Continued from Barcelona Day 1 Part 2.

We came into Barcelona without much of anything booked, but soon found out most of the museums and sights needed not only tickets ahead of time but also a visit time slot. So, we spent some time organizing our schedule here and figuring out when to see what and whatnot. Now that it’s done, into the subway we go. It’s about 11:30am, it’s nice to get to sleep in and have a lazy start.

Haven’t had our coffee yet, so that’s first business after the subway.

How do those bricks not just fall on peoples heads from time to time in these old buildings?

Admiring this beautiful coffee shop.

Mini chocolate croissants.

Our first sight is Casa Vicens, one of Gaudi’s designs.

Gaudi’s buildings must all cost a fortune to build. Everything is bespoke.

So much little detail everywhere you look.

I’d like to have this flooring for my house.

Part of the house looks like this in the interior. This part of the house was an addition to the original Gaudi designed house. When they turned this house into a museum, they completely wipped away the other architect’s work…I thought there would be a better way than to just completely wipe away another person’s work, especially since this was a really nice/expensive house, I’m sure the addition was also done to a very high standard.

My favorite detail is the 1 into 2 doorway.

I thought these lamps that they had inside were pretty awesome.

The house has gone through many additions over the years.

Not Gaudi, but I liked the flooring detail here.

Why is only the Japanese version colorized?

Well, that was fun. Time to take a stroll through Barcelona and see other Gaudi houses.

Walking along Gran de Gracia, one of Barcelona’s main avenues. Lots of beautiful buildings here.

I took a picture of the picture above.

Lol.

If Macdaddy had a son.

Cool tree, London Plane Tree. Later today, I would have an asthma attack while going to bed, and after doing some research, it appears that it’s flowering time for these trees and it causes asthmatic reaction in many people.

Another Gaudi, Casa Mila.

So freeform.

Lovely art nouveau lamps.

Love claw machines.

Huge crowd ahead right in front of another Gaudi house.

Casa Batllo. Even more people here to see this one.

Casa Amatller, right next to Gaudi’s Batllo. This wasn’t designed by Gaudi, but it is no less beautiful. It had no crowds in front of it.

RL took this phallic photo. She said she didn’t realize it was phallic.

Alright, that’s enough strolling, down back in the subway, head back to El Raval area around our hotel and look for a late lunch. It’s almost 2pm, but we are just now barely getting hungry. Still working on jetlag Austin time, which is actually working out well here in Spain since everyone eats late and stays up late.

Lunch spot.

Fuck your diet, does it really have to say that? Especially since it’s kind of a nice restaurant.

Cheers to 9 years.

Necessary for almost any restaurant here in Spain.

Oysters from Spain and France I believe. Oysters from these region are just ok. Honestly…no one will believe this, but we both think Gulf oysters, when they are in season, are much better than these.

Cheers to briny European oysters.

Love the end grain bar top.

Anchovies. Such a beautiful plate, especially with the blue plate. Every bite was the perfect bite. So fucking good.

Croquettes, so good and I could eat so many of these.

Fried anchovies on bread with tomato, so good again. I think this is the best restaurant we’ve eaten at this trip. Every dish was perfectly prepared and every bite perfect.

Red Prawns, so good, but so expensive. I think it was maybe 30 Euros for this little bit.

Yum. After eating octopus in Spain, I realized I’ve been eating overcooked octopus my whole life. Who knew octopus could be so tender.

Seems so pedestrian, but yet so delicious.

RL ordered a dessert, I thought this was the weakest of the bunch. It was just ok, but that’s totally ok because everything else hit it out of the park! RL liked it a lot though.

RL took photos of this pretty little lock for the lady’s room.

I didn’t take a photo of the lock in the men’s room because, well, we had no lock since whatever normal lock they had before was broken and they never bothered fixing it.

Back on La Ramblas.

Souvenir shopping. We are hoping to find better items than these super touristy souvenirs.

Music store, perfect souvenir for a musical friend.

Oh, what’s this. Gotta take a break from buying souvenirs and look around.

Strawberries on a stick. Speaking of fruits and vegetables, I don’t think the Spaniards eat a lot of vegetables. Haven’t seen much if any vegetables on their menu. They’ve got some salads, but I haven’t really seen anyone eat them.

Neat. Love their thicker cut chips here in Spain.

That iridescent green reminds me of a june bug.

Postcards for all tastes. RL and I actually got into a fight about postcards on this trip. I just wanted to get whatever postcards and send them, but she thought the postcards themselves should have more substance. We actually ended up sending no postcards.

The cockery. And on that note, it’s late afternoon, which means it’s time for our late afternoon nap and then wake up in time for a typical Spanish late dinner.

Woke up from our nap at around 7pm. Still not hungry and it’s beautiful out, perfect opportunity to use our private balcony.

Now, how do I open this weird cap for the vodka?

Finally got it opened, Europeans and their odd hard to open caps.

It also had this pour restrictor inside the bottle.

Perfect. Feeling relaxed. I’ve been sick most of the day up until now on this trip and have been grumpy. It’s not until around this moment that the both of us started feeling like we can slow down and actually chill more. Unfortunate, but it’s just always taken us several days into a vacation to actually relax, especially now after having kids.

Photos can’t do it justice, but the colors on the clouds were beautiful on tonight’s sunset.

So bright up here still, but in the narrow streets it’s already dark.

Those old gargoyles do no look safe. I wonder how many people have been killed by a fractured stone gargoyle over the years.

This is the courtyard of an old hospital that’s next to our hotel. I believe Gaudi died here back when it used to operate as a hospital.

There’s even a little cool cafe here. So many cool little cafes and restaurants everywhere in Barcelona. Any of them in Austin would be a crowded hip spot, but here there are so many, some sit half empty still. Just so spoiled for amazing choices here.

Tried to come back here again for more tapas, but they were too crowded tonight.

But no worries, literally a few storefronts down is this other awesome tapas bar that we’ve been wanting to try.

Really loving the decor in here.

So many good choices, not enough room in stomach to eat it all.

Love that wine holder and mirror behind RL.

Tomato salad…not something that I thought I would love, but man, we both loved this dish. It was just so delicious and refreshing.

This is peasant’s bread with smoked anchovies. OMG, so good!!! Peasants eat well apparently, lol.

Artichoke hearts with calamari, another hit.

LOL. What’s this funny figurine taking a shit? This was the paper weight for our check. Later on, we would randomly find out what this figurine actually meant.

Walked by the 3 hermanos restaurants on the way back, I want some octopus!

Hoo hoo hoo.

On the walk back to hotel from dinner, I saw all these colors on this drainage grate. What’s this?

A little farther back, RL recognized that it was a picture of Gaudi. Wow, can’t believe someone thought to do a street art piece of this, too cool.

To be continued at Barcelona Day 3 Part 1.