We dedicated the second full day in Barcelona to Gaudí although we could certainly spend a lot more time exploring his work. Nevertheless, we managed to visit the most important (and most popular) sights. So how to plan your day with Gaudí in Barcelona?
9:00 PARK GÜELL
Let’s start with some practical stuff - if you want to see the paid part of the park (and you really do because it’s one of the most famous places in Barcelona), buy your tickets in advance. The tickets cost 7E per person but the number of people who can be inside the park at the same time is limited, which means the tickets can be gone quite quickly and you might not get inside if you plan on buying the tickets in the park. The good thing is that there’s a QR code on the ticket, which means you don’t have to print anything (we bought our tickets only the day before and couldn’t print them but scanning the code from the email wasn’t an issue). The second tip is to come as early in the morning, as possible. Although the number of visitors who can be there at the same time is limited, it’s still quite a lot of people but the earlier you get there, the bigger the chance there won’t be as many people as in the afternoon.
My third tip - enjoy it! Gaudí did an amazing job when working on this project and created buildings and statues that look like they’re from a fairytale. He keeps showing us that everything can be a reality and there are literally no limits.
What’s extremely interesting as well, is the fact that every building, every column or statue has its purpose. For example, the columns which in the morning light look incredible, work as a tool to get water from above to a water tank which was supposed to provide water for the houses in the park. Although the plans for a city inside a park were never reality, what Gaudí managed to create is a fascinating heritage anyway.
11:00 COFFEE BREAK
On our way from the park ( we basically walked everywhere we could, it takes more time but if you don’t mind walking, it’s the best way to explore the city, plus there are escalators on the last hill leading up to the park), we stopped for a coffee and a crispy croissant in a little café we saw on our way to the city centre. It was tiny but very nice and serving great coffee, so we highly recommend it!
13:40 LUNCH
Since we still weren’t really hungry after the feast on Tuesday, we stopped in a small restaurant/bar with a funny sign on the door for a quick lunch. We didn’t order coffee so we can’t confirm or deny the claim but the food was delicious and they serve the best ice-tea I've ever had so we left the place satisfied, happy and ready for our Gaudí walking tour.
14:30 GAUDÍ WALKING TOUR
This time we had a different guide, A.J. from the USA, who knew at least five languages plus Czech (imagine our surprise when we were discussing something, sure that nobody can understand and our guide turned around and started speaking in Czech!), so the walking tour was even funnier.
We started the walk on Passeig de Gràcia street, to our surprise looking on a sidewalk. We found out that the tiles were designed by Gaudí himself, so when you walk on that street, know that you’re walking on art! :)
I won’t go into detail about each building we talked about because this post would be even longer than it is now, but it was one of the most interesting tours ever, with the right mix of historical facts, interesting details and funny stories, which kept us awake and interested for the whole 2,5 hours (with a short break for coffee/food/toilet). Just one interesting fact (I had to pick one but there were many) - La Pedrera (on pictures above) was designed to be changed. The walls inside can be moved which means everybody can customise their apartment as they wish, which is pretty incredible.
Our last stop was the one and only Sagrada Familia and we walked around the outside to see it from all possible angles. The story and how it’s coded into symbols is genius and you could look at the cathedral for hours without it ever looking less impressive or fascinating.
18:00 SAGRADA FAMILIA
We ended the walking tour with seeing Sagrada Familia from the outside and in an hour we were about to discover it from the inside as well. We attempted to find some energy for the tour so we spent the hour in a café nearby and we couldn’t wait to go inside. I think everybody kind of knows how Sagrada looks from the inside since we’ve all seen the pictures. But no picture can help you prepare for the impressiveness and the genius of the space that opens in front of you when you enter through the main entrance.
And because it would be an incredibly long post if I started explaining everything I love about Sagrada Familia, I’ve saved it for another post with more pictures.
20:30 DINNER
Don’t get too excited, there’s no dinner place recommendation today either. After the whole day of walking around and trying to remember as much as possible, we were headed to KFC (as the adventurous travellers that we are), ordered a Twister with chips and were extremely excited to eat it while looking at the Sagrada Familia from the window.
DAY 4 - LEAVING BARCELONA
The fourth day was, unfortunately, the last one for us and since our flight was quite early in the morning we didn’t have a chance to explore another part of Barcelona. On the other hand, we had enough time to think about where we need to go when we come back because once you visit this city and fall in love with it, you’ll want to keep coming back. Have you been to Barcelona or are you planning to go? Or do you have a different favourite when it comes to Spain?
PIN THIS FOR LATER
