Barcelona

It’s not all it seems

I’m not sure what to say about Barcelona. We spent a week there, and at the end of it we felt like we’d covered the city but at the same time we hadn’t seen anything. This is rather awkward considering the city’s reputation for architecture and culture… but it just didn’t jive with us.

We got a good AirBnB near the centre of town, which enabled us to walk almost everywhere. We were just off La Romba and within walking distance of Barcelona Cathedral, the Bascilica of Santa Marina del Mar, and the Arc de Triomf so we did a lot of walking.

The problem might have been that we didn’t enter any of the cathedrals. We’ve seen some pretty spectacular cathedrals on our travels and the steep entrance fee just didn’t seem all that inviting after having looked at photos online. The only cathedral we thought we ought to see was the Sagrada Familia but I made a serious error in not purchasing tickets ahead of time… and we found out when we got there that tickets weren’t being sold at the door.

Although we missed out on it, I don’t feel like I missed out on anything particularly special. Though the inside is known for being especially ornate, I wasn’t at all impressed with the exterior. When we visited Park Guell, which was designed by the same architect, Antoni Gaudí, I got the impression that his work was famous not because it was good but because it was different and the city needed something to attract tourists.

We walked around the city a fair bit, but I didn’t find the architecture particularly unique. It is similar to other European cities… so perhaps the novelty was lost on us.

At the end of it all, we were pretty content to relax in the AirBnB since it was quite comfortable and we were in need of a break after busy days in London, Munich, and Palma de Mallorca. But I do wonder… did we miss seeing something great in Barcelona?