Mar 8, 2024 - Self touring Barcelona

We have planned to visit some of Antoni Gaudí’s buildings in the area.  First, we took subway and walked to La Pedrera-Casa Milà which is one of Gaudl’s building, and was declared an UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984. 

La Pedrera-Casa Milà

Then, we walked to Casa Batlló which is a building in the center of Barcelona. It was also designed by Antoni Gaudí, and is considered one of his masterpieces. This is a previously built house and was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí. It has been refurbished several times after that. 

Casa Batlló

Then, we visited Casa Calvet which is a building, designed by Antoni Gaudí for a textile manufacturer which served as both a commercial property and a residence. 

Casa Calvet

Due to time constrain, we did not visit the inside, we just admired his wonderfull designs from the outside.

Then, we walked to Plaça de Catalunya which is a large square in central Barcelona that is generally considered to be both its city centre and the place where the old city and the 19th century-built style meet. It is the north end starting point of the La Rambla. 

Pigeons in Plaça de Catalunya

Stroke along La Rambla

Then, we walked to the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, simply referred to as La Boqueria, which is a large public market in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona, and one of the city's foremost tourist landmarks, with an entrance from La Rambla. We had a very nice tapas lunch there.

La Boqueria

After lunch we walked to Güell Palace which is a mansion designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí for the industrial tycoon Eusebi Güell, and was built between 1886 and 1888. 

Güell Palace

After that we stroked along La Rambia to the Columbus Monument which is a 60 meters tall monument for Christopher Columbus at the lower end of La Rambla. It was constructed for the Exposición Universal de Barcelona in honor of Columbus' first voyage to the Americas. Unfortunately, there was reconstruction work going on and it was very difficult to take photo with it as background.

Next on our planned itinerary was Port Cable Car.  On the way, we wandered around the Port Vell and we spent some time there for photos.

Port Vell

It was a long walk to Port Cable Car.  After we got there, several of our traveling companions decided to give up the cable car ride and went back to hotel.  The iconic port cable car that cuts across the city's skyline to Montjuïc was about 20 minutes ride.  It carried us over the city port and skyline, it allowed us to have a 360 degree view of the ocean, beech, port, and city from the top.  It was a memorable experience.  After we got to Montjuic, we had more opportunities to take photos with the whole skyline as background.  It was an excellent and exciting experience.

View from the top of Montjuïc

View from Port Cable Car

In the evening we went to Rambla de Catalunya (recommended by Wendy) for tapas dinner.  They were truly amazing.  Everything we ordered (based on Wendy’s recommendation) was delicious. We took some photos as the following: