Every two years or so, my organization holds a World Staff Conference (WSC), bringing together staff from all of our 15 offices that are located around the world. Our most recent WSC was August 2019 in Barcelona, Spain! For this trip, I also brought along my mom for a vacation after the conference was done and my friend Jodi, who was also attending the conference as a consultant, also joined us for a few extra days. As usual with my travel journals I have split up my blog posts in a way that made most sense to this particular trip. Enjoy!
Hey friends, I’m back in the new year with the last couple of posts sharing about my trip to Spain. With the rush of the holidays and the end of the year, plus wanting to check out for a few of those days to relax, I decided not to push myself to try to get these posted any sooner 🙂
Last year, when I traveled to Italy my Mom and I were obsessed with all of the doors and she kept asking me to take pictures of them. I joked that I should do a “Doors of Italy” blog post and by end of the trip I had so many door pictures that I wanted to share that I had to. So, shortly after we arrived in Spain I knew I’d be doing another one.
I said it in my Doors of Italy post, but I think it bears repeating… I think a door says a lot about a home or a business. And like Italy, so many of the doors in Spain had so much character. It made me want to more about the people who chose them, and lived and worked behind them.
Every two years or so, my organization holds a World Staff Conference (WSC), bringing together staff from all of our 15 offices that are located around the world. Our most recent WSC was this year in late August in Barcelona, Spain! For this trip, I also brought along my mom for a vacation after the conference was done and my friend Jodi, who was also attending the conference as a consultant, also joined us for a few extra days. As usual with my travel journals I have split up my blog posts in a way that made most sense to this particular trip. Enjoy!
You can’t take a trip to Barcelona without taking a walk through the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gòtic), the narrow, Roman medieval streets that make up the heart of the old city that has been fused with modern architecture to create an unique setting to walk through. Personally, I love to see that charming fusion of the old and new culture together, and the creativity that it inspires. We didn’t spend as much time here as I would have liked as there was a lot of history (including the Picasso museum!) and fun places to eat and drink that we could have gotten into, but you can never get to everything in a single trip.
The Bishop’s Bridge (Pont del Bisbe) that connects the two buildings. Though it blends in with the architecture around it, I read somewhere that it was actually built in 1928.
I loved these streets lamps!
The Gothic Quarter is also home to the Barcelona Cathedral (Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia). It was constructed between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.
I’ve mentioned before that I love going to markets in every country I visit and the Mercat de la Boqueria definitely did not disappoint! We loved it so much that we actually went twice. It was on my list of things to do, but Mom and I stumbled across on our first day after we arrived in Barcelona in the morning and couldn’t get into our hotel room for several hours. I knew that we had to come back when we had Jodi with us. She and I first met while working at Kansas Pork together so I knew that the foodie in her was going to love it.
I am fascinated by food culture, what items and practices are unique to each place I visit and what appears to transcend across several cultures. Markets are the best way to see this.
In a lot of the cases with cheese they had cute little animal figurines to quickly share what kind of cheese it came from.
Ok, on to the next! I’ll be back tomorrow to share my “Doors of Spain” post! Thanks for stopping by!
**********
And just for fun here are some of my other past Travel Journal posts:
Every two years or so, my organization holds a World Staff Conference (WSC), bringing together staff from all of our 15 offices that are located around the world. Our most recent WSC was this year in late August in Barcelona, Spain! For this trip, I also brought along my mom for a vacation after the conference was done and my friend Jodi, who was also attending the conference as a consultant, also joined us for a few extra days. As usual with my travel journals I have split up my blog posts in a way that made most sense to this particular trip. Enjoy!
Montjuic is prominent hill overlooking the Barcelona harbour, that has several points of interest including being home to the Olympic Park of the 1992 Summer Games. We went there once on a beautiful afternoon just to explore when Jodi was with us, and then Mom and I visited again on our last day when the Olympic Museum was open. Though we spent a good chunk of time there, we didn’t come close to covering the whole area or seeing everything there was to see.
This is the Catalonia National Art Museum (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya) and was originally built to serve as the main pavilion for the 1929 International Fair. We opted to not go through the museum but it was still beautiful from the outside.
