Barcelona and Gaudi (part2)

On the next day it's time to visit the main attraction of Barcelona: The Sagrada Familia. It's a masterpiece by Antoni Gaudi. We already bought our tickets online, from it's official website. From there you can choose one of the discounted price, obviously choose the cheapest price lah. We bought the ticket to visit the cathedral and the tower. But… on that day it was raining, so the tower visit is cancelled due to safety reason. They will refund the money to my credit card. After deducted by the refund, at the end we only paid around S$6/person. Super cheap. I suggest you buy your ticket online, if not you'll have to queue for quite a long time and pay higher price. You should go there early in the morning too. The queue become terribly long in the afternoon.

On our way to the cathedral I already felt so excited. People say that this building really can put you in an awe from the moment you stepped out from metro station. When that moment come, I turned my head to the cathedral, and it really put me in an awe for few seconds. It was so majestic, so huge and so high. I had such a magical feeling like the first time you watch Songs of the Sea. Lame comparison, I know. Please forgive.

This cathedral even haven't finished yet. It's always been under construction for 100 years already. When it will be finished in around 2026-2028 it will become the highest church in the world. You can google it yourself for complete details and history.

 

there was a marathon on that day, how come they run with minimal outfit while i'm still freezing with my 3 layers outfits

magnificent

detailed interior

super detailed, how did they do that...

bought hot chocolate to make me feel 'warmer'

look mommy, i'm finally here! it's not photoshopped leh!

inside the museum

one of the facade

still under construction

at a park nearby

It's about lunch time already when we finished visiting Sagrada Familia. We cannot decide where to eat. It was on Sunday, as I remembered most of the shops all closed (Europe country is so religious, they closed on Sunday). We decided to follow suggestion that I read from shootfirsteatlater.com to eat The Best Paella in town. She said it is located just in front of Santa Maria del Mar Cathedral. Near Picasso Museum too. As suggested we ordered their Black Rice Paella and Chorizo Pizza (really love chorizo, never get enough). The paella is really delicious! I can't really tell if it's really the best paella in town since we only eat paella once, here. But compared to other paella that I've eat at Singapore, this one is really nice!! I can't remember the price. Sorry. But every meal is around 8-15 euros per dish.

stone road

santa maria del mar cathedral

black rice paella, yummy!!

chorizo pizza

somekind of rickshaw

another side of the cathedral

unique gelato store, from what i've read on other blog, that machine can spin then stop at your desired flavour

decided to get a dessert

that's the store name, in case you're curious

too cold to eat gelato, got myself a chocolate crepe instead

never say no to dessert

 We can't decide where else to go, so we just walk and enjoy the surroundings. And accidentally passed by Barcelona Cathedral. What I love about Europe is you can really just walk and enjoy the environment without breaking a sweat (of course depends on the season) and not afraid of getting robbed (like in Indonesia).

this is a display window of a cake shop, they just put everything there

must be some landmark, don't know what's the name, just pose

barcelona cathedral

barri gotic area

bike for rent

drinking fountain

Bored of walking and have no destination, We decided to go to The Poble Espanyol. It is an open-air architectural museum, located on the mountain of Montjuïc. Literally it's like mini Spanish Village. Inside got some stores selling arts, souvenirs and some eateries. I felt like I'm inside RPG game. Like Prontera in Ragnarok. Not much to do here. Just explore and took photos. Only visit if you have spare time.

it was raining everyday during our entire stay :(

run out of poses

The day is still not end yet. And we decided to be super efficient to finish all the tourist attractions by today, so tomorrow can spend the whole day to shop. We went to see Gaudi's other masterpieces along Passeig de Gracia: Casa Batllo and Casa Milla. We wanted to go in, but the queue is damn long. So we just took photo from outside.

see the crowd over there

casa batllo, it was a residential house.

casa milla

Dinner that day was at Tapa Tapa, we can't walk any further, I just want to be indoor because the weather is so cold and it was drizzling the whole day and I was wearing a cheap boots, so the water went inside my foot and I can't feel my toes anymore.
 

packed with tourists

platter #1

platter #2

lemon fanta!

Food was ok only, not so great but also not that bad either. The staff is very helpful and english speaking. They have menus in english, spanish and japanese. So don't worry to having difficulties in ordering. We just ordered whatever he suggested for us. One thing that I regretted is not ordering the Sangria. I've been to Spain but never drink Sangria. Another reason to re-visit.

Sagrada Familia

Carrer de Mallorca, 401, 08013 Barcelona, Spain
Nearest Metro: Sagrada Familia

Santa Maria del Mar Restaurant
Plaza Santa Maria, 4, Barcelona, Spain
Nearest Metro: Jaume

Poble Espanyol
Avinguda Francesc Ferrer i Guardia, 13, 08038 Barcelona, Spain
Nearest Metro: Espanya
From the metro station you can take bus #13 or #23 alight 2 stops later.

Casa Batllo
Passeig de Gràcia, 43, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
Nearest Metro: Passeig de Gracia

Casa Milla

Provença, 261 - 265. 08008, Barcelona, Spain

Nearest Metro: Diagonal

From Casa Batllo you can just walk to Casa Milla, it's so near. Unless you go to the opposite direction like we did :(

Tapa Tapa

Passeig de Gràcia, 44, 08007 Barcelona, Spain 

Nearest Metro: Passeig de Gracia