On Sunday afternoons, most museums in Barcelona are free. One of our favourite places to take visitors on a Sunday afternoon is the Castell de Montjuic because they have an interesting interpretation centre as well as great views of the city. Of course it's also a great workout climbing the hill to get to the fort.
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| Entering the Castell de Montjuic |
The following day after the kids went off to school Kimi and I went downtown to do the free walking tour of Barcelona from Sandeman's New Europe Tours. This was my second time doing the tour, but since we had a different tour guide, the tour was almost completely different, including the places that we saw. In fact I saw some buildings that I had never seen before, like the oldest standing synagogue in Europe. The Sinagoga Major de Barcelona is located in the old Jewish quarters of the city, El Call, and it is believed that the original structure was built in the 3rd or 4th century. Our guide also took us to Plaça San Felip Neri, which was one of the locations where the Woody Allen movie Vicky Christina Barcelona was shot. You can see scars on the walls around the church from a bombing in 1938 which killed 20 children. At the end of the tour you simply tip the guide. It's a great way to see the most important sites in downtown Barcelona and the guide shares anecdotes, tips and historical facts so that you learn a lot about the city.
After the tour, we continued our walk to Parc de la Ciutadella.
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| Barcelona's Ancient Synagogue |
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| Plaça Sant Felip Neri |
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| Marks from the bombing of 1938 |
February 23rd, 2016
Manju and I regularly hike from our house to Tibidabo, we have also convinced some of our friends to come with us. It's a challenging hike because of the steep uphill stretches but it's very enjoyable walking through the Collserola hills and you get amazing views of the city the whole way there. The entire walk usually takes us about 1.5 hours going and 50 min coming back. I made Kimi do the hike with Manju, Swapna and I. She made it all the way to Tibidabo and back. I am not sure that she entirely enjoyed it, but she walked about 12km that day!!
February 24th, 2016
As a reward for our tremendous hike from the day before, we took it easy on Wednesday and walked to Can Vidalet (in Esplugues) as it was the local open market day. On Wednesday mornings from 8am to 2pm, several streets around the neighbourhood are closed to traffic and hundreds of stalls line the streets selling everything: clothes, books, kitchenware, shoes, toys etc... Everything is so cheap, it makes me wonder if it's worth the effort to drag all their stuff out to the street every week. After touring the market, we stopped off at the best cafe for churros in the neighbourhood which is on Carrer Verge de la Mercè. Here the churros are made fresh and they are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. It's great for dipping into a cup of thick chocolate.
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| Churros with chocolate |
Another beautiful sunny day, and almost too hot. We set off to Parc Güell which involves climbing up a pretty steep hill even though there are some escalators, you still need to do a lot of stair climbing. Parc Güell is one of the nicest places in Barcelona. Even if you don't pay to go into the ornamental area, the park itself is a great place to wander around. We did go into the ornamental area, I was able to use my Gaudir Més pass which allows me to always enter the ornamental area for free (a savings of 12€). As it wasn't too busy in the park, we were able to go into the Casa del Guarda (caretaker's house) for the first time. Even though I have visited Parc Güell at least 3 times before, the line-up to visit the Casa del Guarda has always been too long and we never wanted to wait. Inside, they have a very interesting exhibition and the house itself is pretty cool.
About the Gaudir Més pass, I would recommend getting it if you know you are going to be in Barcelona for at least a year and plan to visit Parc Güell more than once. The pass also allows you free access to the Castell de Montjuic and some of the lesser known museums that most people don't bother to visit if they are only in Barcelona for a few days like the Museu Blau and the Museu de Disseny. These museums are worth visiting if you are in Barcelona for a longer period. It is free to register and as a bonus I was able to register all the kids as well so that they can enter for free if they are accompanied by me. The only drawback is that you must go register at one of the specific Oficina d'Atenció Ciutadana (citizen information office) around Barcelona (see the website for more information). You need to take proof of identity for yourself and for the children you are registering, although the children do not need to be there in person. They will digitalize your fingerprint. When you arrive at the attraction or museum you go to the ticket booth and tell them that you have the Gaudir Més pass, they scan you fingerprint and give you your ticket. Your kids will get their free passes as well just with your finger scan, ahh modern technology!!
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| Parc Güell, Casa del Guarda is on the left |
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