Day 0 – took train to sf airport, smooth, got free checkin for additional bags, didn’t sleep in the entire 10 hr journey to Frankfurt, kids slept very little too.

Watched both downtown abbey movies and where the craw dads sing. DA was super funny ❤️ and wtcs is a very good movie!

3 hr layover in Frankfurt, tried to nap with no luck. Boarded flight to Barcelona and landed at 3:30 pm. Our ride to take us to apartment met us and we drove from the airport.

Loved the drive, got to see all the beautiful old buildings on the way. City doesn’t allow any updates to exterior but inside can be completely updated. Preserves the look of the city.

Got into our apartment, comfortable, 2 bed/1.5 bath with living room and kitchen. Sunset was at 5:30 pm, so got dark within no time of us getting to the apartment. Freshened up. Original plan was something else but since it was dark went with the hotel receptions recommendation to walk around, there was a light drizzle.

Walked around, took pics and took in the feel of the city, found a tapas place for dinner and walked up there. Love that the city is all for walking, huge sidewalks and so well lit!

Dinner place we had planned said they can’t take us and gave us another recommendation , sister restaurant right next door. Worked out well, not as crowded, went in ~7:30 pm which is very early for Spain, typically dinner is 9 pm.

Drinks and food were good but dessert was the best, matcha cheesecake and ginger dessert. Walked back to apartment and settled down for the night by 10 pm.

Day 1 – sleep was messed up for everybody, I got up at 2 am, R at 3, T at 5 and sanjeev overall not good sleep as R was up. Kids started complaining about being hungry by 5/6 am.

Sanjeev stepped out ~7 am, got coffee, chocolate milk and pastries. Bread is sooooo good here. Kids gobbled up food and chocolate milk, then started watching TV. Sanjeev went for a run, apartment was right behind the famous sagrada familia church.

Everyone got ready and headed out at 9 am. Plan was a walking tour including tour of park guell and sagrada familia, that starts at 11 am. We were 2 hrs early, so let the guide know and started walking around. The La Rambla is a huge sidewalk with road on either side for cars. It connects to the port so walked up to the port. Slightly windy day, we were a bit tired and cold. Discovered a stall selling tickets to see very old ships at the port.

Tanush absolutely loved it and learned about how people sailed across the world, what they ate, survived etc good way to spend time and then walked back to meet our guide for the day a few mins before 11. Fred was great, very good at helping us understand history and influences. Walked to a square where, I already forgot what he said about it. But beautiful square and today has a lot of Airbnb houses, great spot for it.

Mainly his story centered Guell family, extremely rich family that became wealthy as a cotton textile company imports from US. Then about Gaudi, artist who has built most of the buildings and sculptures in the city + the architect of the sagrada familia.

Fred walked us to the 1st home (or one of the homes) of the guell family, doesn’t look great from outside but his description was that it was massive, each room has a chimney and the terrace shows the different designs of the chimney. We then walked to the famous Mercado bouqeria , was so fun! Colorful stuff all around, fresh sea food! Sample a few empanadas at a couple stalls, very yum! Loved the hustle bustle all around.

We then walked into the gothic quarter, the oldest part of the city, the more you walk inside you are going back in time to the point where the Roman lived a 1000 years ago. The lovely part of Barcelona is he pointed out the influence of some many different empires over time starting with Roman’s, Visigoth’s, Arabs (800 years) and Christian’s. So great that they have discovered old ruins and preserved it.

Fred showed us the store with figurine of the boy with pants pulled down and his poop, perfect store for R to have good time. It’s a good luck sign, pooping fertilizes the soil and gives good harvest. This store extended it to have figurines of all the celebrities. Trumps was sold out, how accurate.

We enjoyed walking all over the gothic quarter, lovely buildings, stone cobbled streets. Fred showed us some churches, talked about historical significance, and then the last 3 columns preserved from the Roman era.

We then saw the cathedral, remnant of the wall surrounding the city and water ducts that carried water into the city from 11 kms away, fascinating to see all the remnants.

We then stopped for coffee at a shop that Picasso used to hang out at, fogatos (4 cats). The owner didn’t have a name for his eat/drink place saying 4 cats wouldn’t come here, so he named it 4 cats 😄 coffee was great! Kids had some chocolate milk.

Walked away from gothic quarter and passed the guell house with the depiction of George (knight?) driving a sword into the dragon, Gaudí”s creation and the story of the squabble between the neighbors to one up each other on how fancy their home is.

Next stop was lunch at 2 pm, tried some cava (Spanish white wine, made like champagne) and really yum. Food was good, tried Spanish tortilla for the first time, much thicker, like a very thick pancake.

R was quite cranky on this walking tour as she had not dressed warm enough and while it didn’t rain it was quite windy. She had also walked a lot, she had something to drink and went to sleep at the table. Enjoyed the food. We then took a cab to park guell. R was insisting to go back to the hotel to rest.

To her luck PG was closed as it was too windy, Fred gave us an overview from outside, got us updated admission tickets for next day. Park guell was guell family’s idea to have a community of wealthy houses in this area, designed by Gaudi. Idea never panned out, only 1 house built and repurposed as a public park later. The one is still occupied today, by a doctor.

Fred pointed out that getting a pic with no people around is impossible, so it being closed and getting a pic of the stairwell without people is rare.

We had admission tickets for sagrada familia at 5 pm and Fred came back with us to the apartment. R dressed warmly this time and around 4:30 pm we headed out. It was super convenient as we just walked 1 block. Fred gave us a historic background and the 1 hour tour was the audio tour. He bid his adieu to us.

He gave us a really good historical and current day political overview. French guy who has lived in Barcelona for 15-20 years, new dad. Talked about the language Catalonia, how Barcelona/state of Catalan are not happy about being part of Spain, Spanish is mandated for them. Would like to eventually be an independent country. Have their flag ready. Seemed to imply that it is more progressive compared to Spain and would prefer to be separated.

Sagrada familia is a marvel, construction has still not completed but started with the passion of Gaudi. Can see the work, faded where it started to the newer part, extremely massive and grand inside. described as a stone bible, 4 sides to depict the 4 phases of Jesus’s life. It’s very impressive but personally not something I can relate to I.e. why this much instead of doing the real good work to help your community. Why this superiority and promotion of a religion? Can’t appreciate beyond a point.

Before Fred left we asked him for recommendations for dinner and shopping. After the SG, took a taxi to born market for the shopping. Drivers go over the stone cobbled streets and are limited in how far they can go, definitely a city where residents walk everywhere.

Was productive, did some window shopping, bought a few tees. Then started to walk to the dinner place hotel Salamanca for paella. Quite a walk, restaurant is a family run place for a very long time and brings seafood from the south of Spain, salamanca.

The paella was next level, so good. Minimum order is for 2 people and quantity was more than that. Delicious!! Dessert was to die for too, there was stuff that was on the house, which was good as well as the tiramisu. If I visit again, i will come back here.

Took a cab back to hotel and this night everyone slept well. We were exhausted with the walking.