View of the city from the other direction.
Montjuic is also home to several botanical gardens and parks, so of course Mom and I, the horticulture and floral nerds couldn’t not stroll through a few of those. I loved that most of the plants, trees, etc., had little signs that told us what it was, its age and an interesting fact.
This is the plaza you see looking out from the Olympic Stadium, including the Torre Telefonica Communications Tower that was designed by a Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to transmit the 92 games on TV.
I come from a big sports family so my Mom and I were pretty excited for this. The Barcelona Olympic Stadium (Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys) actually has a pretty interesting history. It was originally built in 1927 and was set to host the 1936 Games until they were canceled due to the Spanish Civil war. It was used for varies events and needs over the years, including hosting refugees, until it was renovated again in 1989 for the 1992 Summer Games.
Across the street from the Stadium leading up to the Museum are all of these plaques on the ground of the various torch bearers from 1992. Unfortunately, we were a bit underwhelmed by the Museum. It certainly did a great job of capturing the history of the 1992 games and did highlight the various sports events held at the Games and their evolution from the ancient games to the modern games. But it was pretty outdated. I think things were only updated up through the 2008 games in Beijing. But we still enjoyed it and were glad we circled back to visit it another day when it was closed the first time we walked by.
The main event of the day, and my main reason for wanting to visit Montjuic was to watch the Magic Fountain show on the Plaça Espanya. Several nights a week throughout the year there is a fountain water show with lots of colors, lights and all timed to music. It might be a little cheesy, but I really love this kind of stuff. We ended up getting there really early, because I was pretty HANGRY (owning this because Jodi and Mom deserve to be recognized for dealing with me) and everything nearby was closed for siesta. So, we ended up getting dinner at concessions stands that were right there at the fountains and just people watched for a while. But it was honestly a good thing we got there early because it got PACKED pretty early on.
Overall, Montjuic is a fun destination to explore while in Barcelona, especially if you want to get your steps in!
Alright, another one down. I’ll be back soon to cover our walk through the Gothic Quarter and visiting the Mercat de la Boqueria.
**********
And just for fun here are some of my other past Travel Journal posts:
Every two years or so, my organization holds a World Staff Conference (WSC), bringing together staff from all of our 15 offices that are located around the world. Our most recent WSC was this year in late August in Barcelona, Spain! For this trip, I also brought along my mom for a vacation after the conference was done and my friend Jodi, who was also attending the conference as a consultant, also joined us for a few extra days. As usual with my travel journals I have split up my blog posts in a way that made most sense to this particular trip. Enjoy!
I could recommend only one thing to do while in Barcelona, it would be to visit the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. And most travel guides, blog, websites, etc., will agree with me. Regardless if you are not religious or into architecture, skipping it is a mistake because it has an incredible history and is beautiful.
The Sagrada Familia is an unfinished Roman Catholic minor basilica. Its construction start in 1882 and it is STILL not done. The original architect dropped out of the project shortly after it began due to differences with developers. He was replaced with Antoni Gaudi who proposed a new, grander design, which has been completed slowly section by section. For the last 12 years of his life, from 1914 to 1926, this was the only project he worked on. Unfortunately, he died in an accident in 1926. When he died, a close collaborator continued his work until 1938 when a fire destroyed the workshop along with all of Gaudi’s original plans, drawings and photos, as well as many scale plaster models. Since then, construction has never stopped and has continued to respect the original concept. As of now, it is set for completion in 2026. That was a very brief history lesson but you can read all about it here.
My pictures really don’t do it justice. I’ve always been fascinated with the amount of detail and meaning goes into famous and historic works of architecture, but this tops anything I’ve ever seen before. We bought our tickets ahead of time for a specific entrance time, which I highly recommend doing, because based on what I read the lines for tickets aren’t fun. We did a self-guided audio tour that took a little over an hour. It takes you around the outside and all through the main level inside section by section sharing the history of Gaudi’s vision, the meaning behind several details and more.
When I shared on my Instagram Stories, I had one friend comment that it was so cool to see it in present day because she had visited several years ago. It made me think a bit about how we normally view and experience historic places and items, and the fact that the Sagrada Familia is so unique in that it is both old and new. I would love to visit again when it is finally finished.
