Get Spirited Away with Barcelona... Extremely Vibrant and Lively City of Spain

Our plane arrives in Barcelona! Yeah yeah yeah! My very much awaited trip to Barcelona! hahaha.. Ok, to be childish for once, i wanted to visit Barcelona, since the last time when i watched "流行花园" Part 2 during my Uni days. The Taiwan idol drama sequel was filmed there and the sights of Barcelona were so beautiful... Now, i can feel it for myself! :) Yippee!

Aircraft connecting to the arrow bridge for us to head out to the vibrant city Barcelona! Ta-da!

Barcelona airport.. which we found a little confusing as they had different terminals, just like our Singapore's Changi Airport.

On the airport express bus to town. We had wanted to take the metro, but it was too far a walk from the terminal. So ended up with the bus...

Tapas for the night again!

Check out the selection of tapas at the counter!

The tapas bar counter...

Metro station in Barcelona

Metro appears little older compared to Madrid.. and that's the usual sight of a busker performing in the train..

Me getting comfy for the ride

Stadium tour again...! Gosh, how many times must we do this? Hahaha.. Well, if Kevin loves it, I learn to go ahead with it!

Barcelona FC

Names of all the Barcelona greats

The dressing room... section for the injured

Dry whirlpool? Looks kind of worn out yah?

The dressing area with the cabinets, a vast different from the one in Real Madrid stadium.

Along the hallways, really like our Singapore National Stadium - worn out

Chapel in the stadium... Pray to win the match!

Nou Camp pitchside!

The press room

Another press area

Kevin loves Barcelona but loves Liverpool even more

The soccer fan in deep thoughts... Can soccer make me slim again?

Barcelona FC - Kevin and his stadium

The wife needs to play along.. If not, how can i claim to be his personal entertainer...

The area to view the football match from above. Sometimes used by reporters or the commentators in a room around here...

A Spaniard beside me?

Check out how tired-looking the stairway is...

Soccer player in shining armour?

Artictic display of Barcelona FC

The trophies

The emblem speaks for itself...

Kevin and the cheeky old man

Queuing for tickets to the match, Sir?

Players warming up

Finally, we're out of there! hahaha... but at least I still learn something in each stadium visit.

Old ticketing counters outside the stadium... looks really old...

And WOW! The La Sagrada Familia! I am here!

Can you see the immense details of the structure? And for your info, the cathedral is undergoing construction. This is one of the work by Antoni Gaudi.

Amazing structure.. and all the shapes and designs used have various meanings and representations..

Close up of some statues

See these pillars within the building on the interior

The sketch of La Sagrada Familia

Shanshan admiring the structures... or is she performing her usual stunt of daydreaming?

See how the design ideas came about...

This is to represent nature of a tree bark

The pillars in the building is to be identified with roots and trunks of trees

Amazing thoughts that went through Gaudi's mind

These pointy structures on the exterior is to imitate seeds and plants in the fields

See the details that are thought of? I can't imagine how long did Gaudi took to come with all these... No wonder until today, the construction has not ceased...

Taking the lift to see the top

Wah! The wind is so freaking strong!

Seeing the structure up close from above

Ok, trying very hard to smile and act calm amidst the crazy strong winds at the top

Kevin and his ya-ya look?! hahhaa

Crossing the small pathway, makes me castraphobic

The stairway down is worse... hahah (by the way, we can only take the lift up and walk our way down.. and oh, the lift costs 2.50 euros one way up!)

Kevin walking down the stairs... Hmmm.. seems like he is not so plump after all what.. he can make his way down the narrow stairway easily k!

The pointy structures

Soaring high into the skies

Me super scared that the wind will blow me away.. though it is super unlikely, since i am also not that lightweight... hahha...

The spiral stairway is to represent a snail shell..

The model of La Sagrada Familia

How the La Sagrada Familia used to look like in the past, during the first construction phase

Making our exit

Bye to the amazing structure. For those who visit Barcelona one day, please check it out yourself, not to be misssed!

