First of all, let me just say I LOVE Barcelona!!! This city deserves at least a week, not a day. And maybe we’ll sneak back to squeeze in a second too-short day trip to get actual tours of the Sagrada Familia and Mia Casa, and to eat dinner at Pablo Picasso’s favorite restaurant. (The Sagrada Familia Cathedral-under-construction is Barcelona’s biggest attraction and tickets need to be booked about 4 days in advance.)
I cannot stress enough how gorgeous and fascinating Barcelona is. It’s like like Art Nouveau on Acid. It’ll blow your mind. The Gaudi. The Gothic Neighborhood. Every block is a whole new world and a step into a different era.
Yesterday we took a bus tour of the city, got off to walk around Sagrada Familia, which is ornate and wild and full of so many intricate symbols you can’t hope to grasp them all in one view. Started in 1892, we’re hopeful to see it completed in 2026. Totally worth a return to see the fulfilmment of this fantasy building.
Our Airbnb apartment was ideally situated in the center of the old town–couldn’t be better–but the noise was crazy-making from construction next door. The host really should have warned us. That’s why our visit was so short: the city was all booked up, and we couldn’t flee our noisy flat fast enough. Devin and I are discussing carving out one of our Madrid days to take a bullet train back to Barcelona and back. Unless we fall so madly in love with Madrid that we don’t want to leave.
Visiting Madrid is important to me because my grandfather keeps telling me about a painting at the Prado Museum that he and my grandmother loved. As my grandfather slips into his end of life, and I still mourn my grandmother’s death two years ago, making a pilgrimage to see this painting feels like a way to connect with them spiritually, especially Grandma.
In a similar vein, we’ll be heading to Southern Spain tomorrow to wallow in magical Moorish culture and to take a day trip down to the shores of Cadiz to visit Devin’s father’s ashes.
And if you missed the news, Amazon is promoting Devin’s memoir about his trip to Cadiz this month. For October of 2019, you can grab the Kindle version of “10,000 Miles with My Dead Father’s Ashes” for only $1.99!
P.S. Turns out Devin was just out doing laundry. I guess he knows me well enough by now to know I’m going to wander–it’s what I do–and find my way home. All is well!
