We were really close, we figured, “Why not?” and so we took the car for a day and headed across the border to Barcelona.
Our map of France literally ended at the border, but we figured the signs would lead us in the right direction. Besides, I had a hastily scribbled map of Barcelona stuffed in my pocket, from my friend Katie. She used to live there, and told me to be sure to make it to Las Ramblas, the tree-lined main pedestrian street that goes from the Christopher Columbus Column, the Mirador de Colom, at the beach up to the main Plaça de Catalunya, Catalonia Square.
Well, we got further and further into Barcelona, following this or that road at a whim, and suddenly there in front of us was the tall column, the beach to our right, and an underground parking sign just to our left. It didn’t matter that the rates were exorbitant, just that we made it!
We parked and walked the entire Las Ramblas, filled with street performers and artists, food stalls, even animal cages selling live turtles, mice, ferrets and fish. Anything you can think of, they had it there. Off on the side streets were other markets, and just a street or two over was the old Jewish Quarter. We stopped into a tapas bar and had our first real taste of “small foods” with a glass of wine, then we walked through the main square and up to the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, (or simply La Sagrada Família) which is the still unfinished cathedral in Barcelona. It was designed by Antoni Gaudí, and started in 1882. When we visited in 2009, it was still under construction. Since we were on a spur-of-the-moment trip, we could not get tickets to get in, but the exterior alone was worth the walk. If we return, we will go for sure.
We had a great lunch on a side street, at a café filled with college age kids.
This was our first trip to Spain, and though we were there just a few hours, we enjoyed the time enough to return to the south of Spain for a couple weeks in 2014.