The Toohigs: Barcelona 2024

From Paris, the Toohigs headed to Barcelona. None of us had been to Spain before, so it was exciting to explore a brand new country and city together. I have always seen pictures of the Gaudi architecture and wanted to see those amazing works of art in person!

We got to the airport (Charles de Gaulle) a little early (we now knew much more about how the Air France process worked), and for some reason, all of the restaurants were cash only (I think just a tech issue). So John was able to talk us into the Air France sky lounge because of its affiliation with Delta. Praise be! A little breakfast before we hopped on the plane...

The tiniest Coke I've ever seen, but the flight attendant snuck it to me and I'll be forever grateful.

Our hotel was right next door to a Chanel store- danger danger! We stayed at Majestic Hotel's apartments, which was the best option for two bedrooms. Our unit also included a den, kitchen, washer and dryer, and a beautiful balcony. The apartments are in a high rise building just across the street from the main hotel, and you can still use all the gym, pool, etc. Most importantly, room service comes over to the apartments! But do note that we had some consistency issues with our air conditioning, so I'm not sure I'd recommend staying there in the middle of the summer.

We had lunch on the hotel's rooftop balcony while we waited for our room to be ready. You can see Sagrada Familia in the distance!

She loved our balcony and sat out there any chance she got!

Casa Batllo was just a block away from our hotel, and it was the first Gaudi project we got to see. Amazing!

The Spanish architecture is detailed

Dinner at Margherita

We booked a tour with ForeverBarcelona, and it was a great way to see the highlights in a short amount of time. Marga did all the planning, and we just got to show up. That was amazing! Our first stop was Guadi's Park Guell which was supposed to be a planned neighborhood but didn't take off. Now it's a beautiful park with all kinds of fun Gaudi creations.

Next, we headed to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, and we saw this bocce court next door to the park which was so cute.

WOW

Construction started in the 1880s, and it is slated to be completed by 2030. The lighter color on the left is the newest addition.

Do you see the Christmas tree up top?

On that building to the left, the sign reads "Our houses are legal." They will have to come down in order for the basilica to be completed. Eek.

The eastern side of the church represents Christ's birth. Full of animals and Bible stories. I highly recommend reading more about it. The symbolism of every door, steeple, window, etc. is overwhelming.

See the iguana looking down at the ground?

There is a sea turtle on the side of the building that is closest to the ocean, and there is a snapping land turtle on the side closest to the mountains. I mean, what details!

Look at the insects on this door.

The colors are AMAZING

These windows that face the future entrance are still plain/ under construction, but they will ultimately be colorful like the others.

The Our Father prayer (in Spanish) on the outside of the future entrance doors. Our tour guide was shocked when HG started reciting in Spanish too! (Thank you, St Agnes!)

You could peep down into the crypt to see a mass happening

The doors on the western side, walking out to the Passion Facade, telling the story of Christ's death

The square on the left side of the pic- if you add the numbers up and down, left and right, or diagonally, they always add up to 33.

Totally different look that the other side

You can see Mary's spire from the northern side

Magda reserved us a table at Madre for lunch. It was our first attempt at a Spanish tapa style restaurant, and the girls did their best to comply. I was proud of them for being polite and trying things, but they might have been a little hungry afterward. John and I loved it though!

Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the Gothic Quarter

Connected to parts of the old city wall

Corpus Christi is a Catholic feast honoring the eucharist that is celebrated in Spain with several traditions, one of them being a (hollowed out) floating egg shell in the top of a water fountain. Barcelona is coming out of a drought, so this was a pretend floating egg in a dry fountain.

The beautiful Saint Felip Neri church was bombed in 1938 during their civil war, and 42 people were killed. The front of the church still shoes the damage from the bombing.

Pont del Bisbe

More gargoyles...or grostesques? Ask Cressey, she can tell you.

HG saw this shop, Iris Galerie, which she'd seen on the internet, and she wanted to try it out! It was a big hit, and we had fun guessing whose was whose. Can you guess? I'll put answers below.

Top left- John, top right- HG, bottom left- Cress, bottom right- Sha

All Cressey really wants is a pool. The Majestic's pool was on the rooftop and in the middle of a nice restaurant, so it was fun and a little awkward! But cress was happy!

Dinner at Bronzo

This girl...

Casa Ballto tour: Gaudi created this as an apartment building. Note there is no A/C and the Americans were mucho hotto.

Even the ceiling can't be just plain, has to be wavy.

"The attic"

It had an "immersive room" with over 1000 screens which was really cool.

Laberint d'Horta was a neat little park outside of the city center. We enjoyed the labryinth for the first 10 minutes, and then it got hot and crowded and we decided we weren't above cheating to get out. Also important to note that there were no cabs or Ubers anywhere close by. John started walking and found a bus stop and finally a random cab, and he talked the cabbie into coming back to the park with him to pick us up.

This pretty little courtyard would have been prettier if I hadn't just popped out of the labryinth thinking I was at the end, only to realize I had to pick another path...