After leaving Granada, we made our way to Barcelona which is about a 7 hour drive. We broke up the drive with a fun stop in a sea town called Peniscola, Spain. It was a neat area with a walled city on a bluff overlooking a peninsula with beaches on both sides. We had a fantastic lunch of seafood paella and calamari. Delicious!

We arrived in Barcelona in time to have a tapas dinner, walk the main shopping street/district (Passeig de Gracia which was near where we stayed), and then head to the main music hall. We had stayed away from flamenco shows in the other Spanish towns because we had found that there was a professional troupe and band that was performing for three weekends in Barcelona – which happened to occur while we were here. This also gave us a chance to see Palau de la Musica Catalana (Music Hall), famed for its skylight which can light the theater fully with natural sunlight. It was a fun evening!

We kicked off our next day in Barcelona by visiting the Basilica De La Sagrada Família. This church is beautiful but probably looks like no other church you’ve seen before. The architect of the basilica, Antoni Gaudí, had a very unique style that was at the forefront of modern 20th century architecture. This style results in bright colors, curved lines, and modern representations of Bibilical scenes. He was also fantastic at managing the use of light in his windows and design. We saw this firsthand as we visited on a sunny morning and saw the beautifulo reflection of the sun through the windows. I really enjoyed this non-traditional church!

One other very interesting fact about this basilica is that it isn’t finished! Gaudí took over construction in 1883, and it’s been under construction ever since! The good news is that it’s set to be finished officially by 2026 – 100 years after Gaudí died.

We spent the afternoon looking at several of Gaudí’s works which are located throughout Barclona and are a Unesco World Heritage site (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/320).

We also walked through La Rambla (busy street of stores, cafes), walked through the historic Gothic Quarter (narrow streets, historic buildings), and sat at a cafe overlooking the Mediterrean Sea. In fact, I am typing this blog while looking out over water – absolutely beautiful and relaxing!

Working on this blog post!

We capped off our time in Barcelona with traditional Catalonian dinner. Next up is Cote de Azul!