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Sarika takes us through Barcelona. Trigger happy she captures its beauty in photographs.
‘Travelling – it leaves you speechless then turns you into a storyteller.’ ~ Ibn Battuta
I am not a storyteller. I just want to share my experience of Barcelona through my lens.
Another new land, Hola…
We visited Barcelona recently. I was really in love with the city – majestic, splendid and must have stolen hearts of many travellers like me. Barcelona is like London and Paris, in the sense there’s always something to do.
Barcelona felt like Kolkata, particularly when I saw those black and yellow taxis outside the airport.
It is easy to approach places in Barcelona. It is a sequence of avenues and quarters extending out from the port, hills, parks, woodland, Gothic cathedral, Picasso museum, art galleries, markets, buildings, rambles, etc. And the best are city’s refreshing bars and restaurants. Entire Barcelona is designed like a seaside tourist centre. Hill Montjuic, Olympic stadium, Gaudi’s extraordinary architecture add to its beauty and utility.
Walking
Barcelona is an ideal place for a stroll, because of its pleasant climate and streets, which flows with life. Mediterranean climate also affects the strollers. It is interesting to discover the city, while strolling through ancient and modern streets, hidden corners and gothic quarters. We also discovered few excellent architectural beauty and enjoyed its flavours.
Barcelona on a Plate
In Barcelona food plays a very important role. It is believed that people in Barcelona plan their dinner while eating lunch, the way we Bengalis do. Spanish food is very delicious and healthy. The city is famous for tapas bars, paella, sea food and different cuisine, Mediterranean style of cooking and many more. The local market, La Boqueria is filled with delicious food that’s on display.
Beaches
Beaches are inevitable part of Barcelona. During summer Barcelona beaches are top attraction for locals and visitors. All beaches in the city have been awarded for clean water and best quality services, and every beach has a different name too. Southern beaches are much more crowded than northern beaches. These beaches are also hot favourite for joggers, bikers, strollers, beach volleyball players.
There is one beach, which is marked in yellow. It is called La Mar Bella beach, known as the nudist or naturist beach. In Barcelona, nudity is a punishable offence but only in La Mar Bella beach it has legal acceptance.
Catalonia
Catalonia is the city’s nerve centre, which connects the old town with the new. It also marks the very reputed Ramble, which slowly connects to the sea. Las Rambles, once a dry river bed, is interrelated avenues stretching from Catalonia to Columbus. It is basically a walkway crowded with open cafes, shoppers, artists and entertainers. ‘La Ramblas’ as Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca once wrote, is ‘the only street in the world, which I wish would never end’.
Park Guell Park
A very beautiful park consists of gardens and unique architectural features located on Carmel Hill. Guell and Gandi designed this park. It also has huge children playground, fountains, library, museum, a perfect place for a day out.
Plaza d’ Espanya
A beautiful monumental fountain by Josip Maria Jujol. Fountain, theatres, museums, gardens and all the kinds of sporting facilities made this place a happening spot.
Montujuic
From Montujuic cable car, we saw marvellous sights of Barcelona. It is the city’s one of the impressive green belt areas. From castle it looks fantabulous, a beautifully landscaped from which we appreciate port view too.
The Sagrada Familia
Gaudi’s famous church the Sagrada Familia is one of the best architectural attractions in the city. A must visit spot for tourists. It is one of the famous monuments of the century. The monument is extremely rich in architectural embellishments. The interiors and details of the church is excellent. The inner view is completely different from its exterior. The inside is painted by coloured light from the stained glass windows all around it, whereas the outside is fully facade carvings.
Glad that I was part of it.
The Waterfront
Probably one of the best, ultra-modern recent transformations in the Barcelona city is the waterfront, where both harbour and ocean have been together placed beautifully at the centre of Barcelona. It is a perfect spot for jogging, cycling, skating, weekend party, and also for tourists.
La Roca Village
Holidays never end without shopping. Barcelona provides ample opportunities for shopaholic. La Roca village is around 40- 45 minutes from the city. It is the ultimate shopping destination, which offers all the leading designer brands at exceptional prices. The designer brands are Adolfo Dominguez, Baldinini, Calvin Klein, Desigual, Karen Millen, Michael Kors, Mango, Tag Heuer, Zadig and Voltaire and so on. It is the complete shopping plaza, with children play area as well as restaurants and cafes, which serves traditional Catalan cuisine.
We spend one week in Spain, and experienced enough of tapas bars, stunning architecture, and breath-taking blue Mediterranean Sea, welcoming people and shopping. And we promised, we will come back again.
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