Day 2 in Barcelona was a treat. We started off at the Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia, otherwise known as Sagrada Familia. Construction began on the church in 1882 and today it is the largest unfinished Catholic Church in the world. They say the church will be finished in 2026 (but I'm not so sure given there are many more pieces to be completed).
We arrived ahead of our scheduled meet time with our tour guide. Hands down, this is the best money we spent on the trip. Having our own private tour guide not only helped us skip the long lines to get in, they also knew more than the average guide because our guide studied under Jordi Bonet I Armengol, the church's architect from 1987-2012.
Antoni Gaudi is perhaps the most famous of architects of the Basilica, but he was not the original architect. In fact, we learned that the original architect, Francisco de Paula del Villar, designed quite a simple church. When Gaudi took over the project he designed what the church has become, far from simple.
I didn't take video during the visit, mostly because I was hanging on every word our guide shared with us about the rich history of the church. Information overload to say the least. Also, the amount of thought put into every element and what each element represents is beyond impressive. Plus, as our guide kept reminding us, this was during a time with no computers, no calculators, no AI, no 3-D printers, nothing but a piece of paper, pencil, abacus, and someone's mind.
I'll leave you with the images of that morning.
Look at the reflection on the floor from the windows. Stunning.
The inside of the church is beautiful. It makes the outside - and back - of the church appear to be a let down.
In all seriousness, visiting the site was a spritual experience and one that I will not soon forget.
In keeping with theme of the day, Rachel and I headed back over to where we were staying and decided to tour the inside of the Cathedral of Barcelona.
The Cathedral is not as grand at the Sagrada Familia, but beautiful nonetheless.
Mass is held each day at the church - even when individuals are paying to tour the church. We were there on a day where twins were being baptized. We were not allowed to join them in the chapel, but we could "watch" from the pews. What an amazing thing to witness.
We also had the opportunity to go to the top of the church and walk outside to experience the view of Barcelona.
Some additional views from the top.
Back down we went to see the remaining parts of the church, including the courtyard area that has swans. They were all grooming themselves at the time and I was fascinated by it. Man, you want to talk about shedding!
We wrapped up our tour and met Rachel's colleague David for lunch and more sightseeing. We made our way through the Gothic quarter, ending up on La Rambla.
I became enchanted with doors on this trip (wait, you'll see!).
And just in case you were wondering about the cost of eggs in other countries (yes, they do not refrigerate eggs in Spain), they are less expensive.
We had to make a stop at the grocery store to pick up items for our excursion the next day and to find a Diet Coke (they did not have any). We happen to meet an American who just moved to Barcelona while we were waiting in line.
We visited the rooftop of our hotel again for an afternoon glass of wine. This time. we were able to see the Sagrada Familia from our rooftop.
Before dinner, I wanted to visit La Boqueria which is the market in Barcelona. We learned later that not only one of the oldest markets in Europe, it is now the considered the best market in Europe.
We ended our evening by learning how to make Paella (and Sangria). What an experience. First, our chef trained in Michelin Star restaurants across the world and was a chef for Formula 1. I mean, it was meant to be. Next, we got to shop for all of ingredients. That meant going back to the market (we weren't complaining, we loved the market). We learned about what to look for in the seafood we were buying and even got to taste a local almond candy on our way out (because we were making a traditional almond cake for dessert).
The food we made was fantastic. It was a cool experience. One of many we had on this trip.
We wrapped up the evening by walking up the La Rambla and back to our hotel.
My greatest fear in life is flying. I've become better at it over the years, but I still get nervous flying. So when my friend proposed that I join her on the tail end of her work trip to Europe, you can imagine I put off agreeing to go because I knew that I'd really have to figure out how I'd get on the plane knowing I'd have to fly across a big body of water. Because yes, I'm terrified of flying over water. I used to believe that my fear of flying stemmed from not being able to be in control of the plane. However, when flying over water, not only am I not in control I cannot see a thing (especially when it's night time).
However, I decided I needed to get my act together and conquer this fear. Mainly because I thought it was about time that I see parts of the world I had wanted to for a long time. So, I finally said yes. But that didn't mean I wasn't absolutely terrified!
So, I decided to document my entire trip through small video clips, in part because making them distracted me a bit from not being able to see anything but black out the window (since on the trip over I flew overnight).
Here we go! First, I had to fly from Chicago to Philadelphia to catch my overnight flight.
I did get inspired by my surroundings and picked up some Eagles gear in the hopes they would return to the Super Bowl (and they won when we were in Europe)!
Once I got settled into my seat, I felt like I needed to attempt to be like one of those travel TikTok influencers, documenting everything from the amenity kit to pre-flight drinks to movies and the bathroom. Let's get one thing straight right now, I don't think my influencer career will take off any time soon.
I'll be honest, I was expecting a bit more from my business class seat (only because I've watched so many TikTok videos about different Airline seats in anticipation of having to fly over a big body of water - for hours), but the reclining seat to lay-flat was well worth the upgrade).
I arrived in Barcelona early morning local time - an hour ahead of schedule (those tailwinds!). I breezed through customs and even got a stamp (which Rachel told me I was not likely to get - she was wrong) and headed to baggage claim. It took a while for my bag to arrive, but that's OK. My driver would not arrive until 9 a.m. local time and because I arrived super early I had to hang out.
My driver arrived - a very handsome young man - who spoke enough English for the both of us to get by - and drove me to my hotel as quickly as he could. He pointed out key facts of the City on our drive and places he thought I should go (his first mention, the Chanel store on Passeig de Gracia).
I arrived at the hotel - Rachel already checked-in as she was on the outskirts of Barcelona for a week attending her company's meeting - where I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the room (and bathroom). The bed was California King in size and the bathroom had a full steam shower and double sinks. This would prove to be the best hotel layout had for the trip.
I didn't have much time to rest (and remember I basically had zero sleep on the flight) before we headed out to explore the city. First things first though, it was Rachel's birthday!
The day I arrived we had "free" of any activity. So we made our way to the Arc de Triomf - modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Even the promenade looked the same.
We walked all around the area before heading back to the area around our hotel to do some shopping (It was Rachel's birthday and we did whatever she wanted that day).
Here are some of the sights I captured along the way.
We made out way back to our hotel for a drink and some downtime. Our hotel was located in the center of the City and had a rooftop restaurant and bar. We had great views of the Cathedral of Barcelona, the Port, and the surrounding area.
We decided to have some Tapas for dinner (we had a big lunch) before heading out for the evening.
The night life in Barcelona is vibrant. Most people do not head out for dinner until 10 p.m., so when we started our walk around 7:00 p.m., I wondered why most of the restaurants were empty.
I was just taking in all of the sights (and remember, I still have not slept). I did get nervous when Rachel pulled me down the alley (or what I thought was an alley) to get to where we were going. I would soon find out, this is how many of the streets looked in Barcelona (I referred to them as Diagon Alley - as the one in Harry Potter because that is what the streets reminded me of).
I would come to learn that the cookies in the picture above is a "viral" cookie (I didn't run across these in all of my TikTok research).
On our way back to hotel, we swung by the Cathedral. It was not open at the time, but still beautiful nonetheless.
And with that, we called it a night. I did wake up one during the night - for about an hour - and went back to bed and got up with my alarm at 6:30 a.m. and kept on going. I thankfully did not have any jet lag for the entire trip.
