I left my heart in Barcelona

What makes one likes or dislikes a city?

It’s already dark in Barcelona. A grandfather and his grandson was sitting next to me in the bus, talking about alligators, dinosaurs, and strawberry ice cream. My mind was wandering when they confessed to each other about how they really like Barcelona. “I do like Barcelona, but I don’t like Barcelona shop,” the grandson added convincingly.

What makes one likes or dislikes Barcelona?

I imagined myself, as a grandma, traveling with my granddaughter to this memorable place. We will sit next to each other in a night bus, tired but feeling content. I will secretly smile when she closed her eyes and gently kissed her sunflower ring. When the moment comes, which is when she’s tired of jumping on and off her seat and I’m tired of preventing her from hurting herself, we will sit silently, half asleep, and confess to each other about how we really like (or dislike) Barcelona.

For me, the answer is obvious. Barcelona is such a pleasant place. It’s a place where the beauty of nature unites with the beauty of fantasy. The radiant sunshine, the vegetation, the almost mediterranean weather, the air, the friendly people … it’s kinda brought me back to life! It’s not very urban, but not very rural as well. It’s not too crowded, also not too lonely. And, there’s a lot of interesting place to visit within proximity.

You can do sport at Barceloneta beach … or at the Montjuic hill:

That’s Anella Olimpica or Estadi Olimpic at Montjuic hill … Unleash your sporty spirit!

You can chat and enjoy the wind breeze at the port, Rambla de Mar:

If you have children, you can also bring them to the L’aquarium or Imax 3D Theater.

You can stroll in the park: (several big and beautiful park here!)

The view of the city from the park (I forgot which park).

This is Jardins de Miramar, one of my favourite place! This garden have a collection of beautiful mediterranean cactuses.

This is Parc Guell by the one and only Antoni Gaudi!

Live music performance at Parc Guell. It was sooo stunning!

You can dream in Gaudi’s realm:

That is La Sagrada Familia, I will post pictures inside tomorrow. It’s inspired by the forest, very fantastic!

Casa Battlo, one of Unesco World Heritage. Gaudi was inspired by life in the sea ….

Casa Mila La Pedrera, the facade looks like waves. Look at the ornaments, it’s like flora of the sea.

You can witness renowned artworks:

Museum Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, mostly Gothic and Romantic paintings …. Youngsters were doing sports in front of this museum.

Picasso … this is in Fundacio Fran Daurel, located at Poble Espanyol.

You can spend your night at the crazy La Rambla:

There’s so many street art performed at La Rambla.

Lovely paintings ….

Indulge yourself with those! Or with mango gelato (ice cream)!

The people there were very friendly and helpful, maybe because they enjoy life as it is (?). Don’t be surprise if they mostly cannot speak English, because Barcelona is the capital of Catalunya, one of seventeen autonomous communities in Spain. They speak Catalan or Spanish, but they will be more than happy to try to communicate with you with their hand gesture. I also observed that their physical feature are very heterogenous, and I don’t know why ….

To be honest, I envy them. Barcelona seems like an ideal place to live. Fresh food are easily available. The generous sunshine is very suitable to grow decorative flowers at their apartments balcony:

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Enough said, I really enjoyed my time in Barcelona. For four nights I slept there, three of them was filled with long and intense dream. It reminds me about my initial impression of the city. At first glance, I felt this place was a little surreal. Somehow I was suspicious with my own sanity. “Is this real? Am I awake or am I in one of the location in my dream?” I was a little shaky and confused. But my excitement throughout this journey erased my confusion, and made me admit that:

Barcelona was such a dreamy place, and lively as well.