Five Favourites in Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona was our first stop in Spain, and what a lovely city it was. Here were five of my favourite things from our time there.

#1 Gaudi

I knew that Gaudi architecture was a huge attraction in Barcelona, but I didn't realise that the kids would enjoy his work so much. As soon as we got out of the train at our first stop, La Sagrada Familia, Zavian in particular said it was his favourite church so far. 

The detail was just incredible, and so unlike any of the architecture we had seen before.

Everywhere we looked, there was something unusual and interesting. 

We also saw the outside of Casa Battle. The rounded edges and colour were especially beautiful. 

We stopped by the front of Parc Guell, too, and admired what we could from the front gates. If we had more time, I really would have loved to spend the day in this park as the mosaics I've seen in photos are just incredible. But since we were in Barcelona for such a short time, we decided it wasn't worth paying entry fees when we could only spend a short time at each place if we wanted to see quite a few.

Near Parc Guell, we also happened upon the 4D Gaudi experience. I had read about it online but wasn't sure what the kids would think, so didn't plan to go. However, upon seeing it, the kids were super keen. I'm glad we went as it the show shared the features of Gaudi's work and helped us get a better feel for his inspirations. It was fairly short, I think 20 minutes in total, but well done.

I didn't realise until later that Zavian is copying Gaudi's pose here, which shows me how much he liked Gaudi's work! 

Outside the concert hall

#2 Flamenco

Notice the guy behind Zaf in the photo above... he loved Zaf's impromptu Flamenco pose after we watched the show LOL

Flamenco isn't really from the area of Barcelona but there were a few shows available so I decided to book one. We saw four different dancers, two singers, and a guitar player. 

The music was captivating and we loved the Arabian influence. It was really a unique style of dance and throughout the hour performance there were different styles showcased. 

Enjoying a mosaic on the ground at La Rambla

#3 La Rambla

La Rambla is the most popular street in town and has shops, restaurants, and lots of interesting artwork. You could tell it was geared to tourists because of all the souvenirs around, but it also felt like locals were enjoying their time there, too. 

The highlight of our few hours exploring La Rambla was probably seeing the busker pictured above, who was creating artwork with his feet. His drawing and handwriting was absolutely amazing and he had a very inspiring story.

We will treasure the memory of meeting him, that's for sure!

Fountain at Parc de la Ciutadella

#4 Parc de la Ciutadella 

This was a free park in town which seemed to be a hot spot for tourists and locals alike. People were sitting in the grass, having picnics, playing sports, and taking photos.

The kids loved climbing the trees and enjoying the pigeons. 

There were always a lot of people selling things at famous tourist attractions, like sunglasses or umbrellas etc, but we were super excited when a nice elderly man came up offering samosas and chai. Yum!

Pointing out famous foods

#5 Food

Zorion wrote a whole post about some of the different foods we tried in Barcelona, so I won't go through them here. But we were very excited to try a new cuisine after having mostly pizza and pasta for nearly 3 weeks! There were a lot of fun flavours and dishes both savoury and sweet.

I sort of wish we had a few more days in Barcelona but am happy we got to see as much as we did! It was a lovely place and I'd love to go back one day.