Even though it might be busier, I highly recommend that you visit in the afternoon. Its main stain glass windows are on the east and west sides of the building to best capture the strong morning and afternoon light, and the afternoon light is gorgeous. A friend and one of the farmers at the conference told me that when he first walked in he quickly turned around to watch the reaction on his wife’s face and he said that her jaw literally dropped. I laughed a bit at how dramatic his comments sounded, but friends… I walked in and my jaw dropped. And I teared up. It is that beautiful and honestly mesmerizing. I so wish that I could bottle up what that experience felt like. This place was so big and overwhelming, yet it also felt so peaceful in there. Gaudi took inspiration from patterns and shapes in nature, so his work contained no sharp lines or straight corners. The inside gave the illusion that you were under a tree canopy. This site does a good job of sharing more about Gaudi’s style and the design of the Sagrada Familia.
Again, there is no way that my pictures do it any justice.
Ok, I’ll be back again soon to share about our time at Montjuic and the Olympic Park. Cheers!
**********
And just for fun here are some of my other past Travel Journal posts:
Every two years or so, my organization holds a World Staff Conference (WSC), bringing together staff from all of our 15 offices that are located around the world. Our most recent WSC was this year in late August in Barcelona, Spain! For this trip, I also brought along my mom for a vacation after the conference was done and my friend Jodi, who was also attending the conference as a consultant, also joined us for a few extra days. As usual with my travel journals I have split up my blog posts in a way that made most sense to this particular trip. Enjoy!
When I travel I like to do a lot of research beforehand. I like to plan a very loose itinerary that basically includes anything that is a must-schedule in advance experience and then a list of all the other things we are interested in doing with any important info about cost, business hours, tips and tricks, helpful weblinks, location, etc. Then we can choose what we want to do the day of or night before on any given day of the trip. This my way of “going with the flow” but also honoring my Type A personality, because it takes the stress or anxiety out of travel. Organization and efficiency are my love language people.
When I was searching through Pinterest for ideas for Spain, the Palau de la Musica Catalana was one of the top things I saw, as many dub it one of the most “Instagrammable Places in Barcelona.” So obviously we had to go!
Palau de la Musica Catalana
But seriously, look how pretty and unique it is!!!
The Palau de la Musica Catalana is a concert hall built between 1905 and 1908 by the modernist architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner as a home for the Orfeó Català (choirs). The indoor hall, which includes the balcony and colonnade that you see here in the picture is the Sala Lluís Millet (Lluís Millet Hall), and is often used for intermissions.
When visiting, you can join a guided tour and go the route we did and go through it self-guided. I believe both options are 20 euros.
I might have went for my Instagram photo of the columns but the inside was STUNNING. Pictures really don’t do the colors and amount of detail any justice.
I would put the Palau de la Musica on a must-see list when visiting Barcelona. Regardless if art, architecture or music aren’t your top interests its too beautiful to skip.
Arc de Triomf
The Arc de Triomf (Acro de Triunfo) was built by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair. We passed under it on our way to the waterfront for dinner one evening, which also took us through the Parc de la Ciutadella (a park). It was a beautiful evening and with lots of street entertainers, it was just fun to people watch.
Alright, I’ll be back tomorrow with more color and beautiful architecture with my post on the La Sagrada Familia.
**********
And just for fun here are some of my other past Travel Journal posts:
Every two years or so, my organization holds a World Staff Conference (WSC), bringing together staff from all of our 15 offices that are located around the world. Our most recent WSC was this year in late August in Barcelona, Spain! For this trip, I also brought along my mom for a vacation after the conference was done and my friend Jodi, who was also attending the conference as a consultant, also joined us for a few extra days. As usual with my travel journals I have split up my blog posts in a way that made most sense to this particular trip. Enjoy!
Yesterday, I shared about the first half of our day excursion out of Barcelona on a tour booked through Viator (more on why I highly recommend using this to book tours in yesterday’s post!) , and today I’m back with the second half of that long, but fun day.
