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| Segrada Familia |
After contemplating several transportation options,
we decided it was in our best interest to buy a two day pass from the Barcelona
Bus Turistic (there is also a Gray Line hop-on-hop-off that does pretty much
the same routes). Somehow it works out that you can buy a coupon for 4 euros
off the price of 31 euros for 3 euros thereby saving 1 euro. Confused? We were
too but it did work out and we got a book full of discounts as well as a good
map of Barcelona.
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| Casa Batllo |
The starting point for the bus is at the Placa de
Catalunya on the north end of the main part of La Rambla but you can catch it
wherever you are along the route and buy tickets on the bus if necessary. It
was a great sunny day so we chose to take the Blue Line (there are three
different routes) and stop at the Park Guell, a park designed by Gaudi,
Barcelona’s famous architect for his great patron, Count Eusebi Guell. It was
to be a residential area but only one house was actually completed, the house
that Gaudi lived in and now is a museum.
On our way to the park, our commentary delivered
in English through earphones (seven other languages are available as well)
pointed out several landmark Gaudi buildings including the Casa Batllo with its
characteristic wavy edifices and the most famous, the Segrada Familia, the
cathedral begun in the late 19th century and under construction today years
after Gaudi’s death in 1926. We had visited it several times in the past and
skipped it by this time.
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| Park Guell |
The Park Guell was very crowded when we arrived.
It was after all, a weekend and a beautiful sunny day. We walked past the
famous lizard fountain and up to the top
of the grotto area to view the city from there. The buildings that do exist in
the park are almost like gingerbread houses. Gaudi’s home is pink. As you can
see from the pictures, he used a lot of color in his work.
Our next hop-off point was a little section of the
city called Sarria where we looked for a place to grab a light lunch. The town
square bordered by the church and the town hall was busy with people watching a
fencing exhibition. We explored several side streets and happened upon a Panini
shop where we ordered something by pointing to it on the menu and got a bottle
of “agua” to drink—“no gas.” If you’ve not toured in Europe, you might be
surprised with their penchant for carbonated mineral water. The sandwich was
excellent, whatever it was and the cold water refreshing. 
We returned to the bus stop and caught the next
bus to finish the Blue Line’s route. Had we not gotten off, the round trip
would have been about two hours. We still had a good part of the afternoon left
so we hopped off the Blue Line, took the Red Line and transferred to the Green
Line for a short trip around the port area of the city.
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