Good morning Barcelona!
After breakfast we headed to the Picasso museum, which included a walk through an extraordinarily long tunnel in Passeig de Grร cia station.
The Picasso museum is undergoing renovation, but most of it was open, and we wandered around looking at some amazing pieces, then had a beverage in the cafe.
After that we explored some of the nearby shopping streets (one of our party wanted to buy a hat, and found one in a hat shop), before we found Ciutadella Park, which includes the Zoo and a public conservatory.
Elsewhere in the park are some great waterfalls and statues, including a massive fountain… alas, fenced off and not running.
A little way away we found a wide boulevard and the Arc de Triomf.
We hopped on the metro back to the flat.
On the way I spotted something intriguing. High up on a corner building near where we were staying was an Australian flag, alongside a Catalan flag. My best Google Maps searches didn’t figure out why it was there. It’s been there for some years.
Next we wanted to head to the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona’s famous Gaudi-designed basilica. We’d planned to walk as it was not too far, but it was raining and we ended up catching a bus.
I must have got stares while taking photos of the screens inside the bus, but the amount of information shown was amazing, and deserves a post of its own. Here’s a taster: we’re on the H10 bus and the screen is telling us the connecting buses at the next stop and how many minutes until they depart.
We’d tried and failed to buy tickets for a tour of the basilica (note for next time: plan further in advance) but you can see a lot just by walking around the outside, which we did.
Sagrada Familia was not finished in Gaudi’s lifetime, and in fact still not finished. In 2024 they thought completion might be in 2026, but with a footnote that some details wouldn’t be finished until 2034!
From what we saw there’s a fair bit to go. But gee it’s impressive.
We walked back to the flat from there, passing a tram line – I didn’t get to ride on it, but noticed they have (at least in this section) opted for power via conductor rails, not wires, perhaps similar to what’s used in some parts of Sydney.
From back at the flat, I ducked out to the railway station and tried and failed to buy tickets to Montserrat for the next day. The differing ticket systems and ticket machines, and a long queue for the booking office defeated me. More on this tomorrow.
Not to worry, after dark we headed out to dinner, tapas again, which was delicious. I could definitely get used to this.
2 replies on “Picasso, Gaudi, and an Aussie mystery”
Those screens on the buses that tell you what connections are available at the next stop are fairly common across a lot of European cities. In Germany it’s integrated with all modes (Buses, local trains, regional trains, long distance trains, Trams and even the ferries where they exist).
Those power rails are probably identical to what is in Sydney, considering the first trams delivered for the Inner-West line in 2012 were CAF Urbos (Spanish company). The remainder of the fleet (Alstom Citidas) would have followed CAF’s initial standards.