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| Barcelona chicks and La Sagrada Familia |
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| Churros y chocolate |
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| Palau de la Musica Catalana |
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| Lollies galore! At La Boqueria market |
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| Edie's growing menagerie |
Edie:
Barcelona was so hot I couldn’t bear it! It was like Singapore. We never really got used to the heat. We all left with lots of extra freckles! Aunty Becky stayed with us again. Yay! We visited Sagrada Familia another crazy Gaudi building, ate our first Spanish churros, and went to a Flamenco Dancing Show. The show was amazing; the dancers’ dresses matched ours. We bought some dresses with our pocket money. They also came with fans, shoes and castanets but we only bought the dresses. We even did our hair up like the dancers in a bun and put the pom-pom-thingies in! We stayed in a nice small apartment, me and Della had a bunk bed; I let her stay on the top because at home I sleep on the top. We got very dirty feet from running around in the dust in only thongs!
Barcelona was so hot I couldn’t bear it! It was like Singapore. We never really got used to the heat. We all left with lots of extra freckles! Aunty Becky stayed with us again. Yay! We visited Sagrada Familia another crazy Gaudi building, ate our first Spanish churros, and went to a Flamenco Dancing Show. The show was amazing; the dancers’ dresses matched ours. We bought some dresses with our pocket money. They also came with fans, shoes and castanets but we only bought the dresses. We even did our hair up like the dancers in a bun and put the pom-pom-thingies in! We stayed in a nice small apartment, me and Della had a bunk bed; I let her stay on the top because at home I sleep on the top. We got very dirty feet from running around in the dust in only thongs!
Della:
Barcelona is a lovely place to stay.
We met Aunty Becky at the train station and gave her huge hugs.
Our apartment there was small but very cosy.
The Sagrada Familia was different and very beautiful. Gaudi designed it. I think that he was a wonderful man. We bought daddy a cup from another place he designed, called Parc Guell.
We got a ride to Salamanca restaurant. Me and Edie climbed a bumpy tree there and I found the perfect spot to sit. Edie was a bit higher up.
We got a metro train to La Palau de la Musica Catalana where we saw some people flamenco dancing. We got dressed in beautiful flamenco dresses like them. They all had very fast feet to tap with. I wish I could dance like that.
One of my favourite things in Barcelona was a huuuggge market. My favourite stall in there was one with loootttts of lollies. We got a tennis ball one, a long snake one, a coke bottle one, and lots more. It was so fun to dig into a huge meal of lollies!
Barcelona is a lovely place to stay.
We met Aunty Becky at the train station and gave her huge hugs.
Our apartment there was small but very cosy.
The Sagrada Familia was different and very beautiful. Gaudi designed it. I think that he was a wonderful man. We bought daddy a cup from another place he designed, called Parc Guell.
We got a ride to Salamanca restaurant. Me and Edie climbed a bumpy tree there and I found the perfect spot to sit. Edie was a bit higher up.
We got a metro train to La Palau de la Musica Catalana where we saw some people flamenco dancing. We got dressed in beautiful flamenco dresses like them. They all had very fast feet to tap with. I wish I could dance like that.
One of my favourite things in Barcelona was a huuuggge market. My favourite stall in there was one with loootttts of lollies. We got a tennis ball one, a long snake one, a coke bottle one, and lots more. It was so fun to dig into a huge meal of lollies!
Aunty Becky:
Ten years ago I lived in Barcelona so it was a real treat to be able to show my family around my old home. I was waiting for them at Sants Railway Station, searching the crowds for their smiling faces when suddenly, I felt a little poke from behind… it was Della, followed by Edie and Jen and Matt! And so the adventures began… Our apartment was near the Sagrada Familia in a quiet (for Barcelona) neighbourhood. We dropped our bags and head out for some lunch in the café immediately below our place. Edie showed me all the horses and other animals she’d brought with her (collectible toys, not real animals!). As always, the girls were so, so polite, thanking the waiters with a perfectly pronounced ‘Danke’. By way of explanation, they told me it was because they’d been in France (?!)… with their German friends. We practiced a few key Spanish phrases: ‘Hola!’, ‘Gracias’, ‘de nada’.
It was really hot so we kept to the shady side of the street and walked up to hospital Sant Pau, a beautiful modernista building by Domenech i Montaner, no longer a hospital, now a museum. On the way back we stopped for our daily icecream.
That evening we took the metro to Gracia, the neighbourhood where I used to live, and had tapas in Placa Revolucio.
Day 2. Breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Café con leche with a jamon y queso bikini for me, churros y chocolata for the girls (can’t remember what M&J had!). Then a metro into town. We visited the Palau de la Musica and marvelled at the Modernista architecture and design, the more flamboyant and experimental cousin of Art Nouveau. Like so many big European cities, Barcelona is a place just to wander and get lost in. We made our way to the central market La Boqueria where we feast our eyes (and tummies) on colourful fruit, sweets, fish, nuts and olives. We stopped by a groovy barbers’ shop where Matt had ‘numero uno’ on the sides, ‘numero dos’ on the top. Jen, the girls and I went shopping which is where we came across the famous Flamingo dresses, complete with hair bobbles.
That evening we decided we fancied paella by the sea so we started to make away to Barcelonetta. Given we’d been on our feet for about 6 hours, Edie, Della and I flagged down a bicycle taxi (M&J strolled behind us). The ‘driver’ was a crazy Argentinian guy who turned the journey into a roller-coaster, swerving from side-to-side across the road, and sometimes just missing oncoming traffic. The girls squealed with delight. I just kept my eyes closed and held on tight.