Leaving Girona, we headed east to Pals, a hilltop village on the Costa Brava that has preserved most of it historical features and is an official Site of Historical Interest. We didn’t have that much time on this stop and I was getting a head cold and this part of the day is probably when I felt my worst, which was a little disappointing because I could have wandered through this little town for hours. As you can see from the pictures this little town is incredibly picturesque and adorable!
Next we headed southeast to the coastal town of Calella de Palafrugell, which is still part of the Costa Brava region, and originally an ancient fishing village. First we ate at the Restaurante la Vela and then were given a few hours of free time to explore on our own. We chose to spend our time on the beach and eating gelato. Mom and I are mountain girls at heart, but Jodi grew up in Florida and is a true beach girl so I know this part was one of her favorites parts of the whole trip. From what I read about the area both before and after our visit, many agree that among the various destinations on the Costa Brava, this is the one most frequented by Spaniards on vacation vs. tourists. Regardless, after a busy and heavy walking morning, it was nice to relax a bit in the sun and the water was pretty warm and clear!
OK, that’s a wrap for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with my post on our visit to the Palau de la Musica and walking past the Arc de Triomf.
**********
And just for fun here are some of my other past Travel Journal posts:
Every two years or so, my organization holds a World Staff Conference (WSC), bringing together staff from all of our 15 offices that are located around the world. Our most recent WSC was this year in late August in Barcelona, Spain! For this trip, I also brought along my mom for a vacation after the conference was done and my friend Jodi, who was also attending the conference as a consultant, also joined us for a few extra days. As usual with my travel journals I have split up my blog posts in a way that made most sense to this particular trip. Enjoy!
Since we decided that we were flying in and out of Barcelona and had plenty on our to-do list there, we decided to not travel elsewhere in Spain or Europe overnight. But I knew I wanted to get out of the city at least once and booking this day trip allowed us to do that! I have used Viator for booking tours/excursions in three countries now and highly recommend utilizing it when trip planning! This full-day trip included being picked up and dropped off right at the front door of our VRBO, transportation in a passenger van, a personal tour guide for our small group (the three of us plus five other people) and a meal at a restaurant where reservations were made for us in advance. Going this route allowed us to pack a lot more in to a single day and not deal with the stress of figuring out all of the logistics, meaning we probably did things that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Plus our tour guide was very knowledgeable and you could tell that he genuinely enjoyed his job. I unfortunately had a head cold forming on this day, so I thought our tour guide was a little annoying and over the top, but Jodi and Mom thought that he was great.
Our first stop for the day was in Girona, which was a little over an hour drive from Barcelona in the Catalonia region. Personally, I was really invested in getting to Girona on our trip because several scenes throughout Game of Thrones Season 6 were filmed here, including the exteriors of the Sept of Baelor, and parts of Kings Landing, Old Town and Bravos. When I was looking up tour options, there were several that focused exclusively on Game of Thrones, but since Mom and Jodi hadn’t watched it and I wanted more than just that, this was a great option for us.
It was a beautiful morning there for us and relatively pretty quiet and not crowded.
The River Onyar
Right as you cross the river and into the historic part of the city, there is this pillar with a lioness at the top (if you ask me it looks like a sloth). The legend is that if you visit Girona, you have to kiss the bottom if you what to visit again. No one who knows me should be surprised that I was not a fan of playing along, but Mom took one for the team.
The Girona Cathedral was used for the closeup exteriors for the Sept of Baelor in Season 6. So think about when Margery is about to do her walk of atonement and Jamie rides his horse up the stairs. I’ve always been super interested in behind the scenes stuff from television and movies that I watch so this was pretty cool.
This is the view looking the other direction from the steps. In Game of Thrones it is not a a small enclosed court yard but instead opens up to space for a large crowd and a view of the sea. Technology is pretty cool.
Girona Cathedral facade
Side entrance of the Girona Cathedral.
Backside of the Girona Cathedral.
The Passeig de la Muralla is a medieval wall with walkways along the eastern border of the city that also has amazing views. We didn’t walk along the walk but we did pop up on top one of the towers to catch the view.
