Getting turned around, flying high and looking for a little Magic - November 7, 2013

After a full travel day that included a trip the to storied Camp Nou to see FC Barcelona, we were a little slow out of the gate this morning.  As I had previously mentioned, the day would more than likely start off at the amazing La Boqueria market!

The mouth watering little fruit cups.

Just love all of the mushrooms.

After grabbing a quick bite at the market, we made our way to the Barri Gothic, or Gothic Quarter.  This is the oldest part of Barcelona, and it is a maze of narrow winding streets.  The buildings are about 4 or 5 stories high, and the streets are lined with all kinds of shops.  You can really get a sense for the Barcelonian's love for fashion is this part of the city.  There are some fantastic one off boutiques.  That being said, there is also a lot of crap too...  We must have wandered around the Gothic Quarter for a couple of hours, and I swear that our walk was trending us away from the La Rambla and our hotel, but when we walked out of a narrow street and onto a busier street, we were right back at La Rambla, and across the street was our hotel the Le Meridian.  Weird....

Fin has been obsessed with watches lately, it must be a Stacey thing.  Anyways, he finally found one that he loved.

Stacey and B checking out the windows of one of the 7 million shops.

Typical street running through the Gothic Quarter.

Great door detail on one of the buildings. 

After getting lost in the Gothic Quarter, we were ready for more food.  We ducked off on La Rambla and entered into on the liveliest Placa's in Barcelona, Placa Reial.  The square has been around since the 1950's, and it is lined with cafe's looking out into the central courtyard.

Placa Reial

I'm not so sure why Stacey was so obsessed with the palm tress, we see them all the time at home...

Tough guy and his girl.

About the 13th time Fin let us know what time it was....

You tell me if it was a good idea to let Fin have a cappuccino...

Some rather fit locals showing off.... 

Fin wasn't that impressed.

With a meal in our bellies, and all fired up on caffeine, we made our way to the Gothic masterpiece, the Barcelona Cathedral.  There was a really cool entrance that we took on the side of the building, it lead to an open air cloisters.  If we hadn't stumbled upon that entrance, I doubt would have seen this part of the building.  I thought that Bernie and the boys were slow building our place..... this place, began in 1298, and wasn't completed until the 20th century!

Cool gargoyle along the way.

Kids looking for the Frog in the Well. 

Great sculpture in the cloister.

While we were in the cloister we stumbled upon a goose yoga class, for reals.  We must have just missed their downward dogs, as they had just moved into the tree pose.

Oh ya, here are some pics of the inside.

Front facade of Barcelona Cathedral.

I have heard that this is the shitiest hotel in Spain....

One of the things that stood out on our travels this past spring was the amount of public graffiti.  Here is a collection of some of the artwork we saw along the way today.

This was actually part of gallery that was closed. 

We stepped into the old telegraph office, and we were rewarded with this amazing ceiling!

Across the street from the telegraph office is the marina.  We made the long trek around to the Funicular, so we could take the cable car across the marina to Montjuic.

Fun statue at the head of the marina.

Waffle break.  It looks like they are a hit...

Base of the funicular.

Dodgy looking cable car set up.

Besides watches, Fin's other new obsession is cruise ships.

Barcelona!

Once we were at the top of Montjuic the views of the city were spectacular.  We were all getting pretty tired, but we wanted to the see the Magic Fountain show at the base of the Museau Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, so we stepped into the hotel at the top of the hill and called a cab.  It's a good thing we to a taxi, because I am pretty sure it would have taken us and hour and half to walk....

Montjuic gardens.

As it turns out, you should always read your guide books first... it turns out that this is November, and there is no magic fountain show on thursday nights.... soooo, I guess we will have to come back tomorrow night....   However, as you can see from the pics below, it is still a pretty spectacular spot.

Honestly, the Spaniards are brilliant.  An escalator to the top.... awesome.

Ok, so that was a lot to take in.  But how about this to end the day?  Barcelona saw its last bullfight in June of 1977.  The fights took place at the building below since 1900.   So, if you have an old arena like this just sitting around, what do you do with it?  Tours, concerts, plays??

The awesome exterior of the Barcelona Arena.

 The answer to our puzzle....  You turn it into a shopping mall!!

Ole!