Hop Hop

When we first left home I thought of Barcelona as a place to spend a couple days getting acclimated for the trip. It had never been on my 'list' as places I must see but I was soon charmed by the city

On our first day we decided to start off our time with an city overview...what better way to go than a open air HopOn HopOff bus. We had two days to see what this city had to offer.

Sunshine in blue skies with palm trees help a lot too.

We lived on Career d'Arago within walking distance of the main thoroughfare Passeig de Gracie where the action was and where we would catch our first bus.  We passed churches...

and lots of apartment buildings...

and cool roof lines...

on our way to de Gracia.  Lots of lovely shops and very interesting buildings, a mix of the old and some new in-fill buildings.

The above is Louis Vuitton's window display for June...saw it again in Venice.

This 8 storey building is a home on top of commercial space.  Here was my introduction to Gaudi and I fell in love with his sense of fun.  Next blog will be entirely on this house, Casa Batllo.

More shops of interest...

The architecture of olden times is unique and so often you find it right beside the sleek and simple lines of modern times.

We hopped on the bus here and rode north and then west, south and back again...taking in as much as we could.

The following is one of my favourites of the entire trip...the reflected sky on that glass wall of the train station just happened...when you are on top of the bus you just click and when you download your photos at the end of the day you get what you got!

We hopped off the bus to take in this Art Museum (full blog to come).  It took my breath away.

There are monuments to all the Spanish generals, leaders, heroes...monuments everywhere...

Had to stop by the Museum built to house the Joan Miro (pronounced John) collection where I snapped Sherwin with a fun statue...we did this for Maizy!  (well, we liked it too but it reminded us of Granddaughter No.1)

You all know I love lots of embellishments on buildings...

but appreciated the sleek, clean lines of their more recently built skyscrapers too.

The bus took us down to the waterfront where we saw this tram...

and of course a tribute to Christopher Columbus.  Sorry for the poor quality but for a drive-by-shooting you take what you get.

And more embellished buildings to please my soul...

But near the end of one of our bus rides we came upon this symbol for the new Barcelona...

'Torre Agbar' is a 38 storey skyscraper that marks the gateway to the technology district of the city. King Juan Carlos opened the building in 2005. Click here to read more.

The last item of our 2nd day was the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral like none you have seen before.  Sherwin will be doing an entire blog on just this building so I won't spoil it now with more than this one glimpse into the sanctuary.

Barcelona has so much to offer.  We barely scratched the surface.  My next blog will be the Gaudi house, Casa Batllo and then I must show you my treasures of that huge Art Museum we hopped off for.  Then onto the cruise.

For anyone who wishes to see more of my 'numerous' photos of Barcelona you can always arrange a private viewing at our house.  Come on down!