Brenda

I am meeting my husband in Barcelona after a business trip and we are trying to decide if we should stay in the city or hit the road in our car for a few days? We love the city and the countryside, but with only 3 days in Spain and no knowledge about the area we are not sure what there is to see! Anyone have any insight?

Joe

Hit the road!!! <BR> <BR>The Spanish countryside is beautiful! I would traveling down the Mediterranean Coast toward Valencia and Alicante or venturing out to the cities of Castilla-Leon. Too bad you only have 3 days there! It's a little out of your way, but the cities of Avila, Segovia, and especially Salamanca are exquisite and well worth the visit. They are a few hours west of Madrid. <BR> <BR>¡Buen Viaje!

Sheila

helpful answer(not) <BR> <BR>Do either. I spent 10 days in spaina couple of years ago, flying in and out of Barcelona. I went up into the Pyrenees and had a ball, then spent the last 3 days in Barcelona. It was wonderful. A great city to get a feel for in a short time.

RC

If you decide the countryside, you can go north-east and try the Pyrenees villages toward Puigcerda, Ripoll, La Seu d'Urgell and even across the border to France. These can be accomplished easily with one-day drives from Barcelona.

Art

Hi Brenda, I spent 2 days in Barcelona last year and wished that I had had more time. There is easily enough there to keep you interested and occupied. Have your husband ask his contacts for info on areas to see. <BR>Regards <BR>Art <BR>

ger

Brenda: <BR> <BR>I was in Barcelona in May for four days and it was not sufficient time to see everything. I would suggest you do the Bus Tour, the Bari Gotic and L'Eixample. I am posting some details from my trip report. Do a search on Barcelona - several people have posted trip reports on this great city. I know you will love it. <BR> <BR>Regards ... Ger <BR> <BR>Bus Tour <BR> <BR>I don't normally do this but I have limited time and I wanted to get an orientation of the city, so I took a bus tour. <BR> <BR>Took the Bus Turistic (2200 pts per person for one day, 2800 pts for two days, discount coupons for public and private attractions provided). Main "Launch Point": Placa de Catalunya. Total time, two routes; About 3.5 hours. Buses come every 15-10 mins: <BR> <BR>There are two routes: Red - North, Blue - South. They hit the following areas: <BR> <BR>· RED/NORTH: Pg de Garcia La Pedrera, Sagarada Familla, Park Guell, Trama Blau Tibidabo, Montisir de Pedidralbes-Thyssen, Palau Reial, Club Barcelona, <BR>· BLUE/SOUTH: Barri Gothic, Zoo, Olympic Village, Port Olimpic, Port Vell, Colon La Rembla, Miramar Jardins, Funicula Montjuic, Olympic site, Poble Espanyol, Placa Espanyol, Place d"Espanya, Estacio de Sants <BR> <BR>Impressions <BR>· Good way to orient yourselves in the city <BR>· Expensive as a bus tour, but might be ok if you take advantage of the discount coupons <BR>· Best plan: Buy the two-day package and do one each day, jumping off at each stop to take advantage of coupons <BR>· For me: Glad I did it, despite the fact that I was bored during the Northern portion of the journey. It did "orient" me and now I can plan my walks - I am a very SERIOUS walker. <BR> <BR>El Barri Gotic Walk <BR> <BR>Firstly, I have to recommend a tour book. Barcelonawalks by George Semler is probably the best tour book I have ever read for exploring a city. Anyone planning a trip to Barcelona should order it from AMAZONE.COM (it is old (printed in 1991) and out of print (so you will not find it in you local bookshop) and the "general" information is no longer relevant). The book gives you the history of every important building and Square/Placa on the route - from Roman times to recent times. It provides extraordinary insights into the city's history and its position in and contribution to Western society. It has very interesting and amusing anecdotes If you LOVE history and stories, you will love this book. <BR> <BR>It was an extraordinary walk around the Barri Gothic. The narrow streets close in on you and you begin understand what it meant to live within the confines of a walled city - claustrophobics could not have survived. And there is no light - the sun never touched these streets. But the streets are short. Suddenly you stumble upon a light-filled square - small but perfect: The stone captures and reflects the light. Usually, there is a fountain (did the Catalans learn this from Alhambra, from the Arab invaders love of water gardens and knowledge of plumbing?). There is a church and a saint and some extraordinary mythical, mystical, Jewish, early Christian or historical tale of death and redemption. There are layers upon layers of history and magic. <BR> <BR>Its been a good day and Barcelona is truly a great city. I have seen the very best design and architecture from the Roman era, through to the modern, yet sensitive, construction for the1992 Olympics. Tomorrow I explore the Catalan's unique and extraordinary contribution to modern art and architecture - Modernist Barcelona <BR>

