Experiencing the Gaudi City - his Barcelona Masterpieces

Due to Sam's inability to sleep over the past 3 days, Sam was up-and-at-'em by 4:30 am and made sure Jennifer was in the same boat. By 6:00 am we were running the streets of Barcelona and made our way up to Montjuic Park... having to conquer a steep grade along the way. Despite a few bums and urine stained alleyways, the view from the top of the hill was quite impressive. From our lookout we were able to see the beauty of Barcelona from ocean to mountains and all in between.

After showering we decided to let Jennifer charm her way into locating our mysteriously missing Eurorail passes with our hotel staff. Fortunately, we had better luck our second time around (for those of you counting at home... this is the second time Sam should have let Jennifer take charge of the situation). Long story short, our passes were found and our only concern remaining was how to begin exploring the city.

One of our first discoveries was a local market called Mercat de la Boqueria that carried exotic fruits, chocolate delights, a plethora of sea life, and meat delicasses that instantly wet Jennifer's pallette.  We purchased some bread and fruit and enjoyed a tasty smoothie.

It didn't take long for us to realize how beautiful Barcelona is with it's numerous architectural masterpieces.  Literally, every street you walk down is covered in awe inspiring buildings and tree lined streets.  The city has evolved over the past 150 plus years incorporating some beautiful modern structures with Gaudi and his followers Art Nouveau works of beauty.  Most of our day consisted of visiting Antoni Gaudi's masterpieces.  Here are some of the high lights from the day:

Enjoying a break for lunch and beer at a loal cafe after walking the famous street of La Rambla.

Jennifer framing Gaudi's most famous work "La Sagrada Familia" a work started in 1882 with an anticipated completion in 2020.

 Another Gaudi masterpiece "La Pedrera," built in 1912... quite progressive for his time.  Anyone see a little resemblance to the popular architect of our day Frank Gehry?

The last Gaudi piece we visited... "Casa Batllo" and us finishing our trek walking through the "Barri Gotic" distrcict of town with narrow streets winding between gothic buildings.