Barcelona October 2013

We flew from Copenhagen to Barcelona for a three day stop and then a week in Ille sur Tet in southern
France. Our friends Ted and Henry flew in from New York. There were many celebrations: birthdays,
retirements and a mini-college reunion. Annette and Ted graduated from Reed College in 1963.

Our trip took us from Kastrup via Amsterdam.

We stayed in a central bed and breakfast which was almost anonymous. This was the sign at the
top of a flight of stairs. It was two blocks from Gaudi building La Pedrera and a block from a metro
and train station. The neighbourhood is full of beautiful buildings, designer shops and restaurants.

The Louise Vuitton shop displayed this “bear” made up from their bags and accessories.

One striking feature in Barcelona are the many motorbikes and bicycles. There is heavy traffic and no parking.

So many things to see, it was sometimes hard to make a decision.

One of the pedestrian streets in the old city.

An typical apartment building with balconies. The flag(s) for Independent Catalonia flanked by two Catalonia flags.

Barcelona is well known for buildings designed by Antonio Gaudi, but there are many others.
This is Casa de les Punxes/House of Spines designed by Puig i Cadafalch during 1903-1905.

Another lovely facade along the walking street La Rambla. Bruno Quadras building
from the 19th C was once an umbrella factory and it is still decorated with umbrellas.

The sneak look into the entrance of a building on Diagonal.

La Rambla

Tulips for sale along La Rambla.

Mercat de la Boqueria, the famous market on La Rambla.

Macedonia means cut up fruit, prepared and sold to take-away.
Stopped us for a moment … when did Macedonia become tropical?

So many kinds and qualities of ham. At least 10 joints ready to slice.

Duck liver, clean and ready to cook.

A butcher shop shows its collections of cows.

Homemade fruit jellies

Wild mushrooms. Rovello (Lactarius sanguifluus) the most popular local mushroom is similar to a saffron milk cap or blodriska.

Rovello, chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) and black trumpets (Craterellus cornucopioides).

Barcentral la Boqueria is highly recommended. Point to what you want on the menu, or in the display case,
and it is cooked to order. It is hard to get a seat, and when you do, others will hang over watching you eat
and waiting for you to leave. We never got near a seat but there were lots of other bars and food stalls.

This flower market was on Valencia, only a few blocks from our hotel.

Mercat de la Conceptio on Valencia.

Temple Sagrat Cor on the top of Mount Tibidabo can be seen from all over town. It
is next to the Parc d’Atraccions del Tibidabo, Barcelona’s amusement park. There is
a funicular, but the Park and funicular were not working on a weekday in October.

Inside the crypt of Sagrat Cor

There is an elevator up to a terrace at 541 m above sea level to view the city and
surroundings. You can climb up stairs in the tower to the foot of the statue.