The 6 days Spain Adventure

• Parc de la Ciutadella is a great place to visit. Gravel paths wind through the park, lush with palm trees and tropical vegetation and Arc de Triomf, a giant arch that was the main access gate for the 1888 World’s Fair.
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• Santa Maria del Mar is a historic cathedral, but we didn’t go inside to visit . 10 Euro per person seemed too much for what it looked like ‘just an old church’ as per my teenager daughter 🙂 .
• Barceloneta beach – so crowded (on Saturday in July) ! It reminded me of my university summers at the Mamaia and Costinesti beaches in Romania. We just watched the crowds.
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• Exploring the Gothic Quarter – the oldest part of Barcelona, and also its most liveliest. The beautiful examples Roman and Medieval-era architecture are rubbing elbows with the many shops, restaurants, alfresco cafes, bars and clubs. Of course we loved most the monkeys :). No purchases yet!!!   
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• After almost no sleep and dinner at 12 am and brakfast at 6am we stopped for luch on our way to the Gothic quarter to try some of the famous tapas. The first try, at of course… ‘The Vida Locca‘ we had a variety of fried tapas (mostly sea food and potatoes). It was very well received by entire family….and the freshly squeezed orange juice was, as per the teenegers, ‘the best we had in a long time’ ! The cervesas were just fine also :).
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• We love the vibe of the city and how at each corner you can find something to be amazed, or enjoy, or just a crazy small, narrow street that still looks very interesting (at least to us the Canadians :)). 
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• We ended up the first day with Spanish wine and pizza in the room as we were too tired for anything else. Looking forward for tomorrow, a full day of Gaudi’s architecture and Barcelona views.
• Day 1 –> SUCCESS

• We started early in the morning @9am with walking the scenic trails of Park Güell. From the moment we stepped into the park we were overwhelmed by Gaudi’s iconic style. He wanted the Park Güell to feel like a touch of the divine, and indeed it feels like the Paradise on Earth.
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• View of the city from the park.
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• One of our favourite places in the park was the “Serpentine Bench“. The bench is meant to resemble the shape of a swimming sea serpent but the curves create small areas for seating. It is covered in hundreds of tile mosaics and each tile is meant to look like the scales of the serpent but also creates a fantastical rainbow-like effect across the skyline. The style of mosaic created using pieces of old tile, glass, shells and broken chinaware is called Trencadís. 
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• Hypostyle Room supported by 86 Doric columns which hold up a brilliant white domed ceiling. Amongst the white tiles on the domed ceiling are colourful circular rosettes. The larger rosettes represent the four seasons and the smaller ones are meant to be versions of the sun and the moon.
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• One of the most photographed parts of the park is the quintessential Dragon Staircase with the Dragon fountains (3 of them). The dragon fountain is of ocurse covered in trecadis.
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• The administration lodge
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• We left the park amazed by the vision Gaudi painted . His dreamlike creations made us feel like we wandered somewhere outside Earth, somewhere we only ever seen in dreams. 
• After a short lunch break we were ready for the main Gaudi masterpience, La Sagrada Familia.This is an exceptional temple, and there is no wonder 140 years later (started building in 1882) is still not finished. The result of the work of the brilliant architect Antoni Gaudí, it was a project driven by and for the people, and five generations have seen the evolution of this temple in Barcelona. The model shows the future, final look of the cathedral, and with light brown are the pieces still under construction. I am wondering if this would really EVER be finished! 
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• Other than the amazing sand castel look on the outside, the light in the inside is definetly our favourite part. I still cannot believe it, and the photos do not do any justice to the feeling and ambiance those windows and the light are creating inside the temple.
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• This will be the main entrance door once it is finished.
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• Interesting how the diference in colours of the stone outside shows the age of the pieces as they get built.
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• For late afternoon, we had a visist in Las Ramblas, a pedestrian-friendly pathway situated right in the middle of the city, As expected it was very busy with people walking around the souvenir stands, street performers and local artists selling on the street.
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• We had a short stop at Barcelona Cathedral also
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• We ended day 2 with tasting of some more tapas and a glass of cava (sparkling spanish wine). I forgot to take picture as we were too hungry :). 
• Day 2–> AMAZED by the genius of Gaudi!! Looking forward for Day 3 of some more Gaudi : Casa Batlló and La Pedrera!!

