Exploring Barcelona
My new lodgings were away from the main tourist center, but still had lots of groceries and restaurants around them. Moreover, there were a number of interesting sights within walkable distances from the apartment. It was a nice artistically decorated apartment and it was a great place to stay for a couple of weeks. One of the models from the retreat, Laetetia the ballerina, had connected me up with a Ukrainian ballerina/model who lived near Barcelona, Daria, so I actually had a photoshoot with her in a park in Barcelona the day after the retreat ended. It was a nice couple of hour shoot and just as we were wrapping up it started to rain. My Uber took a long time getting there and I just made it in before it really started to downpour. That completed my people photography for the trip, but it was nice to squeeze in the one different kind of shoot. For the remainder of the trip my photography was limited to travel and scenery shots with my new Fuji camera. The next few days I spent winding down, organizing my photos, and did a bit of exploring of the area. Maddy arrived 3 days after my retreat ended, and that began the sightseeing/tourit part of the trip.
While we had planned to take a low-key unstructured approach to the vacation, we actually ended up seeing lots of sights over the next two weeks. The only place I had booked prior to the trip was the Basílica de la Sagrada Família church, but we ended up seeing many more sights in and around the city. The area was very walkable and the city had good public transportation that I finally sorted out. We were typically walking 3-4 miles a day with as much as 9 1/2 a few days.
After Maddy’s arrival we had a long brunch at a streetside place that became a regular for us. We then walked around the neighborhood a bit, including through Parc de la Font Florida that had some cool parrots in the trees, and ultimately up the hill to the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) which was conveniently up the hill from the Airbnb. It turned out to be a free day, so we went in and went through the Baroque and Renaissance galleries. This was a great place to visit, and provided an beautiful elevated view over the city. Unfortunately one of the signature sights just below, the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc, was closed to preserve water in times of drought. Nonetheless, this area provided many beautiful sights and we came back multiple times. We had dinner in our only disappointing (and overly priced) Tapas restaurant, but that was only a blip of the many good meals we had.
The next day we walked back the Montjuïc hill to the MNAC and went through the Medieval and Modern galleries. Of our 3 visits this was the only time we had to pay once we figured out their free schedule (and I even got a senior discount). We then continued exploring and walked around the area. We discovered La Masia del Jardí Botànic (Montjuïc) that had lots of plants and herbs that intrigued Maddy. We continued on and walked around the Olympic area which had some cool views, spaces, and sculptures. Afterwards we headed back down the hill and had a drink in front of the MNAC and watched the sunset. Later we discovered a restaurant in the Arenas de Barcelona, an interesting oval structure that was a former bullring that had been converted into a shopping mall with a number of good restaurants with great views on the top. That place became a centerpiece for a number of our good dinners.