Strange sights in Barcelona

Before we get into our impressions of Barcelona, I have a question for you. Take a close look at this picture and see if you can spot what's wrong with it:

Using Michelle's birthday as an excuse for a holiday, we headed off to Barcelona for a 4 day weekend. It was our first trip to Spain and it was a country that we had both really been looking forward to visiting. Barcelona was great introduction and we enjoyed a very relaxing few days there. Here are are some of our reflections.

Gaudi's Barcelona

To be honest I hadn't really heard of Gaudi before I found myself visiting one of the many buildings he designed in Barcelona - 'Casa Batllo'. To be fair, I don't know much about most of the places we visit before I get there - but fortunately Michelle is all over it.

Anyway - Casa Batllo was probably the highlight of the trip for us. Designed at the turn of last century for a wealthy Catalonian family, it is bizarre, beautiful, modern, functional, lavish and incredibly kooky. A 'sea' theme runs throughout the building, so there are many curves, swirls and blues - it is said there are no straight lines in the building.

The house and its architecture looks very modern - even though it is now over 100 years after it was built. Many of the imaginative features are not just aesthetic but also have a real functional purpose. For example - strange hoods on the roof top terrace that form part of the dragon's body (yes - the roof looks like a dragon), also have the functional purpose of shielding the chimneys to ensure greater airflow. It is hard to describe - you have to see it for yourself to really appreciate it.

(Right - the fireplace, together with a double seat and single seat in the alcove either side of it - the double for a couple, the single for their chaperon).

Below: Casa Batllo from the outside - known by locals as the 'The house of bones' due to the balconies, said to represent the skulls of the dragon's prey.

There are many other Gaudi attractions in Barcelona and we also visited some of these:

• La Pedrera - An apartment block which was the last of Gaudi's civil works. It is probably his most famous building and was worth visiting, but for us, although it was impressive and again, very unusual and unique, it was slightly more conservative and therefore not as interesting as Casa Battlo.

Chimneys at La Pedrera

• La Sagrada Familia - A temple, the construction of which started over 100 years ago and is still very much a work in progress now. Gaudi spent the final 40 years of his life working on this incredible structure.
  
  Its facades are incredible and in Gaudi style, nature pervades every aspect. The huge columns in the temple look like great kauri trees, with branches forking out at the very top to support the roof (yet to be built). You could also take a lift to the top, and wind your way back down a very narrow, spiralling stone staircase similar to a snails shell.
  
  

• Parc Guell (Gaudi's Park) - a public park which Gaudi designed. It features a huge public area surrounded by a curving mosaic bench. This overlooks two Hansel and Grettel like gate houses, and is supported by a forest of stone columns underneath. The mosaic work here, like in Gaudi's other works, are a bright mishmash of colours. A mosaic lizard guards the park. A great spot - and we were fortunate to see it on a beautiful sunny day.

Gaudi's legacy is apparent all over Barcelona and although I've never been huge on architecture, it clear that he was a real innovator and a key part of the modernist design movement.

We also saw some other incredible buildings (not Gaudi's) - a large Cathedral with an open cloister complete with pond and white geese. We also visited the Palace of Catalan Music - a building surrounded by glass designed by one of Gaudi's contemporaries and which was intended to look like a flowery fantasy land inside.

Lively La Ramblas

La Ramblas is a long pedestrian avenue and is said to be one of the liveliest streets in Spain. It is full day and night with an incredible array of street performers.

Nowhere have we been and seen such an array of painted people eager for you to have your photo taken with them - warriors, guys sitting on toilets, monkeys in cages, people on bikes, cowboys, indians, fruit stands, tango dancers, creatures reminiscent of Lord of the Rings - you name it. Elsewhere in the city talented bands and buskers are scattered around squares and small courtyards - it is a city with a real buzz.

There are also a series of markets here including a pet market. At the pet market you could buy almost any small fluffy animal you care to think of - rabbits, mice, rat, Guinea pigs, gerbils, stoats, hamsters... and birds and frogs and turtles and iguanas and fish...

Just off La Ramblas was a large market area with fruit, vegie, meat and deli food and the most impressive seafood market we have ever stumbled upon. There were things in the seafood market I had never seen before and have no idea what they were. The fish was beautifully presented and looked like it was fresh from the sea. It was an amazing place and I could have wandered around here for hours and hours. Below is a fish market photo - but for those who get as fascinated as I do by fish markets I have attached a few more fish/seafood pics at the end.... extra for experts if you like?

The lifestyle

Much is made of the late night lifestyle of the residents of Spain. We enjoyed many good meals sitting out in the balmy evenings and drinking cheap Spanish reds. The wines were great - and waiters were more than willing to suggest good wines to try (and refreshingly, they didn't try and up sell you to something flash - more commonly we were advised to downgrade to something cheaper!?). I think we may have got a bit tapa'd out by the end of the weekend, but we did enjoy a great meal at a tapas place Andy and Sel had recommended to us - well worth a visit(http://www.lavinateriadelcall.com/). We did manage the odd late night - but didn't go crazy but we certainly had a few sleep ins!

The Beach

On our last afternoon we sat in the sun and enjoyed a great seafood meal at a seaside restaurant (Agua). Bacelona's beach is a great asset, accessible to the city and full of guys and girls with their assets also on display. Wandering back along here in the sun to our accommodation in the Port area of town was nice way to end a relaxing few days off.

Oh - just about forgot. Did you work out what was not quite right in the photo at the start? If not, here is a closer shot that should help:

More fish pics........

If you can tell me what these are and how you eat them I would be grateful?!

He looks scary?

A couple of oldies checking out dinner