Kimi's Visit February 19th to March 1st

February 21st, 2016

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.

Entering the Castell de Montjuic

February 22nd, 2016

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.

Barcelona's Ancient Synagogue

Plaça Sant Felip Neri

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.  

Churros with chocolate

February 25th, 2016

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!! 

Parc Güell, Casa del Guarda is on the left

Amber and Cassidy Visit July 30th to August 9th

Let's keep it coming, more visitors from Vancouver!  We were so excited to have my sister Amber and her husband visit us in Barcelona this past summer.  They were even able to leave their kids at home with grandma and grandpa Iwaasa and Cassidy's mother.

There are a few Gaudi buildings that we had never visited, one of them being Colònia Güell.  It's actually pretty close to where we live in the Baix de Llobregat, but kind of off the beaten path for most tourists.  We bought a combo ticket for 18€ that included an audio guided tour of Colònia Güell, Torres Bellesguard and also the Gaudi Experience which is a 4D movie.  Tickets can be purchased through www.clorian.com.

It was the middle of summer, the height of the tourist season, but when we arrived at Colònia Güell we were the only people there.  First we visited the crypt which is the only part of the church that is finished.  It's quite spectacular, and it's a shame that there doesn't seem to be any plans to finish the church.  I guess that all the resources are being spent finishing the Sagrada Familia.

Gaudi's crypt 

On top of the crypt, you can see the unfinished bell tower

Inside the crypt

Front door of the Crypt

Since we had the audio guide, we decided to explore other parts of the Colònia.  It is a little village with very interesting buildings.  There is also an interpretation centre where you can learn more about what life was like in the colony.

Then we headed off to the Gaudi Experience which is a small attraction just outside of Parc Güell.  It is a 4D movie about the inspirations behind Gaudi's most famous works.   It's actually really fun and exciting.  I think that the kids really enjoyed it.  The only drawback is the price 9€ to watch a 10 minute movie.  Fortunately we had bought the combo pack so we basically got one attraction for free.

Waiting for our Gaudi Experience to start

Here we are with Gaudi to finish off our Gaudi Experience

The next day, we took Amber and Cassidy downtown for a tour.  We walked all over Barri Gotic and El Born and ended up in Barceloneta for a delicious lunch.

Enjoying some fresh fruit at la Boqueria

Amber and Cassidy pose with the jamon

Waiting for our paella

Amber and Cassidy enjoying their first Spanish meal

The paella was good

The kids sure enjoyed having Cassidy around because he likes to play just as much as they do.  He and the boys built a block tower up to the ceiling.

The tallest Webby Block tower ever! in our house.

Bob had the day off on Monday August 3rd and took the Tuesday off too, so we all drove up the coast to spend a couple of days in Costa Brava.  First we took Amber and Cassidy to Cala Belladona where we spent the afternoon snorkling in the crystal clear water.  Cassidy loved the Easy Breath snorkel from Decathlon so much that he bought a couple before leaving Spain.   We should get some kind of endorsement cheque from Decathlon, because we have really been doing our part to promote the Easy Breath snorkel.  By the end of the summer four of our visitors had purchased the snorkels to take back to Canada.   You're welcome Decathlon!

Next we drove into a the small village of Montagut in the Garrotxa region where I had rented a house for a couple of nights.  The house was owned by the same family that owned the house we rented in Castelló d'Empúries http://calafelacastello.blogspot.com.es/ when Christine came to visit.  This house was called Ca la Manela http://calamanelamontagut.blogspot.com.es/.  I highly recommend both places as the price was very reasonable, there was enough space for 8 people and the host, Esteve, was very nice.  The houses themselves are completely renovated but retain an old world charm so it feels like you are staying in an historic home.

That evening we decided to explore the neighbouring town of Olot.  There wasn't "Olot" to do there, but it is a very pretty town and we climbed up to the top of one of the volcanos to get a nice view of the city.   We could have explored some of the natural parks around Olot, but as with every trip we take, there is so much to see and so little time. 

Climbing down the volcano in Olot

Walking around the Volcan de la Garrinada y Montsacopa

Of course we have to stop and play at a park

The next day, we planned to go on a short hike to a waterfall called Salt del Brull in the Alta Garrotxa natural park.  What should have been a 1.5 hour hike ended up a 3 hour hike, because we made the mistake of following an elderly couple who said they knew where they were going, but in the end they were not going to the same place as us.  The kids were pretty good and despite our lack of food and water, we made it to the famous Salt del Brull, took a dip in the freezing cold water (but refreshing after our long hike) and then made our way back.  It is a beautiful area, and I would totally do it again, worth every step.  The area is called Aniol d'Aguja and you can see from this article that it is in the Top 15 Natural Pools in Spain.

El puente romano de Oix or Devils Arch

Standing on one of the oldest bridges in Spain, built by the Romans, but still sturdy

 A pretty little waterfall along the way to our final destination.  We really wanted to swim here.

This is when we realized that we had climbed up the mountain for 1hour in the wrong direction and we needed to turn around and go all the way back down.  The best time to take a picture with my sister so that I can remember this frustrating moment always. 

Old church in Aniol d'Aguja

Bridge near Aniol

Lots of neat little canyons along the way

Here we are, we finally made it to the Salt del Brull

One of the best natural swimming pools in Spain.