On the wall of the La Sagrada metro station

Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona downtown

Kevin at Plaza Catalunya... The heart of Barcelona, where you can find all the shopping you want

Making our way to our apartment on the busy streets

Hehehe.. this is the doorway to our apartment... Looks shattered and like some slumps right? hahahh..

The interior of our apartment for 85 euros a night. This is the wash basin area outside the toilet

The toilet and WC

The bed area

The kitchen area... it amazes us that it came with a washing machine too, but we didn't have to do any laundry anyway.. hahah

The living area with a mini balcony. Notice all the furnishings are quite familiar? From a famous Swedish furniture retailer? Anyway, it was a very cosy and well facilitated apartment, and it's right in the heart of town! We thought it was quite a cool place.

Kevin at La Ramblas. La Ramblas is primarily pedestrianised with only two narrow one-way traffic roads which run on either side of the central Ramblas Boulevard.

Walking along La Ramblas, you will see plentiful of buskers at work..

The flower market at La Ramblas

Colourful sight

An old church nearby

At Passeig de Gràcia (Something like the upclass shopping area)

Tapas time again! But super expensive though... e.g. a mini hamburger costs 3.5 euros each (and my mini size means like about twice the size of a 50 cents coin. Basically you can gobble it in one mouthful... hahah) Nevertheless, it was one of the best Tapas we had in Barcelona...

Kevin and Benjamin, his counterpart in Barcelona

Kevin and me with all our tapas! Yummy yummy! Look at Kevin's oily mouth, you know he is obviously enjoying himself! hee...

The cute squids... but sorry, we still have to eat you.. heehee

See the lighted windows? There is performance by the windows, whereby audiences stood below to watch

A nice structure we came across while walking to Port Vell, the waterfront towards the Rambla de Mar

This architect-designed walkway and footbridge, lead you across the water to the large commercial complex in the middle of the harbour on the Mall d'Espanya - Footbridge to Maremàgnum

The fishes below us... With birds flying across to catch a shot too..

The yachts

The shopping mall

An artistic structure with two views... see below..

A Night at the Museum

The quiet streets at night

Out apartment in the day, with Kevin people watching in the balcony... erm.. or was it babe-watching?!

Now you see him, Now you don't!

Me on the balcony of our apartment! You can spot me right??!

Here's the big version!

There's a shopping area below our apartment already

The not so nice stairway leading down from our apartment

Mercat de Sant Josep - La Boqueria

Kevin at the St. Josep market La Boqueria of the La Ramblas street

The meats!

More meats! Moo-moo~

Eggs! The market sells fruits, vege and other produce..

Check out the colours of the candies and sweets!

Seafood! For paella?!


Pizza anyone?


Fruits fruits fruits!

Fresh fruit juices sold

Fruits galore!

Can you tell what is this? hee... it is the close up of the skin of pineapple!

At the Erotic Museum - Me posing with Big brother
(Disclaimer: Oh, please look on only if you don't mind the little humour from this erotic museum... nothing meant to be offensive)

Museu de Erotica, Barcelona

Chastity locks?

This is suppose to be ancient invention of an erotic masturbation chair... see the dick that sticks out from the middle of the chair?

Ancient playboy covers

Artistic displays using your imagination

Collection of Artifacts at the Museum

Figurines in sexual positions

Abstract art. There are actually alot more exhibits in the museum, but i think they are too explicit to be placed online... so if you do visit Barcelona, check out this Erotic Museum if you want.

At the metro station - brightly lit..

Doesn't this looks like the London Girken building?

So who copied who? hehehe

Visiting a local bazaar market...

Kevin and his new buy at 16 euros!

The Bullring in Barcelona.

At another work of Gaudi... Park Guell

See the wavy structure... That is Gaudi's way of nature

The famous icon of Park Guell, the colourful lizard

Entrance of Park Guell

From above.. This is a free park open to all, and it is particularly crowded

Pose quick to grab a pic before the people comes!

