Barcelona: Spain – Day 4- Half day in Barcelona (II)

Schedule: Sarada Familia, Camp Nou, Olympic Stadium,  Barri Gothic Shopping Walk

We drove through Barcelona city center to reach the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, the stadium that was used for both the 1929 World Fair and as the 1992 Summer Olympics.  It is located in Montjuïc, which also includes the Montjuïc castle, the Catalan Art Museum as well as the Fundacio Joan Miro (an art museum dedicated to Joan Miro).

Parc de Monjuic

Cable cars going up

There is also the 1929 Expo Fairgrounds, which includes some buildings that were left (or reconstructed) from the era as well as a mall that was converted from an empty bullring.   There are even cable cars to get people from the base to the top of Montjuïc!  As my tour guide describes it, it seems like a mini nature’s getaway for Barcelonians, especially in the Citadel Park.

Just in front of the Palau Nacional is also a majestic fountain.  The fountain show is free and was created in 1929 for the fair.  There are also separate shows for the winter and summer seasons as well as different start times – at 7PM and 10PM respectively.  Our 30 minutes stop couldn’t even allow us to run over to the fountain for the photo (I can only see it behind trees).

Catalan Art Museum

That being said, we only visited the stadium, which was free!  Most of our tour group walked around, then decided it was too cold and went back on the bus *why?!*

Olympic caudron

The Olympic Cauldron: the dramatic moment when the archer sent a lit-up arrow straight from the middle of the stadium into the cauldron to begin the 1992 Olympics.

stadium

The area was pretty quiet, with only part of the stadium, a souvenir shop and a café opened to the public.

The stadium has a capacity of 54,000 and in additional to the two big events, it has also held many large concerts over the years.

Outside the stadium complex

outside the stadium complex

outside of the Stadium complex

Across from the stadium is an interesting twisted structure but is actually the Montjuïc Communications Tower.  It was constructed to assist the broadcasting of the 1992 Olympic and was made to look like an athlete holding an Olympic torch.  Due to its shape, it also works as a sundial.

Placa d’Europa

The entire area including the Calatrava Communications Tower is called the Placa d’Europa.  It’s very quiet …

Placa d’Europa

It didn’t help that it was raining a bit….

Ok… I just went a little shutter crazy … it was my 10 minutes of freedom from the tour bus.

I was back 5 minutes early but the entire bus was waiting for me.  The bus driver was even joking with me, seeing that I was running towards the bus, he closed the door and started the bus …

Window-Traveling

We drove back down to Barcelona to go to the Barri Gothic shopping street.  We drove pass the Marina and not given the opportunity for us to get off, I can only “window-travel”.  I experienced much of Barcelona through the windows of my tour bus …

Christopher Columbus Memorial

The next is the drive-by Lobster sculpture, which was originally in the Gambrinus seafood restaurant until it was closed down.  It is a 10 meter fibreglass statue designed by  Javier Mariscal.

my lobster! Nooooooo … Lobster Sculpture

Plaza de la Carbonera

and then the rain came …

rain

The Marina also has the “Barcelona Head“, which was design by American Roy Lichtenstein, for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.  It is 64 feet high and can’t be missed, even from the bus.

Barcelona Head

Franca Train Station: This train station was built in the 19th century and is considered one of the nicest train stations in the city.  It is called Franca Train station because trains from France used to terminate at this station but there is now a high speed rail.

Franca Train Station 

We finally got to get off the bus and walk around the Barri Gotic Shopping Street – Carrer e la Portaferrissa. However, there are a lot of people on the streets so we were afraid of pick pocketers … again.

Barri Gothic Shopping

We only walked for about 1.5 blocks.  My mom didn’t want to walk and we made a detour to the nearest Carrefour to buy dinner.  The food wasn’t that expensive, and there were lots of items that cost around 1-3 Euros.  We bought some bread, ham, cheese, an a bag of salad to make our own jamon sandwich at the hotel.  The rest of the time was spent at a Mcdonalds where there was free WiFi.

Carrefour’s yoghurt selection =)

I went shopping around some of the local chain stores like Pull & Bear as well as Mango and Zara but I didn’t get anything.  I was told clothes were cheaper in Spain but wasn’t, especially since I had to convert it to Euros.

Maritime Museum

On the road again, this time to the hotel.  That night we stayed at AC Hotel, almost 30 minutes from Barcelona.  There was just one receptionist and it looked a little worse than our first hotel.  It was much smaller and not very memorable.  I do feel like it is very easy for people to slip and an slip out …  The lighting was also a bit dark , so I did not leave my room that night.  Even my mom didn’t take a photo of the hotel room ..