All of us except Amber did enjoy a dip in the pool, although my swim was pretty quick. 

We had planned to go back to the coast that afternoon and visit one more beach, but it was getting late, and the beach I wanted to visit was insanely crowded by the time we got there.  It is called Cala Bramant near Llança and was recommended by a Catalan friend because it was supposedly very secluded and not well known.  Well I guess the word is out, so we had to quickly find another beach and settled on Platja de Garbet because there was parking nearby.  Bob had to head back to Barcelona because he had to work the next day.  After swimming at the beach we were all starving and so we headed into Llança to find something to eat, not always easy when it's 7:30 and all the restaurants open at 8pm.  So we had to wander around town until the restaurants opened. 

To make the most of our trip, we decided to go home via Andorra because Cassidy really wanted to visit Naturlandia.  He had seen the famous Tobotronc on YouTube and was dying the try it.   As the kids all have their Super3 cards they are always free at Naturlandia so why not.  

The first time we went to Naturlandia was in April, it was low season and there was virtually no line-ups for anything.  When we arrived to Naturlandia on August 5th, the woman at the ticket counter basically told us that we should come back another day because the line-ups were so long.  It was posted a 2.5 hour wait for the Tobotronc (alpine coaster) and a 2 hour wait to go on the Airtrekk (rope course).  Well, we had driven 3 hours to get to Andorra, so we were not going to leave without going on the Tobotronc.  We decided to wait and see if the wait time decreased as people started leaving for the day.  After doing most of the other activities, Cassidy and Amber lined up for the Tobotronc, they took Nathan and Cole with them.  They were just in time, as the line closed soon after they got in line.  They had to wait more than an hour, but at least they were guaranteed to get on.  Rylan, Ciara and I did all the other activities as we really didn't want to wait that long and it was really hot.  Cassidy was completely happy with his ride down the mountain on the Tobotronc, so it was worth the wait.  The kids had fun so it was a great day all around.  

Good Time at Naturlandia!

Let's see, I am trying to remember what we did for the rest of their visit.  I know that Amber and Cassidy went to the Sagrada Familia, saw the fountain show near Plaça Espanya, Cassidy took the boys to Tibidabo, I took them on a mandatory shopping trip to Decathlon, and we spent an afternoon in Sitges.  It was really great having Amber and Cassidy visit, that about sums it up.   

A series of selfies at Tibidabo

I'm glad he didn't lose his phone

The pirate ship, glad I'm not there, this ride makes me ill

Hiking to Tibidabo

Last year Manju and I hiked to Tibidabo in March.  We took carretera de les Aigües  (front side of the mountain) from my place and it took us about 2.5 hours, since we didn't really know where we were going.   This time, I checked out Google maps beforehand. We took the high road over the top of Collserola and made it to Tibidabo in just under 1.5 hours.  It is a great hike because you walk through a forest, you get great views of the city and the final goal of reaching Tibidabo, the highest point of Barcelona.   This time, we decided to also go up the elevator to the top of the famous Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor.  It only costs €2 to go up the elevator and then you have to climb up some pretty steep stairs, but it's really neat at the top.  You really can't get a better view of Barcelona.  You get to look down on the Collserola tower, and the Sagrada Familia looks like a tiny church from up there.

Once you are at the highest point of Barcelona, the walk back to Esplugues is pretty easy.  It's almost all down hill and we were able to do it in a little less than an hour.

Front view of the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

View from the left side of the temple

View from the right side of the temple

Here you can see the Collserola Tower and the last peak in the distance is Esplugues.

Selfie with Manju at the highest point in Barcelona

We have a teenager!

On Friday Dec. 12th, Nathan turned 13 years old.  We celebrated his birthday on Monday Dec. 8th because it was a holiday here in Spain.  We decided to buy a family membership for Tibidabo which is a small amusement park in Barcelona.  It's quite a nice place to visit because it's on the top of the Collserola mountains just behind Barcelona so you get amazing views of the city.  We had never been before, so it was exciting for the kids.  Because we have 4 children, it was actually cheaper to buy a family membership than for our whole family to buy day passes.  As well, with the membership we got a 30% discount off day passes for 6 friends which worked out perfectly because Nathan wanted to invite 4 friends from school and Manju and Asvin came with us as well.

Now that Nathan is a teenager, we let him and his four buddies go off on their own, and we really didn't see them for the next four hours.  It was a cold day, but at least the park wasn't too busy so the kids were able to go on ride after ride, without waiting in any long line-ups.

I am definitely too old for amusement parks.  I felt pretty dizzy on any ride that rocks or spins.  Fortunately Bob was there so that we could take turns riding with Cole.  Unfortunately he was too short to go on most of the rides by himself.

Nathan and his friends had a blast and all of our kids can't wait to go again.  Now that we have a family membership, we can go for free for an entire year, so all of our kids can have their birthdays there.

Jin, Steven, Ignacio, Mathis, Nathan, Cole, Rylan, Ciara and Asvin

The Cathedral right beside Tibidabo park.  It is lit up at night, and you can see it from anywhere in Barcelona

A rare picture of Bob and I together

Cole and Avsin on the viking ships

Ciara, Bob and Cole actually waited over 30 minutes to go on this ride 

Asvin and Nathan with Barcelona in the background