ger

And here is L'Exiample <BR> <BR>Visit to L'Eixample Area. <BR> <BR>On the previous day, I explored Barri Gotic. Although I am passionately interested in the early - mid medieval period, from an historic perspective, I find being IN medieval cities oddly disturbing (Toledo scared me witless; I love viewing Notre Dame (and other great medieval cathedrals) from the OUTSIDE but get "wobblies" inside). <BR> <BR>I am now ABSOLUTELY convinced that this aversion MUST be caused by a past life experience and I was one of those poor sad bastards that died roaring from the bubonic plague (just joking, I think ????!!!!). <BR> <BR>Anyway, next day I felt the need of light and space and spent the entire day exploring L'Eixample and the Moderniste architecture - it was even more wonderful than I had ever imagined. Huge contrast with Barri Gothic - wide, glorious avenues lined with trees that were build for today's traffic; tall, elegant buildings decorated with a "modern" interpretation of Greek/Roman/Gothic relief and sculpture. I was blessed with a beautiful warm (although cool for the time of year) and sunny day. <BR> <BR>I fell in love with Gaudi's architecture in my teens but had no idea that there were so many extraordinary structures in Barcelona by himself and his contemporaries. Some of my favorite buildings in the area are: <BR> <BR>Sagada Familia <BR>Defies description! If Bosche and Tolkein co-operated on designing a building, this might be the result. It is STILL a Work in Progress after almost a century (the architects MUST have hired the builders I had in to renovate my kitchen) - don't miss it. <BR> <BR>Casa Mila: <BR>Looks like an ice-cream cone that's about to melt into the pavement. See it/take a picture best from the middle of the road on the north-bond lane of the P. de Garcia (seriously) but move VERY quickly to the pavement when the light turns green. (here's an example of where wearing running shoes is a DEFINATE benefit, even if makes you look like an American). <BR> <BR>La Mancana de la Discordia: <BR>Actually a block of buildings on the Passage de Gracia by various architects. Each building is entirely unique and, as the label suggests, each completely "out of key" with the others. (A music analogy would be: A symphony by Zoltan Kodaly, performed by the Sex Pistols & Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Timothy Leary or other available anarchist, or NONE). <BR> <BR>Passatge Permanya: <BR>Talk about a non-sequitur! - A little piece of England (or Raj India) in the middle of Barcelona. It reminds you of a stroll through Regent's park - two story, sherbet -coloured, neo-classical homes (apparently inspired by Nash). Completely out of context, but an absolute gem of an avenue in any city - if I retire to Barcelona THIS is where I will live! <BR>

nico

been to spain 7-8 times and never left barcelona off the list...with only 3 days that far north, spend your time in the city...the posts below provide good travel tips. great people, atmosphere, culture and cuisine...and spain is alive all night and well into the morning. i believe 3 days soent here will be more rewarding than tiring yourself out trying to do too much elsewhere. - ciao nico

Mary

This is for Ger, I was just scrolling thru the posts and read yours, and must say Thank you. It was a great descriptive account of some sites I'm interested in seeing. If we go to Baecelona next summer, and I hope we do, I will definitely take your account with us.

ger

Glad you enjoyed it Mary. If you want to read the rest of it, do a search and Barcelona - the title is "BRIDGET JONES & FRIEND POST FROM BARCELONA". It has some additional information & walks and also some "tongue in cheek" observations in the style of BG! There are also some photos on Sally Fowler's web-site: <BR>http://geocities.com/dhfsbf/fodorite/pictures.htm <BR> <BR>It is truly a wonderful city and I I look forward to returning sometime soon. <BR> <BR>Regards