Bienvenidos Bar-ce-fucking-lona!

Got up early yesterday, repacked everything, dragged all that shit to the train station and onto the train.  Three hours later, we arrived in Barcelona.  Meet up with our guide and head to our hotel.  We have just a few minutes break before we go to lunch and hook up with our tour for the afternoon.  But what do I see outside our 5th floor window at the Hotel Colon?

Hello Barcelona!

This is the gothic cathedral (not Gaudi's Segrada Familia), but it sure is pretty.  On the inside too...

It's a typical gothic church.  And it's in the middle of the Barrio Gotico (gothic neighborhood).  

So we met our tour guide yesterday about 3pm and went on a 4 hour walking tour through the old portion of Barcelona.  Four hours.  FOUR.  FOUR HOURS.  WALKING.  sigh.

But no matter how tired my legs were and no matter how much my dogs were barking, Barcelona is a beautiful city.  Some parts are really old:

Roman arch near our hotel

Original gates of the city during Roman times.

A "skybridge" built during medieval times to connect the church and the town hall.

Roman columns found while building a government building near an old roman square (like the forum in Rome).  The left the columns right where they found them, and now they form the back all of this palace.

Some parts of the city are fairly new

On Las Ramblas - a painted sidewalk.  Painted by someone special...

Yeah, that's a Miro.

Some parts of the city are almost a century old.

And some parts that will be more than a century in the making.

This is Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's temple.  They began building it in 1882.  I can't even begin to tell you about it...it's such a grand project and beautiful/symbolic structure.  This is what it looks like today.  They're on schedule to complete by 2026...it will have 18 towers instead of just the four now.  

It's not finished inside either, but what is done gives you the feeling of walking through a forest with light dappling in and out of the palm tree columns and the leaves above.

And the windows are gorgeous.  The whole of the building is a masterpiece.

It is an amazing place.

I promise to come back to see the finished project.

The rest of our leisure time has been spent wandering the tight crowded streets - always leading back to the cathedral square and our hotel.  The food has been fabulous, and today we even found a craft beer bar!  Tomorrow we head to Parc Guell - the park that has the famous Gaudi curved benches.  We also have most of the day free tomorrow to eat and drink more of whatever we like!  Bueno!