EYWandBTV

Hello all,

We’re planning a trip to Barcelona in mid-February. We’ve been to Spain only once, Seville-Granada-Cordoba-Toledo-Madrid…loved it. Want more!

Us: in our 70s (yikes) but still putting one foot in front of the other; speak some Spanish, working on Catalan enjoy architecture (want to see Calatrava's stuff in Valencia), art of all kinds, Roman ruins, history, food food food, walking city streets, and fast Spanish trains

We’ll stay about 11 nights, sort of like this:

Miami direct to Barcelona
4 n Barcelona
3 n Valencia by AVE
2 n Tarragona, side day trip maybe to Poblet monastery
2 n return to Barcelona, then home

Here are some questions for you, thanks in advance for your input:

Weather? It looks like Barcelona weather will be 60 hi and 45 lo, more or less, in mid-Feb, which should be fine for walking around. Although one Fodor trip report mentions snow in March, ouch.

Crowds, esp around Ramblas, Barri Gotic, and Sagrada Familia: I’m hoping these areas are not swamped with people in Feb?

Minus Gaudi: will my life be ruined forever more if we do not visit Sagrada Familia? I’m not a fan of bloviated circus-type “churches” echoing with construction noise. Open to persuasion.

Miro museum: Sert’s building looks wonderful, I really want to visit this museum. Am a fan of Miro. Is it as great as it looks?

Barcelona food: I’ve read a lot on Fodors and elsewhere about BCN food and restaurants, but if you have an especially terrific suggestion please post (but we don't want Michelin type places, prefer simple and homey as opposed to super fancy)

Eixample hotels: we want to stay in Eixample area. Suggestions for hotels?

Poblet, Tarragona, Valencia: I’ve scanned Fodor forum posts about these, there’s not a lot. Any particularly excellent things to recommend?

Thank you!

Traveler_Nick

In my experience Barcelona can feel fairly cold. I had to buy a sweatshirt one May -)

For food I guess you're looking at the Menu del dia aka special of the day. I tend to walk around and look at the boards outside. Pick the only that most interests.

Personally I like the older cathedral better but it's dark and not famous.

Crowds? It's Covid still. Who knows what the year will bring.

Normally I'd suggest checking the dates of the mobile trade show but is it even on?

thursdaysd

If you have any interest in Art Nouveau, Gaudi's buildings are not to be missed. If you have no interest in Art Nouveau I would still recommend seeing Sagrada Familia and Casa Battlo. I did not find the continuing building activities at Sagrada Familia intrusive, the sanctuary is complete and consecrated. There are other Art Nouveau buildings in Barcelona that are well worth seeing, especially the Palau de la Musica Catalana and the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.

I agree with your decision to stay in the Eixample, but I can't help with hotels. For my last visit to Barcelona start here, links at the top of the page: https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...s-the-ramblas/

Jackie44

We stayed at the Hotel Violeta in 2019, in the penthouse apartment with roof top terrace. Very comfortable, clean and great location. https://violeta-boutique.hotelbcn-barcelona.com/en/

KTtravel

I was so surprised how much I enjoyed the Sagrada Familia a few years ago. We opted for an in-person tour rather than using headsets and though the tour was very interesting and informative. I don't remember hearing construction noise but can't state for certain that there wasn't any.

My coworker was taking his family to Barcelona shortly after I visited and mentioned his teenagers really didn't want to visit any more churches. I persuaded him to reconsider and he came back saying the Sagrada Familia ended up being one of his family's highlights of their trip.

Sassafrass

Another in agreement about Gaudi’s work. I had zero interest or understanding of it until I went as part of a tour. I saw two places and later a third on my own. It is creative genius. I would love to see more.

I have seen quite a few cathedrals and by comparison, did not find the old Barcelona cathedral that inspiring.

The Palau de la Musica, however, is unusual and beautiful, an absolute jewel.

Michael

Gaudi is not just churches:

https://flic.kr/p/7v9pH1
https://flic.kr/p/7v5z2Z
https://flic.kr/p/7v9vus

EYWandBTV

Thank you, everyone, I'm persuaded by your comments, we'll go visit SF! I did in fact intend to check out several of the other Gaudi buildings and Parc Guell. It's just that SF seemed so enormous, so outsized. I generally dislike buildings that are so large that the sense of beauty is lost, IMHO...Versailles, Saint Peter's, the Seville cathedral. I'm not against over-the-top glorious Gothic or Renaissance design--Sant Andrea in Rome and the Toledo cathedral seem just huge and grandiose enough. But the photos of SF seemed...well, I'll just be patient and visit and see for myself.

