Today was our last day in Barcelona as we head off to Madrid tomorrow morning our time! We spent the day in the gothic quarter. We started off by going to another Gaudi building, the Palau Güell. This one was very dark and had lots of gothic architecture. Gaudi built it for his friend Count Güell, the same person he built Parc Güell for! An audio guide was included again and we both really enjoyed it.
Then we spent the day exploring the gothic quarter and it's various squares such as Placa Reial and Placa St Jaume. We saw another protest going on here! I had a look in the cathedral which was beautiful (I love gothic architecture) and then we went to the market of sant Caterina and bought some fruit. We enjoyed lunch in the sunshine in Placa Nova. Today is the first day all holiday I haven't worn my thermal leggings underneath my jeans, it was 14 degrees and sunny! Madrid is 16 - woohoo!!! We each had a baguette with salad and meat which was delicious.
Next we went to the Palau Reial, the royal palace. This is now a museum and I thought Billy would find it boring. But there was an underground level that was ruins from when the roman empire was here in 15BC and he loved it! We could see streets, city walls, towers, a laundry, a wine maker and a salt fish factory from these times under the ground of the palace built on top. It was really interesting!! The top level of the museum was about how calico production made Barcelona a very important and bustling city in the 1700-1800s. Success = found a museum Billy loved as much as I did!!
Finally we went on a guided tour of the Palau de Catalan Musica. This is a concert hall designed by Gaudi's master that was opened in 1908. It is the only concert hall in the world that is naturally lit, the interior was so beautiful! Lots of stained glass in all sorts of coloured as well as mosaics. Our guide was really friendly too.
Tonight we packed up our stuff and then went back to Taller de Tapas, our restaurant from the first night here. We had paella, goat's cheese with rocket, lamb, sausage and garlic omelette, sautéed mushrooms and mussels. Was once again wonderful! Billy paid for dinner for Valentine's Day (which is tomorrow, but we are booked on a tapas tour tomorrow night so we went out tonight instead). He also gave me a card and a collingwood dressing gown. I am veh spoilt!!!!!!
Our train leaves at 5.25pm Melbourne time for Madrid and takes about 2.5 hours. Have loved Barcelona, especially Gaudi and the food, but can't wait to see Madrid too!!
Love to all,
Claire
Xoxoxox
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