Spain- Part 3 (Barcelona)

 (Part 1 here and Part 2 here)

Day seven:

We started the day at the Arc de Triomf.

We had 10:30 tickets to the Palau de la Musica. I think this is pretty popular but it wasn't too busy when we were there.  The audioguide is great (uses your own phone) and the performance hall is beautiful. The pillars on the upstairs balcony are so picturesque. We got lucky that the organ played for a couple of minutes while we were in there.

After the Palau de la Musica, we spent some time walking around the city.  We found a shop (with several locations) that sells a wide variety of these pooping figures. I am so hilariously confused by this tradition, but apparently people place these figures in nativity scenes at Christmas time. There is a traditional figure for these but this shop also had characters from movies/TV/books, as well as popular and political figures. Brandon's favorite was R2-D2 pooping a screw.

Eventually we made it to the Mercado de la Boqueria for lunch.  This food market was big and busy and a little overwhelming, but we found some good food and lots of delicious fruit juices.

Next up was Guell Palace.  This had so many amazing features, and it's incredible how they could fit so much into a small city plot!  We especially loved the chimney turned into art pieces.  

More wandering and exploring! We saw the bridge of sighs (Pont del Bisbe), the Cathedral, and did some souvenir shopping, and ended up with more churros con chocolate. 

Day eight:

Easter! We figured not much would be open on Easter Sunday so we spent the day at Parc Guell.  (Get tickets ahead of time, they sell out.) The layout of this park doesn't have a whole lot of logic to it, but Gaudi's work impressed us again. We certainly got our steps in!  It was originally supposed to be a housing community, but only 2 of the 60 planned homes were ever built.

On our way back to the metro from the Parc Guell, it started to rain so we stopped for Tapas (and pasta for the kids). Yum.

Day nine:

Sagrada Familia was the big event of the day. We have seen a lot (like a LOT) of churches and cathedrals since moving to Europe nearly 7 years ago, so I wasn't expecting to be as impressed as I was by this one. Seriously every detail of this place is a work of art. The nativity facade was especially beautiful, and the sun coming in through the stained glass was just amazing.

Quick stops at Casa Mila and Casa Batllo before hunting down some espadrilles.

Dinner at a local Spanish restaurant, and then after the little kids went to bed, Andrew and I went out to get some night photos at Sagrada Familia. Love having a kid who is old enough to stay up for things like this every once in a while!

Day ten:

Travel day! We packed up and headed over to the airport, and made our way home.