HappyTrvlr

La Sagrada Familia is one of my two favourite churches in the world along with Westminster Abbey. Sagrada Familia is not circus like at all and is the major reason we went to Barcelona. And Gaudi's buildings are all around the city for you to see and visit. I like Calatrava too and have seen many of his works.
Study La Sagrada Familia before you go to Barcelona, the different entrances and their nature motifs. We were totally entranced by his architecture which uses nature as his basis. Gaudi was very religious man who was hit and killed by a tram walking from confession to La Sagrada Familia, his daily ritual.

allisonm

We spent a week in Barcelona in late January 2020. The weather was terrific and I ended up carrying my light jacket most days. The beaches were very busy.

We stayed in the Hotel Europark in the Eixample. We had a nice room with a terrace. If we make it back there, we will go for the penthouse. They offered a very nice buffet breakfast and had a guitarist playing soft music on the weekend. The location was great and we walked everywhere from the hotel, even the zoo. There is a wine store around the corner where we learned about Riojas and bought wine for our room. Also, a very nice market a few blocks away.

For food, the hotel recommend Betlem, a few blocks away, where we had nice tapas and wine. Also in the area is Anita Flow, where we had dinner twice. I loved it but DH was not impressed with the second meal. (He chose an odd thing, his fault!) Most of our meals were not at destinations, we just wandered around and tried places that looked fairly busy.

We really enjoyed our visit to SF. The construction was not a problem. We took a bus up to Parc Guell, designed by Gaudi. The park is free but there is a fee to visit the structures he designed, which you can skip. The park is really lovely with a fantastic view of the city.

JulieVikmanis

We like Granados 83 hotel in the Eixample. Rooms are small but nicely equipped and modern and location is good.

BCN is probably our favorite dining city. Here are some of our favorites:
Vinya del Senor--wine bar across from the Sta Maria del Mar church
St. Augustina del Senyor-- tapas and sit down meals not far from Sta. Maria del Mar
Tapeo--tapas (best in our opinions) near Picasso museum
Sagardia--chain tapas place with plates all set out to select from, reasonable and good
Paco Meralgo--tapas and other dishes, seating on bar stools, in area by Granados 83
Vinitus--trendy wine and tapas place with tables, nice presentation, good vibe, always crowded (second only to Tapeo)
Topik--gourmet tapas with an Asian touch
For a grown-up gracious dinner consider any of the following: L'Olive, Windsor, Gresca all in Eixample area

EYWandBTV

Thanks so much for these ideas, including the food spots. Yes, we'll keep an open mind and go to SF. I also have been reading about a structure which doesn't have much coverage on these forums, and that is the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, originally built for the 1929 international exposition in Barcelona. It was the German pavilion. Mies also created the "Barcelona chair" (now famous) for the building. It was dismantled in 1930, then Barcelona reconstructed it in the 1980s using the original designs and photos. It's a beautiful, sleek, spare building, the courtyard spaces feel almost Japanese.

The more I read about Barcelona the richer the place appears, so many layers and different kinds of neighborhoods and buildings.

Also, I'm now wondering about scratching Tarragona and substituting a couple of days in Girona, which seems like a beautiful little city.

Too many choices....

annw

SF is like no other cathedral, IME, and so worth the time and effort to see. Gaudí was such a creative genius.

Michael

The pavilion is empty, but the park above it has a building with Miro works, and it has a museum which contains the original frescoes of Romanesque churches:

https://flic.kr/p/7v5EYz
https://flic.kr/p/7v5BSB
This is one of the replacement copies in the church itself:

https://flic.kr/p/7v1dht

EYWandBTV

Spectacular, thanks Michael. Two questions: what is the tapestry a replacement for? And what kind of camera do you use, great pics!

Michael

The camera was a Canon, pre-digital. I am not aware that the tapestry is a replacement for anything, just another medium used by Miró.

EYWandBTV

I was wondering because you wrote that it was a "replacement copy"

Michael

The fresco in the church is not the original which was removed to a museum in Barcelona.