Day of Visit: February 27, 2016

Barcelona : Spain – Day 4 – Half Day in Barcelona (I)

Schedule: Sarada Familia, Camp Nou, Olympic Stadium,  Barri Gothic Shopping Walk

Leaving Zaragoza after breakfast, we were on the road to Barcelona (more sitting and staring out the window ensues).

Beautiful countryside!

Shortly after leaving Zaragoza, it started to snow! I haven’t seen snow all year so this was quite a surprise!

Our first of many visits to rest stops in the coming days.

Short Rest Stop

We got to Barcelona shortly before lunch, only to be slowed down by protesters.  (Apparently, protests in Barcelona are quite common).

On a bus – I see protesters!

The first stop was the famous Sagrada familia, a church that is still in construction after 150 years!  They aren’t in any rush though .. I love the quote by Antonio Gaudi, “my client is not in any hurry”.

Construction!

According to our tour guide, construction began in 1883 and it was on and off for various reasons from the the civil war to the the country’s lack of funding.  Extensive work was made in 1992 for the Barcelona Summer Olympics and starting in 2010, have even held consecrations.

Another angle!

Therefore, the church looks very different from various angles.  Some sides look authentically old, while other looks modern, and still some looks almost fairy tale-like ( I was thinking Disney castle or gingerbread house).  It will, however, be the tallest church when it is finished … sometime after the year 2026 …

Difference in texture and material

It is a popular place for pick pocketers to converge so always be careful of your possessions!

Another under construction photo

Admission costs 15 Euros and advance purchase of the tickets can be made online at http://www.sagradafamilia.cat.  That might be the best option if you are tight on time.  We didn’t know how our bus tour works and what time we would be there, so I didn’t purchase the tickets in advance.  The tour actually gave us 2 hours to go in and to eat lunch.  However, there isn’t much to do around the church if you don’t go inside.

Sagrada Familia

When we got there at 1 P.M., they were selling tickets for 2:30 P.M. but our bus leaves at 3 P.M! (so no one went in).  On hindsight, I felt like I should have entered, even for a few minutes because who knows when I will be back in Spain.  Furthermore, from the pictures I’ve seen on google image, it is definitely not the typical church.  Now I regret not going in 😦

Different look

So what did we do during the time that we WEREN’T at the church? We went to eat Chinese food…. because nothing beats going to a foreign place and eating nonn-local food.  Moreover, is there anything cheaper than Chinese food?  The noodle we had was only 5 Euros but it’s a small plate.  The one we went to is Chino Casa Fong (address: Carrer de Sardenya, 323, 08025 Barcelona, Spain).  There is another one called Wok Street and from the photos, it looks way nicer~  Sigh, should I blame the tour guide for not giving us better suggestions?

5 Euro Noodles

I was eager to walk around the neighbouhood but really there isn’t much to see.  I interrupted a conversation between two coffee guests and the coffee shop owner when I went in to buy a latte to go.

I wanted to go see some souvenir shops near the church but my mom was tired again so we just sat at a cafe shop called Trabucaire.  She ordered hot chocolate without looking at the menu (and more importantly the price).  The waiters were really nice! I finally thought we met some people with very good customer service.  So, we ordered a churro, a coffee, and a hot chocolate.  The total bill came to $30 Canadian! He added service charges (20% apparently!) and they didn’t even break down this bill.  It left a bad taste in my mouth, I know I am partially to blame for not seeing the price first but wow… and it wasn’t even that good.

Churro + Hot chocolate + latte = 20 euros = 30 Canadian

Alright, brushing off that embarrassing tourist mistake, I got on the tour bus and travelled to Camp Nou, the base for FC Barcelona.

FC Barcelona

It is a paid attraction, where for 23 Euros, you can get a the Camp Nou experience.   This includes a tour of the press room, box seats, trophy room, warm up bench etc …

Camp Nou Poster

You can also buy tickets at their automated ticket booth.  There was a Real Madrid vs Athletico Game a couple of days after my visit to Camp Nou.  The cheapest available seat came to 325 Euros.

Map of the stadium

Inside the souvenir store

uniforms

We spent most of the time inside the official souvenir store 🙂  While a windbreaker jacket costing about 80 Euros looks really attractive, I bought something  useless instead, a 6 euro commemorative coin 🙂  They also have one of L. Suarez and the stadium ….

commemorative coin!

That ends our Camp Nou experience… We were never told our next destination until we are close to where we are because tour guides always assume we forget anyways and they don’t want to repeat themselves.

city tour on the bus ensues

The story continues another time …

Day of visit : February 27th, 2016