All right, time for the post-trip-posts I traditionally pen. First off: why did I go here and what happened?
Followed by a food post, and then a Final Thoughts/Tips Post.
First. Why?
My last international trip was to Italy, by myself in the early spring. This summer, the guys and I did a great trip to Yosemite. In between have been several family-related jaunts out West and around the southeast.
I wanted to get a fall trip in, but it was tricky. I had obligations – local talks, plus the Notre Dame conference. Family members were moving about – new homes, new cities – and could use a hand in those activities. I had originally planned to do this trip at the end of September, by myself. I wanted to get in the two major sites I’d not visited on my first trip to Barcelona 14 years ago – actually going inside Sagrada Familia as well as the journey to Montserrat – and I’d happened upon what looked like a good festival – Santa Tecla in Tarragona. Tarragona also has important Roman sites I was interested in seeing. So I was set – even had a couple of hotel reservations.
But then…the family members who were moving – two sets of them – came closer to solidifying their plans, and the dates for all of this were too close to the end of September for comfort.
So scratch that!
Then, through conversation, a new plan evolved – and that week in November – in between Notre Dame and Thanksgiving and maybe a trip out West – worked very well, not only for me, but for a friend, when we decided to do this trip together.
Now, I’m a comfortable solo traveler, and enjoy traveling with family, but this would be new – could it work?
It did! My friend and I are both low-maintenance people and we worked out a system, as it were, in which the first few days we saw all of the big sites and did the acclimation to the city together, but then, the last few days, perhaps saw one site together, but then she & I split up for the rest of the day until dinner, following our own interests. It worked great – and in particular, worked well for me since there’s only one thing I’m not super comfortable doing solo: eating dinner during those late-night southern European dining hours. I determined to do so in Italy in February, but could never quite get there and not feel weird. Perhaps I will in the future, but this worked out great.
So that’s why. Now, where?
We just stuck to Barcelona. We had originally thought about – and even planned – a day trip to Tarragona. For me, it was mostly because I was convinced I would be sick of Barcelona and just want to get out of the city. But it didn’t work that way. As Monday (the day we’d thought we go) approached, we both agreed that there was plenty left to do and see in Barcelona, and as for me, no, I wasn’t sick of it at all.
Day 1 – November 8 – Landed at BCN about an hour earlier than scheduled, contacted AirBnB host, who let us drop off our bags and get the keys from the cleaner. They’d meet us at noon to orient us. We spent the day orienting ourselves to Barcelona, including one of those open-bus tours, which was freezing (it did warm up a lot during the stay, but those first couple of days were chilly) – but helpful.
Day 2 – November 9 Sagrada Familia tour.
Day 3 – November 10 – Montserrat
Day 4 – November 11 – La Pedrera and Sant Pau
Day 6 – November 13 – Casa Batlló, wandering, various churches. Including one with the …interesting Blessed Sacrament chapel.
And then back again!