This building is located near the yacht basin and cruise port and you pass it on the way to the beach. 2012
And you thought the Arch was only in Paris, well Barcelona has one too. The street behind it is
now walking/biking only, like a lot of the old famous streets in town making it a great walking city. 2011
A few blocks from my hotel is a large park called Parc de la Ciutadella, the park has a very important
government building (Parlament de Cataluya) with a lot of security as well as the city zoo. It is bike friendly
but it's more designed for walking and relaxing. A bunch of the green parrots live here. 2012
This fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella is incredible, it is better then the fountain in Rome I think. 2012
At the entrance of Parc de la Ciutadella there is a cool building, it's a museum (I'll guess). I liked the lizzard pond fence. 2012
They have added many miles of bike routes through Barcelona, taking out mediums (like above). turning many once car streets to bike and walking only, Notice the bike lane has its own independent street light system. This transformation is still in progress but what a undertaking, This country/city will blow your mind on the progress its made in the last 10 years, My 1st visit here was in 2000 and this is my 5th and wow the progress they have done is crazy (good). 2011
Another one of the new bike paths. 2012
I was taking the train up the coast and noticed a fair number of bicyclers using the new trail so I got off
and headed back to rent a bike. I got one today for 24 hours and this path leads from Barcelona,
to towns heading east (towards France). 2011
Seafood Paella was very good as well. These pictures don't do it justice. 2011
Fresh Seafood is everywhere so I started with Mussels in Garlic Butter and a beer.
Great crusty bread too. Best mussels I've ever had. 2011
At least 6 maybe more parrots are living wild in the park next to my room and they play and sing and carry on very happily. proving they belong in the wild (I think). This one is eating something while standing on one foot. 2011
These guys are hard to see in the trees, but you can sure hear them chattering to each other. 2011
The old bull fighting arena is now a state of the art shopping mall, there is 4 levels, one of them being underground, and 2 more levels of parking beneath that. it very upscale. notice the people on the obserevation deck on top. 2011
Inside the old bull fighting arena turned mall is a state of the art shopping center with lots of good stores and food. 2011
The Barrio Gothic Cathedral area is close to the Ramblas and some of the buildings next to the cathedral date back to Roman times. This is the first time I have seen the cathedral without construction repair and cleaning being done, and it was worth the wait. There are monasteries and monks in the surrounding buildings and the church is spectacular on the inside as well. This area is too busy and streets are too narrow to see by bike, so a good pair of walking shoes will do the trick here. 2012
Barrio Gothic Church located in the oldest part of the city, it's old! 2011
Part of the Barri Gothic Church. 2011
My hotel is in this building on the 3rd floor (see flags) this is a great location but basic hotel. 2011
Gaudi's Parc Guell located on a high part of north part of city. This is a great place to stroll, it has flower gardens, nature, and a great place to see the city below. I took the city bus up and the Metro back. The park is the art form and it is wimsical so no reason to understand it its just fun art. 2011
Gaudi's Parc Guel, A mosaic lizard. hey why not? 2011
Gaudi's Parc Guel, One of the stone walkways. I had been to Barcelona 4 times before
and never made it here. 2011
Gaudi's Parc Guel, I found this place hard to capture just in photos.The park was loaded
with young school kids on a field trip enjoying the place. 2011
Sagrada Famillia. Construction started in 1882 and the famous artist Gaudi got involved in 1883. Gaudi spent much of the remainder of his life on the project until his death in 1926. The completion date is 2026 on the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's passing. This can be seen for miles from the hill sides. 2012
This place will always be loaded with tourists and construction I guess, but it is truly a work of art and I
would love to see it finished. Someday someone will say I wish I could have seen it being built. 2012
