Europe Trip - Barcelona, Spain!

As a final hurrah to our six months in London we are on a two-week trip through Europe.  Our first stop was Barcelona.  I thought I would like Barcelona, but I loved it way more than I even expected.  It was the most wonderful city.  We had such a fabulous time there and just soaked it all up!  See the pictures and descriptions below.

Tyson is a world traveler.  He is such a good sport!

Our first stop was the Barceloneta Beach.  It was Tyson's first experience with the ocean.  It took him a long time to warm up to sitting in the sand and he was never willing to go in the water (the water was pretty cold).  But we still had a great time enjoying the warm weather and sunshine!

We then hiked up a large hill called Montjuic and got a view of the city.  What a view!

The next day we went to the famous Basilica de Sagrada Familia.  Antoni Gaudi, the architect, built a number of incredible and modern buildings in the later 1800's and early 1900's.  We visited three of his buildings in Barcelona.  The Basilica de Sagrada Familia is his most famous, and is actually still not finished.  You can see the cranes in the picture as they are still working on it.  Wow was that place amazing.

Here's a picture from inside.  It was different from anything we had ever seen!

Next we hit up Gaudi's Park Guell.  It was such a neat place!

Another picture from Park Guell.

A picture from Park Guell with the ocean in the background.

At the entrance of Park Guell.

Oftentimes the best parts of vacations are the ones that weren't planned.  I spent hundreds of hours planning this Europe trip, but didn't include this!  We happened upon a shop renting out bikes and we thought that sounded fun.  It was Tyson's first experience on a bike and he loved it!  He laughed and laughed while we rode along.  We explored the Barri Gotic (old city) on bike, road along the boardwalk of the beach, and rode through Ciutadella Park.

Here we are in Ciutadella Park.

We didn't think Tyson would last the full 2 hours that we had rented the bikes for, but he did!  We definitely need to get a bike seat for him when we get home.

The buildings and streets in Barcelona look so cool.

We enjoyed tapas for dinner on two different nights.  Tapas are very popular in Barcelona.  They are small dishes of food that you share and try lots of different things.

The street Las Ramblas is a very popular street in Barcelona that goes right through the heart of it.  It is full of shops, restaurants, and tourists.  We walked it many times, but I checked it out one night after Tyson had gone to bed.  It was fun to see the street at night.

La Pedrera was the third Gaudi building that we visited.  It was basically a glorious apartment complex.  Here we are on the roof!

It was so fun to see these awesome buildings and learn all about them.

These awesome-looking things are chimneys.

On our last day in Barcelona we took a guided walking tour of the old city.  Here we are in front of the Barcelona Cathedral.

Here we are at Placa Catalunya, a central square in Barcelona.

I was sad to leave Barcelona.  Our three days there went by way too fast.  But Rome was calling our names!  Rome updates to come in a few days!