The Girona Cathedral was the only specific set from Game of Thrones that the tour guide pointed out and spent time talking about. Before the tour I looked up what some of the other specific locations were and I am pretty sure that this staircase above is from the opening scene in Season 6 where Arya is blind and begging. Other than that I don’t think we walked by any others that were distinct enough to spot without the dressings of a set.
Its Jewish Quarter, is known as one of the best preserved in the world. The area, “El Call,” is a maze of several narrow, cobblestone walkways and staircases.
Neoclassical building facade in the Placa de la Independencia, a 19th century square in the Mercadal district.
OK, that’s a wrap for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with Part Two of this fun day trip.
**********
And just for fun here are some of my other past Travel Journal posts:
Oh hey there blog, my old friend. It’s been a while. I’ve been focused on other things in 2019, but after an amazing trip to Spain for both work and vacation, I decided it was time to dust things off and share. Never mind that its three months after the trip took place… hey, its been a full season for me!
Every two years or so, my organization holds a World Staff Conference (WSC), bringing together staff from all of our 15 offices that are located around the world. Our most recent WSC was this year in late August in Barcelona, Spain! For this trip, I also brought along my mom for a vacation after the conference was done. As usual with my travel journals I have split up my blog posts in a way that made most sense to this particular trip. Enjoy!
For my first post, I just want to share a little about the trip overall and my work conference, which also gives me the opportunity to share some of my “random” photos, meaning those that don’t really fall into their own specific post 🙂
Overall, we loved Barcelona! It was a great location for a conference, which went really well. With so many colleagues around the world that I connect with frequently over email, I always love reconnecting with everyone all together in-person. The opportunity to regroup and refocus is extremely important for us, as is just getting to know each other better and enjoy each other’s company. In the Communications Department we are working on a really fun campaign for our 40th anniversary in 2020, so we also brought along some friends from our creative agency so they could meet more of our staff and get a closer look at what USW is all about. This included my friend Jodi, who is a consultant for the agency. I first met Jodi when I worked for Kansas Pork right out of college and am so happy that we have been able to reconnect recently. Jodi also joined my Mom and I for a few days of vacation.
A few thoughts and memories about our overall experience…
Leading up to the trip, I don’t think anyone I spoke to had anything bad to say about their own experiences in Barcelona. From things we read online there was some concern about pick-pocketing, theft, etc. We witnessed the aftermath of someone realizing they had been pick-pocketed once and there was one time that we felt a little uneasy while we were sitting for a long time waiting for an outdoor show, but overall we followed all of the standard safety tips and tricks, and felt really safe.
Neither my Mom or I speak Spanish, just a few common phrases here and there, but we did not have any trouble overall with the language barrier.
For the conference we were obviously at a hotel, but for the vacation part of the trip we booked rental through VRBO, and other than an early morning that involved me yelling at the washer and dryer that we couldn’t figure out… we were so happy with our choice! I did a lot of research on location and rental options and chose an adorable little studio apartment that was very central to a lot of what we wanted to visit, including the La Sagrada Familia, which was just two blocks away. In my opinion, VRBO and AirBnb is the way to go, at least in Europe. It was very affordable for what we got and just gave us the space to spread out and relax a bit more than a standard hotel allows.
Barcelona was very walk-able (granted we really like to walk) and really easy to navigate. At first I used a paper map of the city that I snagged from my conference hotel and then just used Google Maps on my phone once I go the general idea of the city’s layout. Before leaving I had done my research on using the city’s Metro but we never ended up feeling like we needed it. There are also taxis on virtually EVERY corner, so whenever we were in a time crunch or tired of walking we hopped in one for pretty cheap.
This might be an unpopular opinion, or maybe I just didn’t go to the right places (I promise we mostly ate at non-tourist trap places), but I was a little underwhelmed by the food, especially how excited I was for all the tapas. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still probably give it a B+ overall, but I felt like our choices quickly became repetitive and I only had 3 or 4 meals that I was still thinking about well after the fact.
I think we were there at a good time of year. The weather was great and we felt like the crowds weren’t too bad most of the time.
