One of the main things I was looking forward to seeing in Barcelona was the Sagrada Familia building. We had booked tickets for our second day and I was so, so glad we had. When we got to the Basílica, there was a queue right around it, it’s pretty much the longest queue I had ever seen. So we walked smugly past with our time allocated ticket to the main entrance and were let in straight away!
Climbing the steps, the first thing we did was take a step back and just look up at the amazing building, it has such an amazing structure and is currently under construction. I thought the building was being reconstructed but it actually has never been finished. It has taken over 132 years and it is still going, architects today follow Gaudi’s plans and it is said it could finish in the first third of the century XXI! Looking up the towers themselves stand so tall and the design is breathtaking. Then looking closer at all the detail on the front, there really are no words, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
From the outside to the inside. You you really have to go inside. To me it looked like a spaceship. It was so futuristic it’s hard to understand this was his design from way back then. It is so tall and the columns have these pods on top of them with a name and artwork. Stained glass windows surround the church and are so intricate and colourful. The centre piece of the Jesus on the cross, is quite gothic looking I felt, sort of like something from a Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet, it was really beautiful.
Don’t forget to look up….
We said goodbye to Sagrada Familia and we decided to take the Barcelona bus tour, the hop on, hop off bus is a great way to see the city. You can choose which route to take, either East or West and get on the relevant bus. It’s €27 for one day and €35 for a two-day ticket each. We just did the one day and took the East tour which went past Park Guell, Port Vell, the Torre Agbar skyscraper and many others. The West side goes past things like the Camp Nou football stadium and meets up with the East bus at the Placa Catalunya, where you can catch the start of the tour. You can do both in one day, we just never had the time.
After a full sight-seeing we built up such an appetite. One place I’d spotted on the bus was Bacoa, a burger bar not far from our hotel. This was such a great burger bar and as soon as you go in you get a small pencil and menu card, it’s a bit like going to Argos but I digress. You tick what you want from the menu then hand it to the guy at the till, pay and then take a seat.
You are given these….at first I had no idea, greeted with a bit of cardboard and a sticker, but alas it’s a burger holder and my origami skills came into play!
Our food came pretty quickly and looked so good! I went for the chicken burger and fries and Danny had the teriyaki burger with potatoes, we shared a bottle of white wine which was only €10. The wine in Barcelona is so cheap in most of the restaurants and always tastes so good!
My burger was so good I could have had another. There is so much choice of burger, add extras or not, it’s up to you! This place was such a good find I’d definitely go back here, much better than some of the very touristy restaurants at the Port.
