Well, after aimlessly floating off the coast of Spain until our COVID numbers came down, we were finally allowed to dock in Barcelona. We had six nights there, but because I had to lead a field class on day 3, we used the ship as our hotel for the first few nights. Day 1, we explored the main city park and the gothic quarter. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, so the park was crowded and the gothic quarter was deserted.

We also saw the ancient and beautiful Barcelona Cathedral.

The next day we actually did some shopping along the waterfront and had a long Spanish style lunch in the harbor (long and full of sangria).

Day three was my class, and we learned quite a lot about consumer behavior in Barcelona by visiting several types of markets. 

For the latter half of our visit, we moved into an apartment a block from Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi designed cathedral that will take more than 100 years to build. The view from the apartment was great.

It’s still under construction, but it is simply spectacular. I took so, so many pictures. It’s hard to choose, but here are just a few. It’s really hard to explain the scale of the place. It’s absolutely massive. The inside was designed to look like a forest, and as the sun comes in different windows the light just changes completely.

Outside, the cathedral is also incredible. The biblical stories are told in stone in massive sculptures. And yet there are also some Gaudi flourishes that make it so clear it is one of his buildings.

On our final full day we headed to Park Guell, also Gaudi designed. It’s a long hike up, but has amazing views and awesome architecture.