Doesn't it looks like some gingerbread house? hahah

This is the famous lizard of Park Guell. How can we miss a shot with it?!

The ceilings design...

Rest time to be away from the crowd

At the bench

Overlooking the park

The curvy-wavy design

The muddy holes look-a-like... reminds me of cauliflower though..

The park in my hands...

The greenery...

A couple shot in the park.. just to show that we are not hanky-panky-ing... hehehe

Can you see me?

Busker under the columns

Bye Park Guell, we got to move on!

Chocolate Fondue! Visiting a Chocolate museum.

This is made of chocolate!

See the chocolate rice used to make the ground of sand effect?!

The white gorilla in choco and the black gorilla in real!

Cowboys in choco...

Chocolate Park Guell Lizard!

Chocolate pottery?!

Asterix and Obelix in choco..

See how they make the mud-look-a-like with chocolate..

My favourite! hahahah... Chicken Little!

Barcelona FC in choco too!

The choco chefs at work...

Nutty choco...

Basilica Santa Maria del Mar - The Santa Maria Church in Barcelona

The interior

The sound organs...

Shanshan saying her prayers

Leaving the sacred grounds

The Casa Mila La Pidrera - another work of Gaudi

I think Gaudi really likes curvy wavy..

On the inside

The arch shaped in a unique way

The model of Casa Mila La Pidrera

The roof garden and its structures

Kevin loves the interesting uneven pathways

Big structure

Overlooking the roads from above

What was Gaudi thinking when he created all these?! His mind works so greatly

The curves

Gaudi's apartment, bathroom area

The dining area of Gaudi's apartment

Gaudi's work area

Another bathroom

Kitchen

Ironing room - quite traditonal yah?

Playroom of the child

Bedroom

Kid's room - and that's all for Gaudi's apartment, just for us to get a feel of it...

Another Gaudi's work... His work literally flooded Barcelona... hahaha... This is the Casa Batllo

We did not enter the Casa Batllo, but just took pictures from outside.. heard that it will be pretty much similar to the other, so gave it a miss.

Casa Batllo lighted up!

Kevin at Plaça De Espanya

Walk from Placa Espanya - we didn't have much time to walk inside already, so just shot of it at least...

A library building beside Placa Espanya

El Corte Inglés is Spain's largest department store chain. El Corte Inglés is seen by the Spanish as a symbol of their Culture. Many products and services in various local stores cater to the country's diverse regions. You cannot miss this enormous building in plaza Catalunya. El Corte Inglés is "the" department store of Barcelona. To see!

Heading to the Port Olimpic (Puerto Olimpico)

At La Fonda del Port Olímpic restaurant. It is a restaurant with Mediterranean cuisine. They have excellent rice dishes, fish and seafood, but also grilled meat.

My yummy soup!

A French waiter in Spain

Yummy yummy! Ok, quick take pic liao, and Kevin can go back to his soup. hee...

Both of us indulging!

And the best Paella in town! You must try the Paella at La Fonda del Port Olimpic! Terrific!

And they also offer a noodle-style paella (they use noodles instead of rice). I think it is called Fideau. See the pic below.

The beach area around Port Olimpic, with some cool bars and pubs.

The Barceloneta Beach

The spiderwomen at night! Playground time at the beach. hehehe...

Soem final shots before checking out of our apartment.

The Barcelona Cathedral

Grand interior

The high ceilings

The carvings with small details

The geese in the courtyard

Kevin took this. Don't ask me why!

At another local market

Spaniards seem to love fruits

Fish and seafood, and me!

Sliced pickles and vege

Kevin at the Picasso Museum, our final stop in Barcelona. We couldn't take any pictures inside the Picasso Museum, so quite a pity. But Picasso was really an artist of the era. From real to abstract to pottery art, he literally could do anything.

And there we are at the Barcelona airport to head back to Athens! Taking Iberia Airlines... Bye Barcelona! Such a wonderful city, strongly recommended by Kevin and me!