona is the seafood selections in their menus at the restaurants or cafes.And the fact that Barcelona is close to the sea makes the seafood here tastes really fresh,unlike in many places in Germany.

Oh,my,as I'm writing this now I can still remember how the seafood I ordered tasted like.

Parc de la Ciutadella

I ordered fried calamari and the giant-sized mussels.I don't know how did they cook the mussels,but I noticed they were the mix of mussel and crab stick,and on top is coated with bread crumb.It was so good I had to take it back home :P

After filling our tummies,we walked some more to Arch de Triomf,Spanish version of statue of commemoration.It was a lovely evening with lovely weather.We watched kids trying to catch some giant bubbles and Alayna was all excited too,but still too small to chase them as well :)

Arch de Triomf

After that,we walked towards the El Born neighbourhood and Gothic Quarter(Town) which has several famous tourist attractions.

Church Santa Maria Del Pi

From inside the church

Got back to the hotel by metro and at night we went to search for some food again in direction of Sagrada Familia.End of our second day in Barcelona.

Sagrada Familia entrance at night