Our destination was Salamanca restaurant, a place I’ve been visiting for the past ten years. The waiters there are so professional; you get a real sense of them coming up through the ranks and earning their stripes. Delicious food, great views and the best company you could ask for.
The daily icecream was had by a moonlit sea, followed by a taxi home. Back in the apartment the girls disappeared and two beautiful little senoritas dressed in black-and-red flamenco dresses appeared in the hallway... but wait, what’s that they have on their feet?!
Ten years ago I lived in Barcelona so it was a real treat to be able to show my family around my old home. I was waiting for them at Sants Railway Station, searching the crowds for their smiling faces when suddenly, I felt a little poke from behind… it was Della, followed by Edie and Jen and Matt! And so the adventures began… Our apartment was near the Sagrada Familia in a quiet (for Barcelona) neighbourhood. We dropped our bags and head out for some lunch in the café immediately below our place. Edie showed me all the horses and other animals she’d brought with her (collectible toys, not real animals!). As always, the girls were so, so polite, thanking the waiters with a perfectly pronounced ‘Danke’. By way of explanation, they told me it was because they’d been in France (?!)… with their German friends. We practiced a few key Spanish phrases: ‘Hola!’, ‘Gracias’, ‘de nada’.
It was really hot so we kept to the shady side of the street and walked up to hospital Sant Pau, a beautiful modernista building by Domenech i Montaner, no longer a hospital, now a museum. On the way back we stopped for our daily icecream.
That evening we took the metro to Gracia, the neighbourhood where I used to live, and had tapas in Placa Revolucio.
Day 2. Breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Café con leche with a jamon y queso bikini for me, churros y chocolata for the girls (can’t remember what M&J had!). Then a metro into town. We visited the Palau de la Musica and marvelled at the Modernista architecture and design, the more flamboyant and experimental cousin of Art Nouveau. Like so many big European cities, Barcelona is a place just to wander and get lost in. We made our way to the central market La Boqueria where we feast our eyes (and tummies) on colourful fruit, sweets, fish, nuts and olives. We stopped by a groovy barbers’ shop where Matt had ‘numero uno’ on the sides, ‘numero dos’ on the top. Jen, the girls and I went shopping which is where we came across the famous Flamingo dresses, complete with hair bobbles.
That evening we decided we fancied paella by the sea so we started to make away to Barcelonetta. Given we’d been on our feet for about 6 hours, Edie, Della and I flagged down a bicycle taxi (M&J strolled behind us). The ‘driver’ was a crazy Argentinian guy who turned the journey into a roller-coaster, swerving from side-to-side across the road, and sometimes just missing oncoming traffic. The girls squealed with delight. I just kept my eyes closed and held on tight.
Our destination was Salamanca restaurant, a place I’ve been visiting for the past ten years. The waiters there are so professional; you get a real sense of them coming up through the ranks and earning their stripes. Delicious food, great views and the best company you could ask for.
The daily icecream was had by a moonlit sea, followed by a taxi home. Back in the apartment the girls disappeared and two beautiful little senoritas dressed in black-and-red flamenco dresses appeared in the hallway... but wait, what’s that they have on their feet?!
Jen:
I found Barcelona just as amazing the second time around – and it was great to see it through the kids’ eyes this time as well as having Bec’s local knowledge. Happy to return to my favourite building, the Palau de la Musica Catalana, which was as exquisite as I remembered it to be. Flamenco isn’t really a Catalan thang but as luck had it there was a show at the Palau while we were there, which the girls were pretty chuffed about.
The apartment Bec picked for us was about three blocks away from the Sagrada Familia and not far from the groovy suburb of Gracia, where we had some great tapas. Another good tapas bar downstairs from our apartment now has some of Edie’s artwork on the wall.
I found Barcelona just as amazing the second time around – and it was great to see it through the kids’ eyes this time as well as having Bec’s local knowledge. Happy to return to my favourite building, the Palau de la Musica Catalana, which was as exquisite as I remembered it to be. Flamenco isn’t really a Catalan thang but as luck had it there was a show at the Palau while we were there, which the girls were pretty chuffed about.
The apartment Bec picked for us was about three blocks away from the Sagrada Familia and not far from the groovy suburb of Gracia, where we had some great tapas. Another good tapas bar downstairs from our apartment now has some of Edie’s artwork on the wall.
Matt:
Not much left to say that’s not already said. I had forgotten just how wonderful is the Palau de la Musica Catalana. My favourite building – functional and yet designed with imagination, flair and exquisite taste in every exhaustive detail. The flamenco performance was spell-binding at times, but I found it hard not be distracted by the beauty of the theatre interior, even though we had toured it only the day before. Gaudi was outrageously showy and creative but I prefer the thoughtful, sublime perfection of Domenech i Montaner.
Not much left to say that’s not already said. I had forgotten just how wonderful is the Palau de la Musica Catalana. My favourite building – functional and yet designed with imagination, flair and exquisite taste in every exhaustive detail. The flamenco performance was spell-binding at times, but I found it hard not be distracted by the beauty of the theatre interior, even though we had toured it only the day before. Gaudi was outrageously showy and creative but I prefer the thoughtful, sublime perfection of Domenech i Montaner.
Brilliant Barthelona ... love it. What a city.
ReplyDeleteLove all of your comments! Looking at the snaps. I'm sure both Edie and Della have grown heaps and also matured more in their looks. I hope I can recognise you both when we see you again in December! xox
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