• We started the last day in Barcelona with a visit to Casa Batlló, This UNESCO World Heritage site, which is actually privately owned (thise guys know how to make a good living out of it) is known for its vibrant colors, intricate tile work and skeletal terraces.The façade is inspired by the legend of St. George, whose story is famous for slaying a dragon to save the princess. 
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• Each room has a different color and texture of the walls
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• The roof terrace is dominated by what is known as the dragon’s back. However, the main focal point of the roof terrace are the 4 crooked and polychrome chimney stacks, designed to prevent backdraughts.
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• The lightwell distributes the air and light that enter through the main skylightand is decorated with tiles of different blue tones (more intense colour in the upper part and lighter tiles at the bottom) to ensure the uniform distribution of the light. The upper windows are smaller and they become bigger as we descend  to allow more light to enter). 
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• We left the house Battlo amazed one again by the Gaudi genius and eager and looking forward for more. The neighborghood is almost as amazing, everywhere you look…
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• We had 1 hour until the next tour booked so we found a nice place for a snack and coffee.
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• Casa Milà or La Pedrera was next on our list. This was not only Gaudí last work on Passeig de Gracia but his last civil work as well. Since then, Casa Milà has been designated as a National Monument and a World Heritage site by UNESCO.
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• And, to end the day, Mont Juic Hill, the second tallest mountain in the city. We took the metro to Paral-lel and then you can ride the funicular as an extension to your metro journey, at no additional cost. Take the teleferic (cable car) -15 Euro- up to the castle on top of Mont Juic. Montjuïc Castle is open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is 5 euros but on Sundays after 3 p.m. or the first Sunday of the month, admission is free.
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• Amazing views of all Barcelona … and the port and beach
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• MontJuic castle, and a stop for lunch at the castle (hamburgers and pizza :))
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• We also hd a visit of the Olympic Ring (1992 Olimpiade) 
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• We ended the day with Sagrada visist (outside) at night to see the lights and take some last photos (leaving tomorrow morning 🙁 ).
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We got the car and left Barcelona for a trip to Monserat. These are our wheels for the next 35 days 😍!!

Driving from Barcelona to Montserrat is a good option for getting to the monastery quickly and conveniently. You will be able to drive right up to the monastery and there is the option of free parking once you have arrived.

When driving to Montserrat you will need to decide whether you would like to park right at the monastery or if you would like to park at the bottom of the mountain and take one of the modes of transport to the top. A lot of people choose to take either the rack railway or the cable car to Montserrat Monastery – this can add to your experience as the journey up the mountain by rack railway or cable car can be an exciting one. We decided to drive all the way up and the views left us without words. I didn’t expect the mountain to be that high and that spectacular.

The Black Virgin In The Basilica Of Montserrat – is one of the exceptional Madonna’s wooden images of a totally black color. It has a mystic healing power and protects people from the negative energy. It is situated in the Basilica of Montserrat, and can be visited for free.

The Basilica Of Montserrat was on our intinerary but we ended up just taking photos from outside. We couldn’t have enough of these views!!

Next stop: Girona with faimous Girona Cathedral.

The inside was pretty spectacular also. This is the largest medieval cathedral in the world and the second largest cathedral of any style after Saint Peter in Rome. No wonder it took them more than 200 years to finish it (can you see a pattern here? :).

Walking on the medieval walls and the views of Girona from them was also one of the high points on our Girona visit.

…although walking on the stone medieval streets surounded by art it gives you a special feeling   

After couple hours of immersion in Gothic art and medieval castels and walls we got back on the road and drove to Costa Brava for our last day in Spain (on this leg of the trip). We ended the day with a delicious dinner with the ‘best palleia and calamary rings ever’.

followed by a walk around canals and back to the hotel was the end of our day

Tomorrow we will spend the morning in  Costa Brava: Cap de Creus Natural Park and after a stop on Cadaques we will continue our road trip to France.

We spent the morning exploring Cap de Creus Natural Park. The rocky coastline with small towns and rugged coastal scenery was amazing. No wonder this is a top holiday destination. 

To get there we took a crazy windy road with spectacular views of the unique landscape, but before that on the C260 road we had a roundabout every 800 meteres, and I am talking about 20 roundabouts…and the speed limit between them was 100Km/h. Let’s just say the kids had fun listening to the GPS insytructions every 20 seconds about the next round about exit :). 

We tried to make it to Cap the Creus Far, one of the most popular sights in the region, but the road was closed to cars, so we decided to skip it (it was a 5k hike or waiting for a shuttle bus). 

Instead we found a local beautiful cala where we refreshed in the cool waters of the Costa Brava and enjoyed some more of the fascinating landscape.

Next, we drove back and stopped in Cadaques, one of the most picturesque towns on the Costa Brava. With steep narrow alleyways, charming art galleries and views it reminded all of us of Santorini. We even saw some stray cats, sea urchins and blue houses, so, definetlly a lot of Santorini vibes.

A short stop to see the Gothic church of Santa Maria, located a little higher up with amazing views over the sea. 

It is worth walking through the picturesque old town, getting lost in the small streets, or enjoying the view of the Mediterranean Sea while having some icecream 🙂

We really loved the vibes of Cadaques and it is definetlly on our list of places to come back and spend more time. For now, we took back the long windy road with out of this world views and the crazy C260 with its many roundabouts on our way to France.

Just 3.5 hs drive until Avignon!!

After getting into some crazy traffic in Marseille and taking some ‘faster’ routes it took us 8 hours to get to Sant Vicenç de Montalt from Marseille. 

So, we had only half a day here before flying back home the next morning, so we used the time to enjoy the beach, the sounds of the waves and the view over Mediteraneea sea.

The floating games were a big hit with the kids, especially since being late in the afternoon it was only them and another group of 3 teenagers.

For our last dinner in Europe we went back to a restaurant on the beach and enjoyed some very tasty local food and drinks.