Barcelona2011 - More

My daughter also traveled with us and I would advise not reading this blog but go to her blog at bluepoolroad to see how a professional blogs!

After Madrid, Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain with almost to two million people. It is such a diverse place that even though we have been there twice we haven’t begun to see much of this beautiful city.

The highlight of this trip was visiting the Picasso Museum located in the Old Quarters. The museum is located in five large town houses dating back to the 13th century. Of course there have been a lot of refurbishments over the years to convert to a museum. But it was beautifully done and one doesn’t even realize he is going from one townhouse to another. All of the paintings were arranged in chronological order which made it so easy to follow the changes in Picasso paintings over the years.

Afternoon snack by the Cathedral

Just one of many side streets in the Old Quarters.

Barcelona - 2011

So we are back from our European trip and to say we took a few pictures might be a slight understatement. I'm just glad we have gone digital and we do not have to print all of our pictures, the good ones and the really bad ones.

Our first stop was Barcelona, so since I posted a picture of La Sagrada Familia before we left, I thought it appropriate to start off with this beautiful, and very unusual cathedral.

The first thing that I notice this year was the number of people there to see the cathedral. There were buses everywhere and lines almost a block long to get into the cathedral. Ten years ago there was little or not wait.

The other thing I noticed was so many more cranes hovering over the construction. Maybe there is a big push to complete and also with all the people visiting maybe there is more money in the budget for construction. Completion date is estimated to be 2026, hundred years after the death designer, architect Antoni Gaudi.

This is basically the same view I took in 2000; it is a little closer since the trees now are taller and the same view would cover more of the cathedral.

The is the view from the other side.