I had read quite a bit about the fact that before the Summer Olympics came to Barcelona in 1992, the city wasn’t a huge tourist destination. But then afterward it became one of the top European destinations and there has been influxes of anti-tourism movements over the years. Obviously I can’t speak to a local’s perspective of the impact of tourism but I thought Barcelona was a very clean and friendly city that is very proud of its history and culture. I loved learning that because of Barcelona’s unique location, the area’s specific micro-culture, including religion, food, architecture and more, is the result of a variety of influences from other parts Western Europe and North Africa.
This last comment will be very specific to my mom and I, but last year around this same time we were on a family vacation to Italy where we were hopping from city to city every 1 to 3 days. For OBVIOUS reasons, staying in one city for 11 days creates a much different experience because we had more time to relax and really get to know Barcelona. I don’t know that either of us would say that we prefer one experience over the other, because they were both amazing trips and different in other ways besides timing. For me, I think it just made me appreciate both experiences a bit more… and definitely makes me want to go back to Italy and take more time on some of my favorite parts of that trip.
Pro tip: Surround yourself with people in your work life that also make stellar friends.
This was our best meal! Ciudad Condal came highly recommended by many so we decided to let the waiter to bring out what he thought was best for the group. I definitely tried some strange things that I wasn’t a fan of but this was such a fun evening together.
Las Ramblas is Barcelona’s main strip through the city. A lot of my research told me to just avoid it since it is tourist central, but we actually really enjoyed it.
So many of the streets in Barcelona are split down the middle with a center island, which definitely helps with foot traffic congestion. Most of the restaurants on those type of streets actually have the majority of their seating out on these islands which I really enjoyed because it made people watching super easy.
Since the conference had people coming in from all parts of the world, some of us arrived a day or so earlier than others. For those early arrivals, we had the opportunity to take a half-day trip out of the city to the Jean Leon Winery where we learned about its history, experienced Spanish wine country and of course did a tasting!
At the main building they had a small plot that featured a different type of grape in each row and we were allowed to go through and pick and eat them. As a wine lover and an ag kid, it was fun to compare each one with what I know the final product to taste like and apply some of what I learned in a class in college about viticulture.
This indoor, food court of sorts, El Nacional, was just two blocks from where we stayed for the conference. We went here with a large group for lunch one day, but thought it was so pretty that we returned later for a snack and more time to just walk around.
“Pan con tomate” is frequently served with meals here or included as an appetizer on the menu, which I was a big fan of. However, this was the one and only time that it was served to us not prepped and ready to eat. So of course I was THAT TOURIST that did it wrong… I started slicing up one of the tomatoes (with a butter knife haha) so I could eat pieces of it with the bread, but the waiter quickly came over and kind of scolded me before he explained that you cut the tomato in half and then squeeze and scrape the tomato across the bread, and finish with drizzling oil and salt over the top. Lesson learned, be better than me friends 🙂
I try to visit local markets in every country I travel to, and after visiting an amazing flower market in Thailand, I’ve tried to visit markets with flowers if I can find one. (Note: in case you are new or somehow don’t know this about me — my family has owned a flower shop for 30+ years.) So for this trip I did some research and really thought I found one with flowers, but instead it was just a really large flower shop that was a block away from the actual market. Regardless, my mom loved it, and it was both fun and slightly embarrassing to watch her observe the differences to floral arrangements in the United States and then proceed to take pictures of everything when we really probably weren’t supposed to.
I didn’t include any of the photos because they all were pretty dark, but my mom and I also spent a few hours at the Aquarium Barcelona. It was on our last afternoon and we were pretty tired and decided that a visit there would be a bit more relaxed than some of our other options. It might seem like a super typical tourist thing to do or more for families with small children, but we really enjoyed it. It has the only Oceanarium and the largest collection Mediterranean sea life in Europe. It also randomly has a penguin exhibit which I made my Mom sit and watch with me for way longer than a 28 year old should probably want to 🙂
Ok, that’s it for my random intro post, though I am sure as I work my way through the rest of my planned post I am going to think of other notes to add to this post about our overall trip. I’ll be back tomorrow with Part One of a fun day trip we took out of the city and up the Costa Brava.
**********
And just for fun here are some of my other past Travel Journal posts:
Barcelona, Spain
Girona, Spain
Girona, Spain
The Good Stuff 