Here's my five speed cruiser, the guy wanted to show me the bike model name in his catalog once he found out were I'm from, the model is called "Florida". The bikes are quality bikes and it cost 13 euros for the day. Bikes are even cheaper, the second and third day, and include lights and 2 locks. The Born Bike Rental, where I rented my bike, offers tours and I really liked the people running the shop, they were great, and they are truely bike people, my kind of people. 2012
This one of Guadi's many works, this was taken at dusk, in the daylight it's cut glass sparkles. 2012
This building is next to the one of Guadi's (above), but I'm not sure it's one of his, but it's cool art anyway. 2012
An Antiques market was being held near my hotel, prices were high. 2011
While the city of Barcelona was renovating, tombs from the Romans occupation of the city were found. 2011
Area next to my hotel in Barcelona. 2011
A Lamb pita and beer I had for lunch. It was awesome. 2011
The Ramblas a great place to walk and a good place to watch your wallet (pickpockets). 2000
Flower shop on the Ramblas (Famous walking/shopping street dating back to Roman times) 2011
La Boqueria Fresh Market is easy to miss, you could walk right by, but don't. It's located at the Ramblas
and it's a great place to grab fresh fruit, pastry and just about anything edible. 2012
This is the famous La Boqueria, this is the giant fresh seafood market, one of the largest and best in Europe! 2005
Fresh fish is very popular abundant at the market. 2011
The La Boqueria also has one of the best fruit and vegtable markets you will ever see. 2010
A dried Ham shop, this is considered very gourmet here. and expensive. 2011
This is one of the butcher shops in the La Boqueria market. 2011
Olympic stadium/world cup arena, they also use for giant concerts. Its on top of Montjuic. 2010
This palace is now one of the City Museums. 2010
Barcelona's fort on top of the Montjuic facing the port. 2010
This fort has only been open to the public for a short time. 2010
The Sky Buckets are a cool way to see how big Barcelona really is. 2010
In the Sky bucket, on the way down the mountain. 2010
Funicular train that runs up the side of the mountain. 2010
A group of cyclers near the marina. 2011
One of the bike trails near Barelonetta Beach. 2011
Free bikes only available to locals and college kids studying here. Over 5000 free bikes and
a whole network of bike trails and lanes in the city and coast. 2011
Wild parrots in a park. 2011
This is the place I rented my bike and it was 15 euros for 24 hours. nice bikes. 2011
School trip on bicycles to the coast, now thats a good school trip. 2011
Old guys playing bocci ball at beach. 2011
Dominos are popular here, I wanted to play but these guys are really good I noticed. 2011
This is the Olympic Beach (one of Barcelona's five beaches). The big bronze fish, marina and much more were
added in 1992 before the Olympics. I took an easy beach day here and I will play tourist tomorrow. 2012
Really cool bike path. 2011
Automatic ordering machines at McDonalds. They call your number when ready. 2011
A bicycle path road sign giving you distance in cycling and walking by minutes. 2011
You see, there was this cool dude riding this cool bike, right through one of the busiest streets in Barcelona. This part of the city is more like Manhattan in NY City, with car traffic coming at you from 6 directions. I was standing with about 40 other people at a crosswalk when he zipped by. 2012
Barcelonetta is an old part of the city, who beach is the closest to the city center also the city top marina. Much of its buildings are very old but not always well preserved, but it's location, location, location they say. The streets are narrow and you could loss your direction easy (I know). 2012
I was going to wait until France, but I had to break down and get a gelato. It was great! 2012
There are at least a dozen of these little Seafood restaurants in Barcelonetta serving almost the same menu.
I ate at this one and I had mussels, seafood paella and a beer. (16 euros total).
A truck that delivers Bimbos, wow, I told you Spain was cool. But may not mean the same there. 2012
As I was leaving Spain today (Saturday) for the airport, Barcelonetta was having a founders day celebration. Hereare 3 of the at least a dozen dis-organized parades going up and down the narrow streets play drums and trumpets, I heard such classics as the "Theme to Starwars" and "YMCA" . I hope a lot of planning didn't go into this, but they were having one hell of a good time. The bands would turn the corner and almost run into another one. And the sounds kinda clashed at times as well. It was as good reason as any to have a cerveza. 2012