I haven’t posted for a few days, because I was on my way to–Barcelona! This was our jumping off point from a Mediterranean cruise on the huge ocean liner, the Norwegian Lines Epic.
I had no idea what to expect during my first visit to Barcelona, and was surprised that the look and laid-back vibe reminded me of Santa Monica! The weather feels similar, too, with lots sun, sea breezes, and a climate warm enough that orange trees were growing on our hotel patio.
Other discoveries that should not be missed if you visit here:
The rightly famous Iberian ham. The cure is uniquely smokey-salty, and the slices we’ve enjoyed have always served almost see-through thin. The pic below shows the ham shop of Enrique Tomas–all walls are lined from floor to ceiling with hams, some more than 200 Euros (or $250) each. (I was told that some very special hams can cost up to a 1,000 Euros.) No, I’m not going to buy one!
To the right, you can see some of the beautiful tile work done by perhaps Barcelona’s most famous artist, an architect named Gaudi. This is only one of more than a 100 tile embellishments in a public park, called Park Geull. I took pics of many more similar areas–and will post a whole set of them some time. They inspired me to consider taking up tile work and creating my own decorative kitchen trays one day–just gorgeous!
Gaudi also spent nearly 50 years building what is certainly the most fantastical cathedral imaginable. Though the pic below doesn’t really convey it, a lot of the decorations appear to be melting or growing. This strange look clearly influenced another later artist of the region, Salvador Dali. If you’ve seen his melting clocks painting, you know what I mean.
One aspect I did expect was the charming narrow city streets. You can see my granddaughter, son, and hubby warlking along ahead of me.
We’re on the move, but will have a little more time later in the week. Check back then for some sights from Italy–including the breathtaking Amalfi coast.)
For details and pics of our day-trip to Sorrento and Salerno on the Amalfi coast, click here.
first photo does look like Santa Monica.