About how I did not love Barcelona

Barcelona - one of the most exciting cities in the world, bustling with energy, "pulling" crowds of people, unfortunately I was not enchanted. And it is not at all the fault of Barcelona, ​​no! It was my fault, because I only had one day to visit Gaudi, and it was not enough. Besides, I was in Barcelona at the peak of the season, so the amount of tourists, the unbearable heat and this unfortunate day made me neither discover nor feel the climate of this mesmerizing city. I regret to this day and that is why Barcelona is still on my must-see list again - slow, low season, at least 3 - 4 days.
August 2011 - We took a break from the Costa Brava after an intensive week of sightseeing in Andalusia. But how much can you lie on the beach? This type of lazy activity in the long run is not for us, so a compulsory point of the program was a trip to Barcelona. We bought a train ticket and set out to explore this beautiful city!
This is not the end of the heat in Catalonia, as this region of Spain has a more mild climate and you can rest from the heat. Not this time.
From the train "popped" the crowd of tourists. Everyone wanted to see Gaudí's colorful works at the head of the Sagrada Familia, walk down the busy La Rambla or enter the stadium of the most famous European team - FC Barcelona. We also had such plans.
We traveled around Barcelona on a tourist, two-story bus and got off at places we were interested in.

Park Güell
We started the tour from the famous Güell Park, which since 1900 created the work of Antonius Gaudi, a brilliant visionary, commissioned by Eusebi Güell. The first plans were the idea of ​​a city - a garden with luxury villas that were supposed to be surrounded by nature. Beautifully true?
At that time, unfortunately, this idea did not pass the exam - residents of Barcelona were not interested in buying this type of houses. So in the fantastic two houses they lived - Gaudi himself, and in the second Güell.
The city-garden project was not completed by Gaudi, and in the 1920's the city authorities decided to open a public park here and make it accessible to the public. And so, being in Park Güell we felt a bit like a fairy tale - colorful dragons, figurines, sculptures, mythical figures, houses of strange shapes ... reminded me of gingerbread houses. All finesse and detached from reality.
Upon entering the park we saw huge staircases with the famous "el drac" lizard, which is a mascot of the park and its symbol. Climbing up the huge stairs, we reached the Hall of Stu Columns, whose wonderful acoustics made us able to listen to the magnificent performance of the harpist. Sounds resounded like an echo.
The biggest attraction of the Park is of course the world's longest bench of over 100 meters. Decorated with colorful mosaic of ceramics and glass, and the shape of the bench is wavy. The photo on the bench is compulsory.
In the Park Güell you can also visit the Gaudí Museum to get a closer look at the artist's life history. We unfortunately did not manage to do that.
All this in a beautiful scenery of hills, palms and colors.

Sagrada Familia
The symbol and the card of Barcelona. It delights in size, shape, splendor, and otherness, because it is a building other than all in the world. From the outside is so great that taking a good photo is a miracle, and I a few years ago I "crawled" in photography, so please forgive the cadre of this impressive building.
The Temple of the Holy Family is the largest and most important work of Antoni Gaudi, which began in 1883 and is still under construction. Gaudi dedicated the temple to the last 15 years of his life - the final effect was to resemble one great organism. Work on the building did not finish. Tragic death prevented him. It is anticipated that the Sagrada Familia will be fully formed in 2026. Who knows? Maybe we will see the final effect, but will it be exactly what Antoni Gaudi himself wanted?
We saw Sagrada Familia from the outside only. The gigantic line to the inside of the temple was so long that in almost 40 degrees we would not be able to advise it unless it waited for its turn, and reportedly inside the building makes an amazing impression. This is another reason to visit Barcelona in low season.

Dona and Ocell - Woman and Bird
Being near the Spanish Square we looked into the Park De Joana Miró - another Catalan creator. I was most interested in sculpture high at 22 meters showing a woman wearing a hat sitting on a bird. Miró loved to portray birds that symbolized freedom of mind and soul, imagination and creativity without borders. The sculpture and presentation of the subject of woman and bird by the creator delighted me. I could not miss this place. On the photo next to the old arena corridor.

Placa Espanya
Promenade promenade, Magic Fountain, which in all its glory can be seen in the evening in the scenery of light and sound, the National Palace. All this we will see walking along the famous square of Barcelona. I did not see the Magic Fountain in the evening time, because tired all day I was returning by train to the hotel. I do not remember much from this place.
Montjuïc hill
We got to admire the Barcelona skyline by cable car. The ride itself is no longer an attraction.
The hill stands over the port of Barcelona. At the top we find several parks, a 17th century castle with a picturesque fort and above all the wonderful views of Barcelona and the huge Sagrada Familia.

La Rambla
Most noisy and crowded with tourists, sellers, mimes, street artists Barcelona. La Rambla is the real center of the life of the city of Antoni Gaudi. We "shot" it endlessly and I do not even know whether we got to the famous Gothic Quarter I wanted to see. Ah, it's fatigue. What struck me in La Rambla was the gigantic beer that my husband ordered and the gigantic bill we had to pay for. By the heat, I think we have rationalized thinking at that moment. Somewhere on the corner of a historic building I saw a funny dragon from the "House of Parasols".

La Boqueria
Famous food market in Barcelona. We looked at him for a moment to smell the fresh vegetables and fruit, flowers, get a fruit salad and freshly squeezed juice. In addition to the above glory on the market we also find fish, seafood, various types of meat and cold meats, sweets ...
It was late afternoon, I could not walk. There was a crowd of people. On the other hand, a fruitful snack I was able to buy.

Casa Mila
One more work of Gaudi - the house, just "flashed" me somewhere in the distance, I made one photo. I did not stop, did not observe, did not think, and such beautiful works I had before me. At that moment I was thinking intensely about returning to the hotel.
This was our one and only day in Barcelona. Running, haste, chasing the points we wanted to explore, crowds of tourists, heat, tiredness, trouble getting around the city. It all made us see too little, and what we were able to see through the above factors did not entice us enough to say that: yes it is true Barcelona is magical. It is here every year arriving thousands of tourists, here everyone wants to be at least once, because it is worth it.
I know we will be back to Barcelona, ​​but it's out of season and with more time. There is so much to see, to know:
Sagrada Familia inside,
Gaudi Museum in Güell Park,
Casa Batlló,
Gothic Quarter,
Show Magic Fountains,
La Barceloneta,
Parc de la Ciutadella ... a lot of places I could still exchange.
I will come back, I promise Barcelona and hope that I will love you just like everyone else.